Former sponsored child is a great teacher

Years ago, the vision in the Shumid Cocholoma community located at 10,000 feet above the sea level, was different; men were privileged to study and there was no respect for women “Now it is different,” says Rebeca.

“Since I was a little child, I always dreamed to study and achieve my goal of becoming a Systems Engineer. I feel very committed to my community and I would like to see equal opportunities for men and women,” she adds. 

Rebeca lives in a humble adobe house along with her parents Belisario and Maria Angela. They all remember with joy how their lives changed since Rebecca was sponsored by World Vision. 

The letters she used to write to her sponsor telling about her house, how she was doing in school, sharing her dreams and aspirations, how she loves to live in Ecuador are some of the happy memories she keeps from her childhood. Rebecca also recalls the things she received from her sponsor as pictures of Australia, information about the weather and all the strange animals of the country.

Now, Rebeca is an adult and works very hard to save money for her university career, “I have been working for seven months in the Semillitas (Little Seeds) Children Well-being Centre; I am in charge of developing the gross and fine motor abilities of children under three years old. I take care of children and make them play. I feel very happy to be helping children of my community so they can grow up to succeed in life,” Rebeca says proudly.

During the past three years, she also has been a very active participant in her Church; she leads the Sunday School and serves a group of 30 children from 8 to 12 years old “I love to teach the Bible to children because they learn how to be responsible and respectful”, she adds.

“I am very grateful for the work that World Vision has done in my community. Before they came here, there was no other organization or anyone giving us support. But now, thanks to World Vision and the Achupallas Area Development Programme, we have been trained on different topics such as micro-entrepreneurship, sexual and reproductive health, family vegetable gardens, among others and that is very good!”

By Maria Gandarillas