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Next week, we will announce the fourth group of projects to receive support from the foundation in 2005. At this time, I would like to share with you our happiness at seeing women, men, and children - black, native Brazilian, and white - really change their lives through the opportunities our support provides. The difference we make isn't only for them - it's for us as well.
The results a US$10, 000 donation can achieve in one year are surprising, even to us. In this edition, you will read about the change in the life of Maria do Carmo Silva, nicknamed Neném, who left a camp for landless workers and moved to the settlement Nova Canaã, in Pernambuco state. With 37 other families, the Silvas won the right to cultivate land for their own sustenance, the opportunity to build their own home, and the dream of setting up a business. With BrazilFoundation's support, the Centro Josué de Castro (CJC), from Recife, is helping workers organize a system of collective administration that will give the settlement its socio-economic structure.
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On the celebration of its 10th anniversary,
Projeto Educacional Coração de Estudante (PRECE) invited Susane Worcman to plant a tree in BrazilFoundation's honor in front of the Student's House in Cipó – Ceará. |
The 46 projects the foundation has supported so far have achieved a great deal. In an Indian reservation in Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul, 285 native Brazilians with little access to education have received from the Associação Amigo do Índio, thanks to BrazilFoundation's support, early childhood education, literacy, professional training, and help with transportation for those who are in university.
In Cipó and Pentecostes, in the semi-arid region of Ceará, BrazilFoundation has made possible the preparation of 200 young people, who are the children of local farmers, for the state university's entrance exam. Annually, an average of 14 students apply for each of 3,000 available places. The project PRECE (Projeto Educacional Coração de Estudante) managed to pass 80 of its students in 2004 and 2005, an excellent average. It is also interesting to note, that most of the students registered for courses in agronomy, zoology, and education with the intention of applying their knowledge to their home region. Prece's capacity to transform the society it serves is immeasurable if we judge the future impact of the students on their surroundings.
Perhaps BrazilFoundation's most valuable quality is a certain audacity to invest in small projects, located where few institutions reach. Our selection process is open to small organizations, which have a difficult time accessing the large institutions that generally provide financing. The first step the project leaders take when they contact BrazilFoundation already initiates our advisory process. The application form includes a budget sheet, which, in addition to allowing the foundation to closely accompany the expenses of each project, has become an administrative tool for the project coordinators. Several of them, after getting over the initial shock, have thanked us for the knowledge they acquired through the guidance of our analysts about how to fill out the form.
An understanding of the difficulties that lie down the road and a stretched out hand during the process of overcoming them, make us true partners of "our" projects. We believe firmly that changes are made through the desire and effort of those who know their needs intimately. Confidence in those we support through our work is one of the magic ingredients in this journey.
It's not easy to make a difference in this immense nation, which has as many problems as it possesses beauty. But in these four years of activity, BrazilFoundation has learned a lot. We have established a team of dedicated young people, an essential element in our relationship with the projects we support. It's a relationship based on common aspirations- the realization of goals, the success of results, the achievement of justice, well being, and development.
It's been very important for us to realize that we are not working with people's poverty and weaknesses, but instead with their strength and determination - a giant difference!
Sincerely,
Susane Worcman
Vice President, Director of the Rio office
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