When we came to Ecuador in 1997, our mission was to rescue orphaned and abandoned children from the many dangers that they face as those considered most at-risk in a country where children are marginalized by the complex dynamics of their communities. We learned early on that education was a key to crossing the margin and ending the cycle of poverty…but we also learned that not just any education would accomplish that. Among the more than 180 countries around the world, Ecuador has been consistently at the bottom of the list for education quality as measured by OECD despite offering K-12 schools.

We looked at what NGOs and Christian organizations were doing in the region to deal with this decidedly existential problem, and while we could see that most offered programs that could improve daily life, nothing was provided to deal with the overarching problem of the marginalization that would continue into adolescence and adulthood. It was clear to us that something on a different level would be essential in order to produce real freedom to make real choices resulting in a dramatically brighter hope and future.