Project Mumuquinha

This project is being carried out in the community of Posse/ Nove Iguaçu, and benefits weekly more than 100 orphans and children in need through its education, sport, culture, and leisure areas. It also promotes the exchange between children and young people around the world.

Aims:

To generate opportunities and enable children in need to get an education, practice sports, and known about their and other cultures.
To increase their self-steem, discipline and trust in themselves.
To promote exchanges between children and adolescents from around the world.
To establish bonds of friendship between the children and the volunteers.

We initiated our work in the community of Posse in July 2004, when we developed various activities with the children, and we identified the local needs. This stage of the project counted with the participation of volunteers from England, Brazil, Spain and France.

1. Sport Project:

Our aim is to teach and support children from Avicres homes and the community of Posse, through the practice of sports. We strive to integrate children from different communities, and we carry out activities, which may contribute to the development of the children and adolescents. Our first step was the building of a football pitch, a mini athletic track, and also painted and rebuilt an old stand and the surroundings of the sports area, thus crating the Mumuquinha Stadium.

After organizing the structure, we joined forces with the Fluminense F.C. and equipped the project with sports material and uniforms for the children. We also hired a coordinator and two P.E. teachers to start training the children. As of April 2005 we have been organizing friendlies between children from Brazil and South Africa and field trips, and the children have seen the final of the Carioca Championship at the Maracaná Stadium (Rio).

The project has achieved all its goals, and now we would like to expand it even more next year. Project Mumuquinha: integration and education through sports.

2. Leisure and Culture:

This is a very important area in Project Mumuquinha. At present, we are organizing the following activities:

Cinema:
Movies and cartoons sessions, organized by our volunteers, who spend the day with the children creating a mini-cinema atmosphere in the institution. We are already putting together a mini film library with the children.

Events:
This is about many different activities: entertainers, music, food… simply events to make the children and the volunteers happy. We always try to get the children and adolescents from different communities involved, in order to encourage the integration among children and teenagers from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds. Everyone, volunteers and children, share in the special moments which make up the Project Mumuquiña.

Field Trips:
We organize visits to museums, tourist attractions, football matches, etc... We are always looking for the opportunity to provide the children with interesting activities that will help in their development, and will make up the foundation for their own new discoveries.

3. International Exchanges

We promote different types of exchanges:

Among children from other countries via letters, photos, and gifts.
We welcome volunteers from Brazil, England, Spain, France and Germany, all of whom carry out tasks and develop projects with the children. Their work with us may last from some weeks to several months.

4. Sponsor a Child:

We organize two different activities, which have proved very successful:

Birthday of the Month:

We gather all the children whose birthdays fall on each month of the year, from January to December.

Our main aim is to link the children with their “Sponsors” (Solidario). It is a unique and very special day for them, full of love and attention, when they celebrate their special day.

The activities for the day include: a visit to a place of the birthday boy/girl’s choosing, the giving of gift (chosen by the children), the sharing of a meal with the “Sponsors” (Solidario), and many other different activities. It is a wonderful and unforgettable day, both for the “Sponsors”(Solidarios) as for the children.

Sponsor a Child:

At the moment, we are organizing this project with our French friends from Ressonances, who every month contribute to the formation and development of our children.

The Sponsors and the children exchange letters, and we send information to the Sponsors every 4 months, telling them what the child is achieving, and thus keeping a good relationship between them. The money is invested directly in education, extra curricular activities, clothing, gifts, visits, and whatever the project coordinator together with the children deem necessary.

This project saw the light in September 2005, and we will keep everyone up-dated on these kind of activities through our web page.

For more information on how to help, get in touch with us on: info@childrensaid.org.uk

Please click here to see pictures from the Mumuquinha Projects.