Projeto Joaozinho, Brazil March 2015
LÖÖF FOUNDATION VISITS PROJETO JOAOZINHO IN BRAZIL – A SAFE HAVEN
In connection with the inauguration of Partex Brazil, Lööf Foundation and Partex staff took the opportunity to support a social project in the suburbs of Fortaleza.
The day care center we visited was founded in 1991 by Mrs. Tânia in her house with seven children. She lives in a very poor neighborhood and felt she wanted to help. The project is financed by donations. The staff that work at project Joaozinho are volunteers and receive no money for their work. The government makes no contributions.
The centre takes care of 185 very poor children, aged 1,5 – 14 years of age. There is approximately nine staff members consisting of Mrs. Tânia and her husband, her two daughters, and the rest are volunteers. She pays EUR 240 for the rent and needs to raise approximately EUR 900 every month to sustain the day care center.
The unit that Lööf Foundation and the Partex staff visited takes care of 45 children between 7:00 and 16:00. The children are 2–5 years old. All of the children get to take a shower in the morning, and then eat breakfast together. Later in the day they receive lunch and a snack. The older children receive a snack and do their homework at the center after school.
If the project Joaozinho did not exist many of the children would be on the streets. Joaozinho is the only place to get food for some of the children. Medicine is provided and all of the children look healthy. Since the children come from a very poor area, their family situation is often troublesome. The mother is sometimes working, but the father is either an alcoholic, doing drugs or in jail. In the poor areas many people are alcoholics since cachaça (Brazilian spirit) is so cheap.
In the poor areas there also exists a lot of drug dealing. Since the centre is dependent on donations, we brought lots of toys and also food – eggs, chicken, ham, cookies, chocolate milk, dishwashing liquid, floor cleaning soap, laundry soap, tooth brushes and tooth paste. They were very happy with our donations and the kids played and played with the toys we brought – a very warm day in our hearts!
Blog posts - Projeto Joaozinho, Brazil
