This day care centre was founded by three Dutch girls named Evelien Kremer, Mariska Martienus and Mariska Versteegh. They first arrived in Ecuador in 2002 as volunteers, after which they decided to start their own day care centre for the poorest children in the south of Quito. After a lot of preparations in the Netherlands and the establishment of their foundation ´Niños de Waita Ticca´, this project started in March 2004. It is a project that has clear organization and good equipment such as toys for the children and its aim is to improve the quality of life of children in the local area who live in poverty by supporting their education, their families and their emotional wellbeing.
There are over 65 children in the centre in the mornings from 6 months to 5 years old. They are split into three separate groups according to age and there is one teacher per group. In the afternoon there are also older children (up to 13 years old) who come to the centre to receive help and support with their homework as they may not have a quiet place to do this where they live. The children in the project have a doctor’s control every 2 months and a psychologist works voluntarily at the project to give workshops to the parents about social values and other family issues.
VOLUNTEER ACTIVITIES
In total there are 7 local employees in Villa Ticca and you will assist one of them in their work with the children. You can normally choose what age group of children you would like to work with but general activities include:
- Playing with the children
- Helping with educational activities
- Cleaning and caring for the children
- Helping with meal times
- Organizing group activities
- Assisting with homework activities for the older children in the afternoon
To give you a better understanding of the circumstances in which these children live, the foundation organizes house visits so that volunteers can see the reality of their daily lives.
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