By Debora Manzano | Relationship Responsible
To date, Vaga Lume has 95 community libraries and 4 more reading spaces in the implementation process across the Amazon. There are eight libraries in Castanhal by itself. Since 2001, Vaga Lume has distributed more than 177,000 books of literature and impacted more than 177,000 children and teenagers.
Unfortunately, the last few months haven't been all good news. Riverside communities in the Vaga Lume network may become isolated due to the historic drought, which scientists are already qualifying as the worst drought in Brazil's history. To give a clear idea, 200 municipalities in the country are in a state of extreme drought, according to the National Center for Natural Disaster Monitoring and Alerts (CEMADEN).
“Vaga Lume takes great care to hear the communities. In this process, the community alerted us to the expectation of drought and, in order to assist these people with the project, we moved up the timetable for setting up the libraries in Novo Airão by a month,” says Lia Jamra, Executive Director of Vaga Lume.
Rede Program: Vaga Lume's youth as guardians of the Amazon
Significantly, the Programa Rede initiative promotes cultural exchange between teenagers from rural Amazonian communities and the city of São Paulo. Since its inception, more than 5,000 teenagers have participated in the activities and exchanges of the program.
Through debates, workshops, meetings, and daily stories written in books, teenagers exchange experiences, multiplying environmental awareness and taking a leading role in defending and preserving forests.
Promoting access and encouraging reading is one of the most fundamental initiatives to strengthen rural communities in the Amazon, offering tools to those who are most responsible for preserving the forest.
Your support in the form of donations has resulted in more books and libraries, and through the Rede Program meetings, the possibility of building new futures.
By Debora Manzano | Relationship Responsible
By Debora Manzano and Manoj Gupta | Partnership
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
