ABOUT US
“The secret to living is giving. No matter how busy or broke you are, you always have something to offer others. Many people miss the opportunity to know that their life makes a difference, but it does.”
Tony Robbins
How we started
Observing the little old ladies begging for charity in the streets and mistreated in the squares, we understood that they were deeply depressed and abandoned, accompanied only by their loneliness. It was time to do something for them, we decided to listen to them, get to know them, support them and above all give them a lot of love and affection based on an active, productive and participatory methodology; with which we have managed to change the negative mentality of old age for a positive awareness of life.
We understood that through music we could reach the emotions. We enjoyed doing exercises, singing, dancing and through the permanent encounter they began to reinforce their self-esteem and self-confidence. They lost their fear to communicate, to relate, to move, to dance and became charming little old ladies and to feel happy sharing with the group. We rescued the joy of living with love and a vision of life full of motivation, communication and good humor. We started with 11 grandmothers and then each one of them was recommending her experience to others and after some time we shared with +450 elderly people from the street, developing a recreational, occupational and motivational program. The greatest motivation is peace, joy and love.
Our Values
SOLIDARITY
Solidarity as a basis that has allowed us to get involved with our grandparents, understand their limitations and join efforts to integrate them to a dignified old age.
RESPONSIBILITY
Responsibility as the driving force that moves us to carry out all the activities of the street grandparents foundation according to the needs of our grandparents.
SERVICE
More than a value, service is a vocation impregnated in all our management staff and volunteers in order to be always available for our grandparents and to be useful to them.
Why older adults?
Two thirds of the population in Ecuador live in conditions of poverty, the elderly are considered people with physical disabilities, someone who is not taken into account by the family, nor by society, they are people with many needs, but with few answers.
In Ecuador, low-income older adults who worked in the informal sector as domestic workers, bricklayers, street vendors, etc., are now living in extreme poverty. They have NO access to social protection, much less medical care, lack subsidies, have no work, and lack basic necessities such as food, health, clothing and housing. Every day it is more and more difficult for the grandfathers and grandmothers of the street to live in dignified conditions.
Our Objective
Promote a new culture of positive aging, carrying out activities aimed at ensuring that older people with lower incomes age with dignity and in an active, productive and healthy manner. Raise awareness in Ecuadorian society about support and respect for older adults, especially those who are at high risk, through workshops and seminars.
Our Vision
To be a solution in Ecuador for the elderly at risk, providing basic food, promoting permanent educational, recreational and occupational activities aimed at social and labor integration. To achieve their maximum empowerment of personal and group realization. To recover the values of respect and support for the elderly, and above all, so that they do not survive but live!
Our Commitment
To continue working to prevent begging, destitution and deprivation of the family environment that affects older adults living in poverty in Ecuador, providing them with the basic food necessary to live, clothing, comprehensive education, creating a space with activities and appropriate conditions to raise their self-esteem, in a cheerful environment full of love and creativity different from the environment in which they live; so that they can express themselves, value themselves, train, achieve their labor integration and consider themselves part of society.