Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) - Ecuador, with a population of 13, 40 % indigenous, is a poor country, almost 70% of the country’s 4,8 million children live in extreme poverty. Schools in the Andes region are shoddy with few old and broken desks and chairs. Thanks to an Italian foundation Aiutare i Bambini, 500 new school desks for 1000 children in schools in Guantubamba, Yacubamba, Tuglin, Capilla, La Playa, Cuturubì Chico, Cachi, Santa Barbara, Aguallaca, Puchulquiza, San Vicente, San Nicolas have been delivered and another 500 will follow.
The programme is developed in the extremely poor and arid mountain region of Cotopaxi, 3,200 mt above sea level. Here people live in homes built mainly of mud and straw and use unclean water causes many gastro-intestinal diseases, especially among the children. Lack of civil and political rights, education, scarcity of work and the dramatic state of the economy lead many young people to move to cities where they fall prey to abuse, precarious life and crime.
The desks were produced by pupils at the Centro San Nicolas training centres, opened by a couple of Italian lay missionaries in 1988 at San Nicolas de Juigua. At present 60 boys are learning to work with iron and wood. The boys live in and the sale of the products helps the upkeep of the Centre. (AP) (11/1/2007 Agenzia Fides; Righe:27; Parole:323)
