School may have been out in July and August, but at the Centre for the Working Girl (CENIT) in Quito, Ecuador, there was a hive of activity.

Every year the centre organises popular summer camps for children of the local Camal market, providing educational and recreational activities for children who can only dream of going on a summer holiday.

This year CENIT welcomed a total of 80 children through its doors for its summer camps, with two fortnight sessions running with 40 children each.

The camp took place in CEA, a large classroom in the Camal market.

Children took classes in science, art, PE, maths, geography and self-esteem.

Right: the children colour maps in geography class. Photo © Rebecca Mills

“It went amazingly well,” said Tabs Veale, one of the volunteers at CENIT. “Each class was the responsibility of one volunteer to organise,” she explains, “and at the end of the two weeks we had a demonstration to the parents of the work, presented by the children.”

“There was work on the walls, a rendition of our favourite song ‘estaba la famillia sapo!’ (’there was a frog family’) and a huge cake! I think all adults in the room where very proud, especially us.”

The volunteers worked hard to establish a routine with the children, as this is an element many of them lack in their sometimes turbulent lives.

“Each day started, after a song or two, with actions,” says Tabs.

“That was followed by three classes, washing hands, a small snack, (fruit, or a boiled egg or cake on Fridays) and a finishing song.”

Left: volunteers establishing a hand-wash routine before children are given snacks.

Basic hygiene procedures were promoted through such routines and in the science classes at camp. Photo © Rebecca Mills

Tabs says all the classes were interesting and successful. Here she summarises some of the ‘highlights’.

Science
The children grew grass in egg shells (Egg heads) with very impressive decorated holders for them! They were also taught some basic hygiene and diet information, as the diet here is often a lot of rice, bread, carbohydrates and a lot of sweets. The basic dental hygiene was demonstrated by using teeth in coke and water, and comparing what happened to them. They spent one afternoon exploring the five senses with some fun experiments.

Art
This class included lots of fun projects, including making maracas, finger puppets, paper chains. As well as black and coloured wax crayon pictures. These were made with a layer of colour under a layer of black which was scraped away to create a picture. They had a great time and all the creations were very impressive. They were displayed and taken home on the last day.

PE
The kids really enjoyed getting out and playing. The older ones where a bit more challenged with things like volleyball, while the younger ones settled with simple catch games. The very popular games included jumping a rope that went round in a circle on the floor, the result looking a bit like a circular Mexican wave, and trying to knock over a large (sealed) water bottle with homemade bean bags, while someone tried to guard the bottle.

Self esteem
This class was actually very calming! The kids had to say nice things about the other children or just information about themselves and others, such as their family, favourite food etc. They were asked to talk to another child, ask questions and talk in front of the group. There were also lots of games, in teams or partners, for example twister and snakes and ladders, which encouraged them to play together.

Geography
Work in this class centred around making a globe. This was done with paper maché, paint, and cut out coloured paper in the shape of continents. We had an abundance of foreign volunteers from lots of countries, so we also had a source of more anecdotal information. The children learnt about seasons (there are only two in Quito), and flags from all over the world. By the end the walls where covered with flags, pictures and globes.