On Saturday, the 13th of July we drove about two hours by bus until we arrived at a beautiful and warm place called Nanegalito. There we were welcomed by Benno, a nice German who runs a farm there together with his Ecuadorian wife and who offered us a place to put up our tents.

Directly upon arriving we started to build the tents and the children helped us as well as they could. After a snack the kids ran around on a big meadow, exploring the nature and the surroundings – there was a lot to discover! Right next to the campground there were waterfalls, wild horses and untouched nature: The kind of things that the children from Rachno los Pinos don’t get to see that often.

After a delicious lunch we hiked through the area of the big farm and arrived at a mandarin plantation. The landowner Benno allowed the kids to eat as many mandarins as they could shake from the trees. They were having a lot of fun and everyone tried to collect as much as they could.

The following evening we sat around a campfire, singing songs together and baking bread on sticks. With their heads full of new impressions the children went to sleep in their tents, divided by age and guided by an adult.

The next morning the kids were so excited that they woke up early. Right after breakfast we went alongside a river through the beautiful nature to get to a waterfall. There the kids could swim, play and experience the nature. After the refreshing bath we had to go back to the camp and to the kids discontent it was already time to pack up the tents and get on the bus back to Quito. Happy, tired and full of new impressions we finally arrived back home in late afternoon and returned the children to their parents’ care.

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A camp like this may seem simple, especially in Switzerland, but for the children from the neighbourhood of Rancho los Pinos it was something very special which they could neither experience with the public school nor with their parents. Even though the camp was really short, we, the foundation, are convinced that an experience like this, in the free nature and sleeping in a tent, without their parents, is something that will shape and strengthen the children’s characters and give them many wonderful memories.