In 1993 Lorenzo Jumbo founded the Fundación Aliñambi near the capital Quito to get street kids off the street. The foundation includes a children’s home, an elementary school, a bakery, a small carpentry, a sewing room and 2’500 m² of farmland. With the exception of the school, all activities had to be stopped during the crisis of 2001.

In 2009 Sandy Stahel, working in Aliñambi as a volunteer, started rising funds in Switzerland. Since 2010 Sandy has been living in Ecuador most of the time rebuilding the production facilities and supporting the school. They started growing vegetables in the greenhouse and first courses of the agricultural school. In 2012 the carpentry and the bakery were reopened and 141 children attended the school.

Fontana Foundation got engaged during the start-up phase of the production facilities in 2011 and 2012, but will not continue its involvement. The Aliñambi Foundation has a long way to go to become sustainable and should rethink its purpose and operations. We wish them all the best.

For more information, please go to www.juntos.ch