Education Brazil Project #5933

Feed and Educate Children in Salvador, Brazil

by Action Change (Formerly GVI Trust)

Project Report | Dec 19, 2017
The last Quarter for 2017

By Emma Astles | Project Leader

Dear Supporters,

Students at Educandário Creche Comunitária Sonho da Vovó Clara – an independent community school offering free of charge education and food to the children of Mata Escura in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil are currently marking the change of seasons with lessons on the theme of weather and climate.We are now entering the hottest months in Brazil and our older students have been recording temperatures, tracking weather data and discussing how climates differ around the world and effect economies and lifestyles.

It has been particularly interesting to hear students’ first hand experience of farming in the interior of the state of Bahia – this region is notoriously arid and the difficulties that it poses are the reason that many of our families have migrated to the city of Salvador. Our youngest children have been producing lovely weather themed drawings and learning new vocabulary. Some fabulous work has been produced and we can’t wait to show our nature displays to the children’s parents during the annual Christmas Party.

We are making sure we are prepared for the high temperatures in the school by investing in new water play toys, making sure drinking water is available in each classroom, refurbishing the shower room and replacing a couple of broken fans – with no air conditioning in the school, fans are essential for ensuring our little ones can get some much needed rest at nap time.

Andrea, our school teacher, is currently organising our school Christmas party – a fantastic opportunity for students, staff and parents to mingle and build community spirit and for the kids to show off their wonderful work. Andrea is making sure every child receives a present from the school this year – this used to be provided by the local council for the most underprivileged areas, but this stopped last year. Andrea is currently on the hunt for quality, educational and fun gifts for the kids. She will be entering her 6^th semester of teacher training in the new year – she has been studying part time in the evenings and doing fantastically well. She will graduate in early 2019 – it has been fantastic to watch her go from strength to strength as a teacher and to see the benefits of her training that has brought for our students.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all your support in 2017 – your donations make our school possible.

Feliz Natal e um prospero ano novo! (Happy Christmas and a prosperous new year!)

All the best,

Brazil

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Sep 22, 2017
Celebrating 'Dia da Crianca' - Day of the Child, in Brazil

By Emma Astles | Project Coordinator

Greetings from (ECCSVC) Educandario Creche Comunitaria Sonho da Vovo Clara in the favela of Mata Escura on the outskirts of Salvador, Northern Brazil!

It’s been a great 3 months at the school, with so many academic successes! Our students have completed wonderful projects on animals, local flowers and plants and the weather and seasons - this has left the school looking wonderfully colourful.

We have also had some fabulous breakthroughs with our middle classes, reading their first full sentences and
doing well in maths. Great results were also received at the local high school by the older kids who come to the school for homework reinforcement - we are so proud of these students who, in some cases have been coming to us for 6-7 years now.

The month ended with a fun surprise party for our teaching assistant, Claudia. With the help of the children, Teacher Andrea and our cook Sonia, they baked a cake and prepared a song to surprise her with! It was a real surprise as they waited in a darkened classroom in (almost) total silence to spring out and serenade her when she arrived!

We continue to be really impressed with teacher Andrea’s achievements at teacher training college in the evenings – she is well on her way to being a qualified teacher and the students are really benefiting from her studies.

In early October, Brazil will be celebrating 'Dia da Criança' - Day of the Child. This annual festival is marked by a party in the city park organised by the local council for all public schools. There will be a picnic organised for the students along with activities such as facepainting and dancing. This is always a source of big excitement for our students, as for most it will be one of only two days out each year (along with our annual Christmas park trip). The buzz is already building and the kids have been asking for a daily countdown to the party every morning when they arrive!

Thanks to all our donors for their wonderful support which makes ECCSVC possible.

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Jun 27, 2017
Sao Joao Festivities & Mother's Day Party

By Emma Astles | Project Coordinator

Dear Supporters,

Mother's Day

We invited parents and guardians to an afternoon coffee and a performance from our kids. All ages got together to form a student choir and performed renditions of popular Brazilian songs. They had practised for weeks before and the result was fabulous, as were there coordinating tunics that they had all helped make. The mothers and caregivers were delighted with the choir and most stayed the entire afternoon to take part in activities with the kids and take a look at the work they had been doing – the event became a de facto, informal parents evening – and it was great for Andrea, our school teacher, to have the opportunity to give some great feedback to our student’s parents – especially nice to see both kids and parents leaving so full of pride. We believe that bonding sessions between parents/guardians and the creche staff are essential to the success of our work.

Sao Joao Festivities

São João (St. John) is a festival that takes place every year in Brazil. The dates are marked with parties, traditional clothing and dances and traditional foods. The idea of São João is to celebrate the harvest and the country way of life. Every year we use it as a perfect opportunity to teach our students about Brazil’s rich history and geography and talk about the differences between life in the country and the city – many of students started life in the countryside and moved with their families to the city of Salvador in search of work. Once the party had kicked off the students began dancing to the traditional forro music and looked wonderfully cute in the country style outfits they had put together. The highlight of the day was definitely the feast of traditional foods that our school cook Sonia had put together – the children were so happy to be able to go back for 2^nd portions!

All in all, it’s been a very fun month in the school – much needed when you remember it is set against a climate of increasing gang violence in the favela of Mata Escura. Our school continues to provide a welcoming and safe space for our students to learn, play and just enjoy being kids – something that can be very difficult for them in their day to day life.

Thank you for your continued support!

With Gratitude,
Emma

Singing for the Moms!

Sleeping in the heat!

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