"Crossing the Puddle" a solidarity project of nursing students to support a hospital in Ecuador.

Carmela Ordóñez, Cristina García, Puy Barrondo and María Muñoz are fourth year students of Degree in Nursing at the University of Navarra. A few months ago they decided to do a volunteer activities in Quito, at the Baca Ortiz Pediatric Hospital. "We thought that the best way to take advantage of the summer was to contribute what we know about nursing in a hospital," says Puy. During their stay, which took place in June, they actively participated in the hospital's toy library, "a space where they give breakfast to mothers, offer learning resources and children can play while they are in the hospital," explains Maria.

As a result of this experience, upon their return to Spain, they decided that they should contribute more to the distance, so they created the project "Cruzando el charco", a crowdfunding platform to raise funds for the hospital's playroom. "Despite having returned, we are still at contact with the mothers, who tell us how their children are doing" says Cristina "and we want to raise funds to be able to refurbish and renovate the conference room of games for these families, such as a movie projector, music devices, books, paintings, toys... in order to improve the quality of life and give new opportunities to both children and parents within the hospital." clarifies Carmela. Recently, they have organized a charity paddle tennis tournament that raised €320, and they plan to organize more events like this subject to raise funds.

This initiative arises as a thank you to the mothers and children they met in the hospital, "since they were the ones who really ended up teaching us," they say. It will last approximately nine months and they want to make a first submission to give them a surprise for Christmas.

Donations can be made through their website Cruzando el charco.