Overwhelming Joy

Last Wednesday, the Projeto Casa Da Crianca team took us to visit one of the projects that they are remodeling.  The area that we went to was Muribeca, which is just a 30 minute drive from the built up and prosperous area where we're staying on Boa Viagem...it was eye opening to see how many people in Brazil live.  

The shelter, which is a day care centre for children is in the middle of Muribeca which is very close to the district dump.  Many children spend their time going to the dump searching for food and anything else of use. A local woman, Dona Cristina decided to do something to help improve these children's lives and started to take children into a shelter during the day where they are fed and cared for so that they don't need to go to the dump during the day.

Dona Cristina has dreams of making the shelter a better place, she would love a little garden for the children, and an area where they can learn and dream about what they want to be when they grow up.  Supported by the Projeto Casa Da Crianca team, and sponsors like Ferriera Costa (local building supply company) this dream is becoming a reality as plans for a new building and garden are well on the way & to be finished in 3 months. These are some photos of the shelter and the work in progress.
This daycare doesn't have the luxury of of 1 caregiver to every 3 or 4 children, as there can sometimes be 150 children and only a few people to care for them.  But the children love it there...they have food to eat, they are washed, they are given love and joy, which is something that is often missing in their lives. We met a 7 year old girl, whose parents were murdered in front of her, she hadn't spoken since it happened.  Now that she's spent alot of quality time with Dona Cristina in the shelter, she's able to communicate again and smile. 

The day that we were there some of the children had not come to the shelter as they had been taken by their mothers to a protest about the violence that's been happening in the town. The children who were there gave us a heartwarming welcome, were so much fun to play with, and very enthusiastic about learning a few words in english.

 

 So how does the work that I'm doing here help this cause?

Our project is to provide a portal for communications, document repository and sharing, photo uploading, etc.  This new cloud solution will reduce costs such as telephone, post, travel, administration, printing, and travel time.  Which in turn allows the Projeto Casa Da Crianca team to have more time to devote to new creative initiatives, work with new franchises, and meet with those who can help them to continue with their mission...so that more projects like the one with Dona Cristina can be completed. 








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