Mending Kids International’s partner association in Guayaquil is El Cielo para los Ninos de Ecuador (the Foundation). The Foundations Director is Zorayda Figueroa and she is our inside person in Ecuador. She knows how to get things done and this mission would not be possible without her and her team.
The Foundation’s goal is to provide medical attention, including surgery, and basic necessities such as food and clothing for Ecuador’s poorest children and families.
Zorayda Figueroa started the Foundation in 1967.
The less fortunate children of Ecuador do not recieve the medical attention they need, because adequate medical resources are not available in the area where they live. Also, the lack of social welfare makes it impossible for poor children to have operations they need to be able to simply walk, see or hear. Do to poor living conditions, many children with deformities, cleft pallets, club feet and other maladies are born every year.
Volunteers from around the world come to Ecuador to help give these children a chance to live happier, more productive and fulfilled lives, thus contributing to society in a positive manner.
Although the Foundation is headquartered in Guayaquil, the doctors donate their time all over the country including the Galapagos Islands. Planned weeks and sometimes a year in advance, the medical missions bring doctors, surgeons, translators and other volunteers for a specified period of time. The Foundation has also instigated emergency medical missions, such as in August 1998 to Bahia de Caracas for the earthquake victims.
In Ecuador women who end up in prison have to find a place for their children or they go to prison with the moms. The conditions in prison are very unpleasant. Since 1985, The foundation gives the women and children vocational classes, sewing, cooking, crafts and lessons on how to take care of themselves.
