EC 12 - Gastronomy and hospitality course for the disabled
Project Location
This project is realized in San Lorenzo del Pailón - Ecuador. This town, located north of the province of Esmeraldas, on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. In recent years the population has increased and now has about 45,000 inhabitants. Since 2001, the Parish of San Lorenzo felt the need to help and support children and young people with disabilities, opening its doors by welcoming them into its classrooms in order to ensure them a certain level of education. Also thanks to the Don Gnocchi Foundation, the school of Nuevos Pasos was founded with suitable staff to meet the needs of children not only from the educational point of view, but also rehabilitation and health.The school operated privately until 2008 when it received legal recognition of the government as "Institute of Special Education".
Project description
For years,we solicited the Ministry of Education to have the possibility of offering young people a diploma in technical baccalaureate, so these young people could have a technical preparation that would give them the opportunity to find a job and thus have the opportunity to earn a living with honesty and dignity, without forgetting their right to inclusion in the world of work and in society.
In July 2022, the request to establish a three-year degree was finally accepted and approved by the Ministry of Education, which officially recognized it. So, since that month, young people who had graduated two years ago (because of the pandemic there had been no classes in attendance) were invited to participate in this course in Hospitality and Gastronomy.
The children and their families are very happy with this course since San Lorenzo does not offer many opportunities to young people and even less to special ones like them, who then become easy prey to gangs of drug traffickers, violence and abuse of all kinds. Thanks to this project we would like to buy all the material needed to start the course, from large appliances to small kitchen utensils, to a bed with sheets so that young people can learn to redo the rooms.
Objectives
- Offer disabled children a technical course that can give them the opportunity to find a job
- Ensure the right tools to start a course in gastronomy and tourist accommodation
Beneficiaries
Direct: 15 disabled young people from Nuevos Pasos
Indirect: Their families and the society of San Lorenzo
Referent sister of the project: Sr Maria Piedad Aldaz Ilzarbe
Project's costs