UBECI serves over 600 children working in markets of South Quito, Ecuador. Children often require to spend up to long hours in a market stall doing chores as bagging produce. Our staff and volunteers provide activities in face-to-face and virtual modes following the biosafety protocol creating and maintaining a safe space where children can find support, children can have a break in their work days. Ubeci offrers positive experiences for children can continue growing with hope and better future.
Ecuador's market children often have to work in the markets as early as the age of three. Abuse, extreme poverty, no education, no medical care, and sexism are common factors. Parents who only know the work of the market, often see no value in attending school and are reluctant to let their children leave the market to discover a different life. Operating in six markets in south Quito, UBECI has lead the fight to help thousands of at-risk children overcome these conditions since 1999.
The "Play, Do and Learn" program enables children who face a life of hard work in a market, to see another choice. Parents learn in small steps the benefits of education, health care and feelings of success. Children enroll in school and with the ongoing support of Ubeci, stay in school. Within a short period of time children can learn from contact with hundreds of volunteers from around the world that they have worth, have abilities and are part of something more grand than the market stall.
Each year Ubeci works with over 600 children, and two thirds will attend school, many for the first time, and as a result of time tested strategies developed by Ubeci. By being in the markets, children can get help before and after school, thus assuring a low recidivism rate. Education, self-confidence and a ladder out breaks the chain of poverty, which often leads to crime, lower productivity and turmoil within a country. As these children rise so will the culture as a whole.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
