Our little home in the highlands of Ecuador came into being in 1989 through the private initiative by two Ecuadorian students, Roberto Altamirano and Anita Constante. Roberto paid regular weekend-visits to prisoners in several jails in Ecuador. It was on one of these visits that he came to realize the miserable situation of some children who had no choice but to live in jail with their condemned fathers. They had no other home !

Seven of them shared one little cell where they slept on the cold floor (which was covered with nothing but newspapers) sharing what little food they were offered and participating in the daily prison drills. Their social neglect became more and more obvious, but nobody would offer a solution. Roberto  - deeply moved by the children's situation and by the words of one of the prisoners: " Nice of you to come visiting and talking. But you are like all the others: you're just talking, but you don't act! Do something! " - Roberto decided to dedicate his life to these children.

A short time later he and his wife Anita founded JARDIN DEL EDEN. Although confronted with severe financial problems Roberto and Anita managed to salvage 15 children from their daily struggle to survive and to offer them a makeshift home in a former henhouse.

Since 1995 Roberto’s brother, Patricio Altamirano, and his wife Jackelin have been helping with the work in the Kinderheim. It is Patricio’s job to accompany the children when going to work and to organize their jobs. He supervises and organizes the construction of the buildings. He is responsible for the water-project which is to provide a water-pipe for the community of Panzaleo. 

Jackelin is committed to accompanying and educating the children and the youths, Together with Patricio she has gathered experience in leading a group in  Conocotto, Quito before joining the KINDERHEIM.