Children in Fortaleza who have been out of school for almost 6 months are having a brief opportunity to go back to school this month as teacher unions decide to initiate schooling for 15 days. In what should be the beginning of the school holidays at the end of the first semester, children are now briefly back in the classroom.

Read more about the strikes in our latest newsletter.

Sleeping in the ATM Booth

Cash Point - Shelter for Brazilian Street Children

Street children in Brazil are harder to find during the day than at night. We took these photos last month of children sleeping in the early hours of the morning. As soon as the city wakes up, they were most likely abruptly awoken and foced to move on from their temporary shelter.

Why Children in the favelas can’t enjoy the new year just yet

Hello, and a very Happy New Year to you. January should mark the beginning of a new academic year in Brazil but the state school system is so far behind, children may not change year group until March!

Find out why in our Jan / Feb 2011 Results and Relationship Newsletter - (click to open pdf file)

We are gearing up for Christmas in Brazil, it’s hot and humid (unlike the UK!) but the palm trees are decorated with fairy lights and the children are anticipating our Christmas activities. 

For millions of children living in favelas, Christmas is just another day. For many, it is worse because it is a day when they are reminded of their poverty. Children and teenagers come face to face with the reality that their family is not together or that they have very little to give or to receive.  This Christmas our focus is on making sure that the children we are working with have something to remember and something to celebrate. Here is a list of our Christmas activities.

Thursday 16th Dec – Christmas outing, activity day for younger students

The children will be performing in different venues in Fortaleza this Christmas

Friday 17th Dec – Last day of term, acheivement awards and special chapel service
Saturday 18th Dec – Children’s Christmas Party
Monday 20th Dec – Christmas outing, activity day for older students
Wednesday 22nd Dec – Carol singing in the favela, Christmas open air nativity and children’s choir 
Thursday 23rd December – Staff Christmas Party

On behalf of all the staff and children in Brazil, thank you for your support and gifts this Christmas. We wish you a very ‘Feliz Natal’ and ‘Próspero Ano Novo.’

Peace Project

Children at The University of Life have been celebrating the results of a two month project about peace. In a community where violence and bad news dominates most conversations, many children never have the opportunity to stop and think about what a peaceful environment would actually be like.

During the project, students developed their ideas about peace by selecting images from magazines and newspapers which they felt represented peace. In portuguese lessons, the students created descriptions of peace which they then made into artwork.

On Friday 26th November, students presented their work to each other in a special assembly. This included drama, rap music, paintings, poems and readings. Students demonstrated excellent understanding of peace and pledged to remember and share their ideas and dreams for peace  in their school life, family and community.

Students at the University of Life have a new drama production, based on real stories of life in the favelas. Through the creation of monologues, students are telling us their mind-blowing stories and the details are astonishing. The purpose of the production is to rescue friends, cousins, brothers and sisters of our students who are at risk, or already involved in prostitution, drug dealing and gang activity. Life expectancy for anyone involved in these activities is short. You do not have to be in our community in Fortaleza for more than a week before you hear news about another life cut tragically short by violence.

UNiViDA is supporting over 60 young people in (our community mission team) who despite living with this terrible reality everyday, are passionately committed to making a difference. Mary is one of these young people and this is her story. (more…)

UNiViDA is making a difference for children everyday

Despite its emergence as one of the world’s fastest growing economies and wealth of natural resources, Brazil still has millions of people living in poverty. There are parts of the country just as devastated with drought as many parts of Africa. Just an hours drive from Fortaleza, we have taken teams of UK volunteers to visit villages where people live in mud houses and have to walk miles for water and medicine.

In cities like Fortaleza, urban poverty causes the same miseries of hunger and disease but with it comes the physiological impacts of inequality and injustice, over-crowding and violence.  In Fortaleza, 720,000 people (36% of the population) live in slums and there are an average of 5 drug related murders a day. The schools are full but mostly ineffective because class sizes are too big and teachers strike often.

For children, the struggle for physical survival and the consistent fear of gun fights, gangs, police raids or robbery means that their minds are miles away from the concepts of learning, being special or having a dream.

UNiViDA can transform your support into exactly what these children need. This includes a dedicated  teacher, a comforting bowl of hot food, a safe place to play and a caring school environment to make friends. Most importantly we provide hope and real opportunity for children to succeed. Our programme of daily education and care for children from 7-17  has proven to be so effective that we have former students ready to become new teachers and hundreds of children and their parents asking us for help.

UNiViDA needs your partnership, can you help? Go to our contact page to get in touch with us today.

Bouncy castles, fun and games were enjoyed by 400 children living in the slums this Saturday. In Brazil, childrens day reflects the great contrasts of wealth in the nation. Wealthy families throw parties and give children presents whereas poorer families take to the streets with their children to beg, hoping that people will show extra compassion.

Without the support of UNiViDA, these children would not have an opportunity to celebrate children’s day. Thank you for your support.