Remanso de Amor

All of Summit's courses this year in Ecuador have been working with Remanso de Amor (Haven of Love), an organization in south Quito. Remanso works in a poor neighborhood of about 20,000 people, and operates both a church and a school for kids, K-10th grade.
Remanso currently has about 80 children enrolled in the school--many of these come from single parent homes where the Father is absent. Abuse of all types (alcohol, drug, physical, etc) is rampant, and outside of an education, many of these children have very little hope of a better life. For $40 a month, they get two meals a day (for most, it's the only food they will have), uniforms, and more importantly, the foundation of an education that can drastically change their lives.

Summit has been helping in a wide variety of ways, from white-washing walls to helping in the school cafeteria to making home visits with the school's social workers. We whitewashed so many walls that when the kids saw us walking down the street, they would yell out the window, "Hola pinturas!" (Hi painters!)Tom mixes whitewash, the old-fashioned way.

These were some of the most meaningful times on this course. These kids didn't care what your nationality was, or your political affiliation, or your views on theology or end-times eschatology. They wanted you to play with them, to hold them, to have fun with them. I'll introduce you to a few of them with their pictures.