The Day of the Child

Horns beep and drums beat as the throng of children, parents and teachers parade through the streets. Some children are carrying homemade signs, others are waving, and almost all are wearing smiles. The older children--those in grades four, five and six--are resplendent in colorful dresses and freshly-pressed trousers, while the little ones have donned an assortment of costumes: a Superman here, a few chickens there, and even an ambiguous blue animal. Mothers snap pictures and hold their 3- and 4-year-olds in open-aired five-bench caravans. It is Monday, June 1, and it is “El Dia del Nino”: The Day of the Child.

“The Day of the Child,” explains INFA social worker Sara Ruiz, “is a day to celebrate the child, and to call attention to their rights.” Indeed, the signs the children have made read “Educating us with love” and “For a better Isabela," referring to the Galapagos island on which they live. INFA, which roughly translates to The Institute for Children and Families, is a “public organization with a social purpose,” according to their literature. Their mission is to “guarantee the rights of girls, boys and adolescents en Ecuador so they can fully exercise their citizenship in terms of freedom and opportunity.” Three departments operate within INFA: The Center for Infant Development, which seeks to ensure adequate care and nourishment for infants ages six months through four years; The Center for Involvement, which organizes activities for elementary through high-school children; and The Center for Protection, which deals with abuse cases.

Day of The Child is the work of the Center for Involvement’s efforts. INFA workers in towns throughout Ecuador have coordinated with their local schools to make the festivities happen, according to Ruiz. In Isabela, for example, the children marched from their school, Jacinto Gordillo, through downtown and then back to school again. Back at school, students posed for pictures and hung their signs before heading into their classrooms for further festivities. The sixth-graders headed down to the beach with their cake and soda, while the younger students stayed at the school to consume their treats. “There will be no learning today,” laughs school director Angel Bulta.

Bulta practically beams as he talks about his school: “It was started six years ago, and I am now in my third year being the director. Every year, it grows a little bit more. We try to do more things.” There is even talk that more grades will be added soon, though more than likely, they will be the beginnings of a new high school, not a continuation of Jacinto Gordillo.

From the outside, the school’s facilities seem pretty basic: the courtyard is the open gravel space between the upper and lower elementary classrooms, each classroom is actually a standalone round building roughly 20 feet in diameter, and the table adjacent to the snack hut seats four. What goes on inside the classroom walls is of course, much more important. The school employs a full-time English teacher for the 150- or so elementary students, and has one teacher whose job is solely to educate the children about Isabela’s environment. They also, according to Angel, teach the students about tourism, so they will know how to receive Isabela’s many visitors. All this is in addition to teaching the usual subjects of reading, writing and ‘rithmetic.

Except on The Day of the Child. The rest of the day was filled with games, singing and general merriment. For sixth-grader Kenlly Caiza, the best part of the day was going to the beach with his classmates. They spent the afternoon playing a game of Shark, in which one student (The Shark) has to catch everyone swimming to the far end of the inlet. The last one caught is dubbed the winner, but becomes the shark for the next round. “It was my favorite part of the day,” grinned Caiga. “Swimming underwater to avoid becoming the shark was a lot of fun.” INFA wouldn’t have it any other way.

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