Learning outdoors for children of the favelas

We have some exciting developments in our campus! a few months ago, we hosted our very first camping weekend with children. We worked with Outward Bound Brazil, preparing the areas and creating a robust safety infrastructure. Our goal is to be able to offer camping journeys to all our children's groups, including our local public school and Rocinha Creative English, an organization we have worked with for the past two years.

The weekend was very special. The children learnt to set up a tent and find the basics: water, mapping, and some plant identification. We hiked and built a bonfire, told stories and sung. Camping, like in the United States, is also an important part of the culture of Brazil, but because of gear required and access to appropriate spaces, it is difficult for many people.

We are very excited with this new opportunity for children to build leadership and confidence, deepen their relationship with the environment, strengthen their sense of community through collaborating and storytelling and have beautiful experiences in nature!

A very sincere thank you to all our donors who help us create these opportunities for children in the peripheries of Rio de Janeiro. Let's go for more! 

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We are very happy to report we have begun working again with our local municipal school, Hervalina Diniz! Since the beginning of SINAL, we have been involved in different activities with the school, between after school programs, revitalization of school spaces and excersises to complement the school curriculum.

After a pause around the pandemic, we are back to work. Last week, we received a group who is studying recycling for their science class. After we talked about sustainability and taking action in our community, we played games revolving around identifying and separating trash. 

We are very much looking forward to bringing in more classes from the school, and strengthening our relationship with the local community as we develop sustainable infrastructure solutions and create more opportunities of dialogue and education.

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Our group from Rocinha came for yet another visit last month! As they have gotten to know the team and the spaces better, we have been organizing day trips for them to use different SINAL spaces to connect with nature and themselves. This time, we made bracelets in the mandala classroom, and theater class in Casa do Sol.

We love incorporating theater excercises in our curriculum because it gives the kids an opportunity to explore and express their emotions, build their confidence and their voice. Even though they were shy at first, being that none of them had done theater before, after a few minutes of warm up they went right into it!

In the months to come, we will continue hosting day trips and are working up towards a weekend of camping activities with the kids - we have planned star reading excercises, a bonfire with marshmallow roasting and a hike! 

It is a humbilng experience to see these children fall in love with nature and open up as they become familar with this space. We can't thank our donors enough for all your support!

Stay tuned for more stories and photos.

We are happy to report our partnership with Rocinha Creative English, an initiative that hosts a groups of kids from the Rocinha favela to teach them English and Art, has strengthened and we have developed a plan to host a group of 15 children every 2 months at SINAL to explore different aspects of environmental education, mindfulness and art!

Our last encounter was in December 2021, and we had a very special day. We used our ecodesign lab to play with clay extracted from our own campus, making bunny figurines, then we practiced meditation in the bamboo forest, followed by a free interpretation painting session!

After that, the kids had a chance to explore the magical bamboo forest and swim. We prepared foods based on our farm produce.

The kids will come back in February for a new day of activities!

A big thank you to all our donors who help us give children a space full of possibilities to get to know themselves, fall in love with the beautiful nature surrounding them, and have fun in the process! 

This month we had the opportunity to host for the first time in over a year a learning journey with children from impoverished communities in our campus!

Because of the pandemic, we hadn't been bringing people to SINAL. However, with the advances of the vaccination we were able to host the children from The Rocinha Creative English Programme to come and participate in many activities. The goal was to transmit a sense of care for the environment and show them the importance of sustainability.  

This group was particularly curious and full of energy, so it was great to kickstart our learning journeys again!

While on the journey, they had the chance to practice their English with SINAL’s team, which consists of people from different countries. Among the activities we  put together, we learned about the different types of soil and how to improve them for planting and reforestation, and how to treat different animals, by putting ourselves in their place.

We are so grateful to our donors for supporting us even through this unusual year. We are looking forward to creating more of these opportunities for children of marginalized communities with your help!