African Project
It was a very special project, from
the first day until the last. The support of people from all
around the World (England, Brazil, Spain, Japan, Korea, South
Africa, Mozambique, Denmark, USA, Germany… All over)
was incredible.
We worked together with the Millennium volunteers and managed
to attract the attention of the BBC TV, radio and a variety
of newspapers. I can’t forget the campaign that we have
done with the “Rio Boys” football team; all the
future Beckham's and Ronaldinhos were very enthusiastic and
motivated, helping our mission to success.
Professional Football teams like Botafogo
F.R and Torquay United sent messages of support and materials.
Thank you!
Family and friends were vital with lots of help and incentives.
Thank you all.
We took 9 months promoting and working out on this short-term
project with a very simple aim: Put smiles on kids faces.
I arrived in Africa on my own. I had some contacts with NGO’s
in Mozambique for our independent projects and visits.
Luckily before I went I met someone from Mozambique in England
who gave me a very good contact in the capital Maputo. He
was of extremely help and was very important during my short
stay there.
I stayed around 2 weeks in Africa. In those days I visited
very poor villages where sometimes aids had contaminated one
out of every three people. In those villages they didn’t
have the basic needs for life: clean water was the main problem
and the population were very exposed to killer diseases like
malaria, cholera and aids.
But despite all those very critical problems the people were
happy, they had love, families and a great sense of unity
within their community.
I participated in some aids campaign in those villages, talked
and played with some kids. After the visits we had a meeting
with all the volunteers of this project. I was representing
Brazil and the UK in a debate with people from the US and
several African nations.
The clear thing in those villages was that they just need
the very basic elements of life in order to be a healthier
and prosperous community. We shouldn’t complicate, just
make it simpler. There were happiness among children and this
was a very positive start.
But the harder places to go there were the orphanages. The
atmosphere was so heavy and the children there so oppressed
without love and care. The responsible for the orphanage wasn’t
very keen in making the contact with the kids. So they were
almost on their own.
In terms of aids prevention it was very difficult to pass
information to the teachers and children because of their
cultural background, the teachers thought that sex with condom
was just stupid and thus encouraged sex without any kind of
protection (The man there have many partners, what makes it
easier for the disease to spread). But the aids project they
carried out there was very interesting and hopefully it will
bring results to those communities in the medium/term, as
people in Mozambique are becoming more aware of the dangerous
of aids.
For those places we need a very well planned medium/long term
project, because it was in a critical situation. But for the
short period that I was there I gave my contribution in the
debates about the project, visited the villages affected,
passed positive messages to children and with the money raised
Worldwide we distributed to every children from the institution
toys and school materials.
In community centres we distributed sports materials for the
formation of sport teams, but this apparently simple task
was not so simple. The staff wanted the t-shirts and balls
to themselves. Most of them came to me asking for things…
I had to explain that if we had a team of 6 and 6 t-shirts,
by taking one would damage the whole group. It is difficult
to explain that to them, but we have to understand that many
of the people there haven’t got anything so if they
see something nice they want it. At the end we did what was
best for the group and the material was used to form boys
and girls sports teams.
We were able to achieve our main aims and objectives.
We assisted children in need, talked and exchanged ideas with
some NGO’s. The experience we gained was extremely important
because I could closely see the problems and situations that
children in need face and how very important details can have
a great impact on their lives. I also confirmed my “ideas,
hypothesis and theories” by creating many possibilities
and situations in order to see how people would respond.
Childrensaid missions carry the message that children from
everywhere want and need love and care. Those are the main
ingredients for their development as human beings.
We want them to see god and goodness in people and show them
a light of inspirational for their lives.
That is why we are now focusing in forming a very strong group
in order to provide what children need, protecting them from
their fears and problems.
“We are here for them”
Click the thumbnails below to view some pictures from the project:
