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Los Jóvenes del Futuro seeks to combat inequities and injustices that damage the fundamental rights of individuals and families living in extreme poverty in and around Quito, Ecuador. These injustices include poor access to healthcare, education, housing and economic capacity.
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The country does not require children to obtain an education and consequently lack of education is one of the main causes of poverty in Ecuador. Students must have uniforms, shoes and school supplies to attend free public school. Many of the children we have assisted didn't even own a pair of shoes! These scholarships have been a lifeline for families; their children can acquire an education and, hopefully, end the cycle of generational poverty.
According to Relief Web International, Ecuador was negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and its related economic impact, which have impacted unemployment and poverty levels as well.
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In response to the pandemic, and working with our sister foundation in Quito, in 2021 we provided a tutor to work with at risk kids in a borrowed garage on Saturdays from 8:00 to 3:00. Our foundation provided food and one of the moms made lunch. Our tutor, as well as our social worker, acted as liaisons between the students, their families and their school to get them up to speed.
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Now that children are back in the classroom, participants of the foundation continue to meet weekly in a much larger facility. Neighborhood playgrounds and parks are used for recreation.
Families whose children attend activities on Saturday must go through an interview process to assess their need to participate. ​ Carla Naranjo, the coordinator of our sister foundation in Quito, explained that the approximately 80 children and adolescents that now attend on Saturdays are at risk of abandoning their studies due to economic shortcomings and other causes that warrant intervention. Most of the parents are street vendors, recyclers or unemployed.
Carla seeks donations in Ecuador to provide the participants with a small breakfast, a snack and lunch of rice, protein and juice. For most this is their biggest meal of the week. She also has volunteers to help families with legal issues, school enrollment and psychological therapy. Older adolescents are assigned a group of younger children whom they tutor on Saturdays. The foundation site is open all week for children to come by and get help with homework, work on computers or do printing that they otherwise would be unable to afford.
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Los Jóvenes del Futuro uses your donations to assist our sister foundation in providing participants with school supplies, shoes, uniforms, and backpacks. In this way, we hope to prevent school dropouts, give an opportunity for children to fulfill their right to education, reduce rates of domestic violence and create life opportunities for all beneficiaries.
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Shelley Winchester
President
Los Jóvenes del Futuro
How it started...
An Unplanned Adventure
When I was a college student in 1972, I spent my junior year abroad in Quito, Ecuador through the University of New Mexico branch school there called El Centro Andino. There were very few foreigners visiting or living in Ecuador at that time. Letters took two weeks to arrive; telephone calls were difficult and of course there was no internet or globalization. I was truly immersed in the culture and I fell in love with the country and its people. After raising two children, I decided to return to Ecuador as a tourist in 2005 and was reminded of my love for the country and also all that its people had given to me, and I asked myself what could I do in return?
I found an opportunity on the internet and returned to Quito to be a volunteer in a government shelter for abandoned and abused girls between 12 and 18 years old run by nuns. Since I was a secondary school teacher, I thought this would be the perfect fit for me. Through the experience I learned that while the shelter was highly beneficial, there was a dearth of support for the girls once they left at age 18. Many of the girls had nowhere to go, hadn't finished school, had no life skills and faced a bleak future. I had to do something to help them.
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I became friends with the shelter's government social worker and joined an Ecuadorian foundation that she and some of her colleagues had established to help these girls. With donations I received in the U.S., I rented an apartment next door to the social worker's, bought bunk beds and linens and set up house for three girls who were leaving the shelter, but had nowhere to go. The apartment provided shelter while the social worker helped them with social and monetary issues.
One needed a place to live while she looked for a job. She stayed in the apartment for four months. Another lacked a year to finish high school. Her Godfather in the United States paid for school and the Foundation paid for shelter. She graduated high school the following June and found work. The third girl we helped, Jessica, never had an established home in her life. After bouncing around the homes of relatives throughout her life, she ended up living with her mother in prison (a common practice in Ecuador at the time). When her mother was released from prison she couldn’t provide a stable environment for Jessica, so we put Jessica in the apartment. She was 16 years old with a 7th grade education. The foundation provided her with shelter and enrolled her in an accelerated academic program so she could complete school more quickly. We are still in contact and see each other every summer that I visit.
