Feed and Educate Children in Salvador, Brazil

Dear Supporter, 

At our school,The Educandário Creche Comunitária Sonho da Vovó Clara (ECCSVC) or Grandmother Clara’s Dream Educational Community Creche in Mata Escura, the rainy season has just begun. Whilst the weather remains warm, frequent torrential downpours make life very difficult in the favela during this time.  

As favelas spring up and grow without any proper planning the land is often uneven and almost always lacks any sewer system. Mata Escura is no exception – the land upon which the favela is built is very hilly and almost all the roads are unmade dirt tracks. When the heavy rains hit this leads to soil erosion and flooding – roads become unpassable and houses are regularly inundated with dirty water, which overflows from the makeshift sewer system and trails rubbish and waste all around the town.

We typically encounter quite a few problems during this period. Students often suffer from illnesses, serious chest infections and pneumonia are common, made worse by chronic mould problems in the hot and damp favela housing. In addition there is the constant threat of Dengue fever. The Dengue mosquito is relatively common in Salvador and the threat is highest around still and stagnant water sources, like the puddles and water butts so common in the favelas during the rainy season. Dengue fever is a horrible illness, which can be fatal for the very young and very old. Contracting Dengue fever twice can induce Haemorrhagic Fever, which is extremely dangerous.Last year one of youngest students spent nearly a month in the public hospital with Dengue Fever and pneumonia.

Andrea, our school teacher, is always extremely vigilant in monitoring our students for signs of illness during this period and we increase our take home food rations to try and ensure student’s immune systems are as strong as possible. The school food menu is also adjusted at this time to provide foods such as chicken noodle soup, which locals believe offer defence against bugs in the rainy season.

Public transport also suffers hugely during the rainy season. Roads are not designed well enough to deal with the frequent inundations and the huge floods lead to traffic stoppages and enormous tailbacks. As bus services are cancelled our local families suffer. Parents are unable to get into the city centre for work and tourists staying away from the beaches the opportunities to earn money are greatly reduced. This difficult period is just another demonstration of why the charitable work of the ECCSVC – providing free of charge education, childcare and food – is so important to the community of Mata Escura.

The rainy season has once again revealed the need for further repairs to the school buildings and we will be using a portion of donations received these months to fix the holes in the roof and damp patches which have once again emerged.

We thank you for your generous and continued support of ECCSVC, we couldn't continue our work without your donations. 

Best Wishes, 

GVI Chartiable Trust

Links:

• The Charitable Trust