Pure Brasil: Working from Bahia and Volunteering for an NGO

After our 2 kids were born (Anita-2009 and Miguel-2010), Luciana and I started to see the world with our kid’s eyes. This new way to see the world showed us a not too bright future. We saw conflicts, climate change, hunger, polluted water and other damage we are doing to our society, to our planet.

When they started school, even trying to choose a less traditional school, it was hard to see how that kind of education could not help to change people’s lives. The education system is made to create a job force for the market, to prepare kids for the university and we wanted to prepare our kids for real life. It was not difficult to find ways to make it happen for our kids, but what about other kids? While our kids have a clean, quiet and comfortable place to live, lots of other kids don’t, not only in Brazil, but all over the world. And what kind of adult do we expect from a child that grows up in very bad conditions?

Luciana decided to study pedagogy to be a teacher. Through her/our studies, we realized so many new initiatives in education and new hope for the future. But how can we make it real?

We have been supporting an education initiative on the coast of Bahia. A small but strong effort to teach small kids from 2 to 7 years old using the Waldorf Pedagogy Method. Most of kids were not in a position to pay for the school, so donations became necessary and we are proud to have helped for many years. Early childhood development is very important and they have been doing a great job with these 25 to 30 kids foro ver 7 years now. The school is called Jardim das Bromélias

When I say “they” I mean Isney, Flávio and Marcelo that are the owners of a local lodge called Pousada Lagoa do Cassange (www.lagoadocassange.com.br) that decided to start Jardim das Bromélias due to the local education system. The goa lis to provide good and innovative education. Education that helps to create opportunities where they live and encourage them not to move to already saturated city centers that are already crowed and with their own issues. They are designed to promote local development.

In 2017, 20ha of land close to the pousada was donated by a Swiss gentleman and EUR 75,000 was donated by a German to build a school for 7 – 16 year olds. This was the birth of Maramar Escola:

That is when we decided to move for 6 months to the region with the kids to learn, to help, and to live this process with them. It was a challenge for us, to plan, to prepare and to organize. It was a small challenge for our children. It was so nice to see how easy it is for kids to adapt, break boundaries, no skin color difference, no religion, no rich or poor, they are just kids. It doesn’t matter where they are. They only need a home and that home can be anywhere.

Luciana is working as a volunteer teacher and I am helping on finance, planning and marketing for the project.

We are planing to create a side business that will support both schools, so they will be less dependent on donations. The business will be a local tour operation for social education products, local production of honey and sustainable cosmetics, a canopy and a restaurant all located in the area of 20ha.

But this is all still a dream that we need to plan, create and then make it happen. We don’t know if it will work or not, but just trying already makes us feel alive.

Thanks to Isney, Marcelo and Flavio for allowing us to share in the start of their dreams