This has been a very interesting week. Last Monday was the first day of school and the IF was filled with students starting the new semester. However, a few days later it was announced that the professors would be going on strike. Despite this, there has still been some Mulheres Mil work for us. This semester, the project will be taking place in a new community. We tagged along with Sarah for a meeting with Father Sydney, who runs the church and community centre. This community centre provides support for three low-income communities: Brasilia, Traveva Matadouro, and Santa Terezinha. Following the meeting, he showed us 2 of 3 community centres that were large yet empty. There are no programs running, hence there are no people working within the building. It is clear that this vast amount of space that this community has is being underutilized.
On Friday we went to Pirambu to meet up with the staff of Emaus Casa de Saber. We were shown the classrooms where children are taught and assisted with their homework. We were given a tour of the community centre, which is made up of 2 floors. At the moment, they’re fundraising to build a bigger community center. The place is bustling with life and activities. The contrast of activity between Emaus and the community centers we had seen a few days ago is shocking. Emaus is a French NGO that has been running in Brazil since 1986. (See Amber’s blog about Emaus). Emaus has had time and commitment on its side, allowing for it to become an internationally recognized development program.
This week, Amber and I will be sitting in on the classes at Emaus just so the children can get used to us. This should be an interesting week indeed...
Emaus does a very good job in the poor communities of Fortaleza, and is a very respected organization. They accept donations of old, used stuff (refrigerators, TV's, computers). Many people in the city donate their old used electronics to Emaus (I did it myself a few times).
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