Panelas is a strange name for a city. It is the plural of pot, as in clay pot, used to cook on wood stoves in the 19th century when the city was founded. Nonetheless, it is a small city – by Brazilian standards – of 26,000 people. There are three villages spread throughout its territory, Cruzes, São José do Bola, e São Lázaro.
As Happy Child International’s team visited the City Hall and talked to the city administrators, one by one we said: “I would love to live here!”
But that doesn’t mean that the citizens of Panelas enjoy prosperity and their most basic needs are entirely met. We left the centre of Panelas to visit the district of São Lázaro and witnessed two important facts: it is hard for the families to earn a living for the simple fact that employment is almost none existent. The men work in the surrouding farms, being paid daily wages of £10,00 GBP while the women make ends meet by tending to a small garden, raising their own chickens, sewing, or providing services for their small community. They do not go hungry, however, it is extremely hard to move ahead!
As we talked to a few residents, we noticed they place great hope for the future in educational opportunities, which is on offer on a very limited basis. The children and youth of this community need supplementary education if they are ever to compete with children in larger urban centres.
What a refreshing surprise it was then, to meet two educators, responsible for the after school programmes run by Instituto Solidare in the small community of São Lázaro. The two, Girlan Maria de Siqueira (to the right) and Cristiane Maria de Melo, run a programme appropriately named “My Hope” and together they teach 12 groups of 15 children on average. To do so, they divide the children and youth in appropriate age groups: 3-5 years, 6-8 years, 9-11 years, 12-14 years and 15-20 years. Some meet in the mornings, others in the afternoons, and the oldest group in the evenings, twice a week. Together they reach 70 children and 94 young people making up a total of 164 children and young people !
One would think, “Well, are they able to do a good job?” We don’t really know after a quick visit to the premises. However, we were impressed by the pristine conditions of the rooms they use for the smaller children, complete with a beautiful though small library with books for the little ones. The smiles and friendly faces we encountered during our walk through the village, all indicate that “My Hope” is seen as a valuable asset to the community.
Written by: Elsie Gilbert
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