Ibarra

Country information

SOS-Kinderdorf International has been active in Ecuador since 1963 when Gerhard Engel, founder of Ecuador's first SOS Children's Village, made contact with our organisation. By 25 September 1963, the construction work on the first SOS Children's Village in the country had already started in the Ecuadorian capital Quito. A total of twelve family houses were gradually finished in this village up until 1970. In 1979, the SOS Children's Villages in Esmeraldas and Ibarra went into operation. In April 1997, SOS Children's Village Ricaurte followed. There are now also numerous additional SOS facilities in this country, such as SOS Kindergartens, SOS Vocational Training Centres, and SOS Social Centres. The most recent Ecuadorian SOS Children's Village to date, in Portoviejo, became operational in Summer 1999 and was officially opened on 5 March 2001. The SOS Children's Village Ibarra is located at 2000 metres altitude on the lagoon of Yahuarcocha which gained historical importance through the Incas. This SOS Children's Village is situated only 8 km from the provincial capital of Ibarra, 140 km from the capital of Quito. It can be reached by bus on the Panamericana highway. Ecuador's third SOS Children's Village was erected on a 4.6 ha site and consists of 12 family houses, a village director's house, a house for SOS Aunts, a doctor's surgery, administration buildings, an SOS Vocational Training Centre and an SOS Kindergarten which can also be used by the children of the neighbourhood. The children attend the public schools at Yahuarcocha. In the city there is a small SOS Youth House where teenagers from the SOS Children's Village live during their vocational training and higher education. The cultivation of corn, vegetables, potatoes and citrus fruits as well as the breeding of small animals helps to cover part of the SOS Children's Village's food requirements.