Education for the poorest children of NE Brazil

Maira Inae, ABC's Projects Coordinator, recently visited our projects in Brazil and spent three days at ISMEP in Recife.

Being Brazilian, I grew up watching the misery which disadvantaged people have to endure on a daily basis in the numerous favelas spread around the country. But regardless of how accustomed we are to seeing poverty, each time we are confronted with deprivation before our eyes we are taken aback with the urge to help. It’s what makes us human.

This was the exact feeling I had when I visited ISMEP, a social project ABC has been supporting for several years. ISMEP is located in Favela do Bode, which has around 75,000 inhabitants and is one of the poorest and most dangerous areas of Recife, in the North East of Brazil.

Bode is full of ad-hoc wooden housing built above the swamp which forms a maze of narrow alleyways and has no essential public services such as sanitation, electricity or clean water. Boys as young as 12 deal crack in plain daylight whilst child prostitution is widespread. Most children have lost a family member to crime and have experienced several traumas from an early age. Consequently, the majority of them do not believe they can achieve anything positive with their lives, they are often socially excluded, live a low quality of life, have no access to a good education and generally have few prospects for the future.

In order to tackle this situation ISMEP offers quality education, recreational and vocational activities to children aged 7-16, providing a safe environment for them to play and keeping them off the street. Their main aim is to break the cycle of poverty, violence and hopelessness which exists in the community. When visiting ISMEP the first impression one has is that you have found an oasis - you see children playing, happy, healthy and, most importantly, engaged.

One of the highlights of my visit was watching the rehearsal of a play the children had written themselves which touched on many issues that the community faces and explored ways in which they can tackle adversity to become protagonists of real change in their lives. That very moment I realised the deeper impact ISMEP’s work has which is often hard to quantify: they manage to support positive values and beliefs and provide hope for these children.

Young people who have been through the project have a different perspective on life, they are aware that they can change society and that goes far beyond learning basic skills. Shirley is a good example of this. At the young age of 13, Shirely already knows what she wants to do when she grows up: ‘I want to be a Police officer, there are too many women dying for nothing and I would like to do something about that.’ 

I hope that, like Shirley, more people realise that they too can change society.