Our Partner: The Ali Shungu Foundation
The Ali Shungu Foundation is an Ecuadorian non-profit organization dedicated to addressing a wide array of community issues in five communities outside of the town of Otavalo, most prominently Yambiro and Larcacunga. Founded by local hotel owners Frank Kiefer and Margaret Goodheart-Kiefer, the foundation has provided financial support for a variety of locally-driven projects, including the construction of a clinic building completed using traditional work days known as minga.

Our Projects
By working in the schools, with the local public, and with international volunteer assistance, the IHF and the Ali Shungu Foundation aim to improve educational opportunities, increase health care access, and provide training and support for local economic development initiatives.

Projects planned for 2007/2008 include work in the following areas:

Education
  • • Sending student teachers to help teach and write school curriculum.
    • Creating extracurricular activities (e.g. construction of a playground, arts activities).
    • Fundraising for school materials and activities.
    • Providing professional development opportunities for local school teachers.

Health care
  • • Providing trained medical students to volunteer in the local clinic constructed by the community and partner Ali Shungu Foundation.
    • Fundraising for clinic supplies.
    • Health and sanitation outreach to the local communities (e.g. talks, latrine construction).

Economic development
  • • Training in basic accounting, micro-finance, and use of computers for the local community.
    • Fundraising for capital investments for local businesses.

How to Help
Donate to support the IHF and Ali Shungu Foundation's work in Yambiro!

The following are examples of what your donation can accomplish:
  • Start-up materials for the Yambiro Women’s Cooperative, which sells good internationally $50 (With this gift the YWC will send you an embroidered sampler!)

    Maintenance for the Yambiro Library and Learning Center computer $50

    Scholarship for one indigenous girl for one year of public high school $100

    Equipment for a Trout Farm Pool to generate income and nutrition for the community of Larcacunga, Ecuador $150

To learn more about how your donation can make a difference in Yambiro and other communities around the world, check out the IHF's Catalog for Change!

Students outside the public school in Yambiro