By Emma Astles | Project Coordinator
Dear Supporters,
Students have just returned to classes after a 2-week break for the São João holidays.
Although religious in origin, São João (or St John) has changed over the years to become a celebration of the countryside and rural traditions. In the regions surrounding Salvador, Brazilians celebrate by dressing in simple country styles, preparing traditional foods and dancing to forró – a musical style originating in the North East and based on a combination of accordion, zabumba bass drum and triangle.
School staff arranged a São João celebration at the school – a great opportunity for the children to learn about these traditions and their rural roots. Many of our students’ parents are simply too poor or too busy working (or both) to support their families to be able to celebrate these occasions at home. Our school teacher, Andréa, also gave out awards to the students’ with the term’s best attendance, best results in different subjects, most improvement, the hardest workers and the most helpful and polite students.It was a great fun day as the photos show!
The period following the São João holidays is always an unusual one in the school. A huge number of our families originally migrated to Salvador’s favelas from the state of Bahia’s enormous rural interior in search of work. Bahia’s countryside is harsh, towns are isolated, the land is dry and difficult to cultivate, industry is almost non-existent and deprivation is rife. Opportunities are so limited that young people are forced to migrate to major cities such as Salvador to seek a better life for their families. However, as we know, Salvador is also rife with problems of its own – violence, drugs, poor infrastructure – despite the lack of opportunities, the difficulties faced in the city can often cause families to return home to the countryside.
Taking advantage of the São João holidays to visit home, families often decide to stay and we hold our breath when school reopens to see which kids will return. We do not like to lose any students, but we fully understand the difficult decisions that our families face in the struggle to provide for their children and themselves.
We are looking forward to the start of the new school term and welcoming our students back!
Thank you for your continued support and generosity.
With Gratitude,
Educandário Creche Comunitária Sonho da Vovó Clara
(Grandmother Clara's Dream Educational Community Creche)
By Emma Astles | Project Coordinator
By Emma Astels | Project Co-ordinator
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