Pictures of the orphanage Casa de Moisés. It is one of the entities that the Service Learning group works to help! We collect money to give to them supplies they might need. Visits to interact with the kids. 

:)

Criamar (24/09/2011)

This saturday our visit to Criamar was a little bit different. We decided to schedule a meeting with Dirson, the coordinator, to straighten things up. We talked about our preoccupations and he pondered and explained his side. It was a very productive morning and now we are all on the same page. We now have a plan to start working with the kids and are able to plan to help reform the orphanage.

Criamar (10/09/2011)

Long time since my last Criamar visit -

I missed the kids so much. Matheus and Rodrigo (who are brothers: 3 and 5 years old, respectively, and my favorites) looked beautiful and all grown-up. The other kids were ignoring us at first. That's because we had decided not to go there the passed two weeks, since the children were not cleaning up their rooms and court AND were skipping classes. We became very disappointed and talked to all of them today while we were there. We explained why we did not visit them the past saturdays and asked if they understood/had something to say. They seemed uneasy but got the message. Federico, a friend who joined us at Criamar today, donated some clothes to the kids. By the end of the day, they looked happy and thanked him :)

I am starting a tutoring program in both institutions (Criamar and CDM) to help out the children, especially after this incident in Criamar of them missing school. I am going to sit down with each kid, listen to them and identify strengths/ weaknesses and work with them to improve needy areas. I am really excited to start this project and think I will learn a great amount with them, and know they will also learn from me. This mutual experience will only enrich our bond in Criamar and CDM.

Eva, Matheus, Rodrigo, Igor, Larissa, Guilherme, Gabriel, Jajá, Felipe, Rafaela and all the other kids went to say bye to us as we left, and I look forward for next saturday to see them all again! (Especially my 2 sweethearts!!)

Casa de Moisés (27/08/2011)

The visit to Casa de Moisés was extremely productive. Despite the fifty minute drive to arrive at Águas Lindas, the conversation we had with Mayza, the juridical coordinator, was very worthwhile. We learned that around 70 children live at Casa de Moises, under Dona Vera's care (she is an old lady who has dedicated most of her life to helping these kids). The children are sent to the orphanage by the Juizado de Menores of the district, and most cases are results of parental abuse, alcoholism, addiction to drugs, lack of care, etc.

The coordinators of CDM are very excited because the orphanage has recently qualified to be part of "Criança Esperança", a Brazilian NGO that, in a partnership with UNESCO, helps out needy children and instituions around Brazil. Criança Esperança is going to provide a specific amount of money and CDM must spend it to improve the orphanage according to their specifications.

Regardless of these helps and of other donations the orphanage already receives, CDM needs materials to help the construction they've started. In the construction area, they have planned to build a tutoring room, to hold psychological support sessions, infirmary, playroom, and much more.

Finally, after talking "business" with Mayza, we interacted with the kids. Since it was our first time there and there are many children, we distributed balloons to each of them as an "ice-breaker" activity and tried to learn new things from them. In most cases, the children were emotionally demanding and needy of our attention and love. We sticked around and played with them for a while and had a tour around CDM to learn the extension of the property and how it was managed.  

The trip was very enriching and I'm looking forward to meeting with all of them soon! Even though Águas Lindas is considered a very dangerous satellite city, it was worth our visit and the children really seemed happy with us there. We are now trying to schedule a trip there once a month (since transportation is very expensive to get there: 300 reais! The money we fundraised went almost entirely to pay for the trip instead of being saved to buy materials to help CDM). Anyways, we are also working on solutions to improve security around the orphanage area and also ideas to promote the place, since its location doesn't really help. Next trip will probably be on a saturday in October, tbd :)        

Casa de Moisés

Next visit to Casa de Moisés is scheduled for Saturday, August 27th. Excited to meet the kids!

Criamar - Summer 2011

Visiting Criamar has been an amazing experience for me, since I could really identify with the kids at this institution. I've been to Criamar without the school three times prior to start coming regularly with the IB group of students. I know the place, but the children who were there when I used to come are no longer the same ones. Nevertheless, it is great to meet new kids and develop a bond with them (and be able to visit them frequently). Here is a summary of our meetings during the summer holidays:

Saturday, June 18th, 2011

 - Get to know the kids and the place. Memorize names, have snacks, talk to "orphanage moms".
 - Leticia, Yasmin and Davi are siblings. Rodrigo and Matheus are brothers. There are twins.   

June 25th, 2011

 - Play "gincana" with the kids. Award those who participated, demonstrated a proactive attitude and showed teamwork. We played "duck-duck-goose". Had snacks. 

July 2nd, 2011

 - Last day of summer before travelling for vacation. We discovered that the older kids ran away from the orphanage and came back with alcohol and cigarretts. They were reprimanded by the orphanage and their punishment was to clean up their rooms. We talked to them and explained how disappointed we were. We tried to show them that since they are the oldest kids, they are supposed to set an example for the younger ones. The sad part however, was to see that kids as young as 10 year-olds were smoking and drinking that night. And even worst, is that only few of them felt regret for what they did. Somewhat hopelessly, we had snacks and said good bye to the kids.


* Nevertheless, looking forward to meeting them all again after vacation is over *