Eco Tourism
Volunteering

VOLUNTEER IN BRAZIL AT A PERMACULTURE FARM

Category: Social Impact

  • Social Impact 2022

    Social Impact 2022

    The Partners & their history

     

    Over the passed 20 years a group of organization have colaborated in social activities mainly focussed on underprivileged youth in Brazil. It all started with the Comunidade Rural Casa do Caminho orphanage in Brazil where Bart Bijen became the managing director. In 2006 the Stichting Avante Educação Brasil was founded in the Netherlands with the objective to support the children of the orphanage and other underpriviledged youth in Brazil.

    Then in 2009 the Caminhos Language Centre in Rio de Janeiro was founded. A Portuguese Language School for foreigners with 2 goals. Generate funding for underprivileged children and teens from the orphanage and also the favelas in Rio de Janeiro. The school is owned by Bart and Jascha. Jascha is the managing director.

    In the language school surged “Mais Caminhos” which was the social arm of the school which grew together with the school and is now an established organization.

    And in 2015 Eco Caminhos in Nova Friburgo, Brasil was founded with the purposes to impact both the environment and underprivileged youth.

    As the social programs have grown in 2023 we have now founded a Brazilian Foundation called “Ecolibrium” with the purpose to raise funds in Brazil and abroad to increase the social and environmental impact in the region.

     

    The realized work in 2022

    The support of educational and social projects in Brazil by the Avante Educação Brasil Foundation runs through the programs: 1. Mais Caminhos 2. Eco Caminhos Apprenticeship (school) 3. Support for Davi and family

    Mais Caminhos

    In the program Mais Caminhos is aimed at providing education and support for children from the favelas Cantagalo and Pavuna in Rio de Janeiro.  The program functions at the Caminhos Language Center in Rio de Janeiro. The manager Marie Dupuy runs a team of volunteers.  For a reports of the activities and achievement you can check the mais caminhos website.

    Eco Caminhos Apprenticeship

    The Avante Educação foundation  also supports the apprenticeship program of Eco Caminhos. An Eco farm near Nova Friburgo in the state of Rio de Janeiro.  The Eco Farm also receives underprivileged young adults with little perspective. youngsters live at the farm for one or two years receiving accommodation, food and a stipend. The young adults can specialize in bio-construction or agroforestry.

    They also learn how to behave on the labour market and how to take care of themselves: cleaning, cooking and learning how to handle money. In 2022, there were 4 apprentices. Of these, three have successfully completed the programme. One of them is now contracted by Eco Caminhos as an employee, two have left after going abroad after meeting a friend within Eco Caminhos. In 2023, two new apprentices have  started and two more are starting in May,

    Davi and Family

    Support to Davi and family The Avante Educação Brasil Foundation has been supporting Davi Porfirio and his siblings for many years. The family spent an important part of their childhood in the Casa do Caminhos orphanage near Rio de Janeiro. Davi then spent an exchange year in Genhout Beek with the Pirson family . He then went to study and works at the Caminhos Language Centre where he is responsible for touristic activities for the students. Two brothers and a sister are now adults and stand on their own two feet. There is another brother Tiago who is forteen years old and is currently in school. In the video below Davi explains why the support needs to continue for a few more years.

    Davi will now move to France in 2023 where his girlfriend lives. Luciana, Davi’s sister, will continue to care for Tiago. Luciana doesn’t make enough money to support Tiago. Davi will have to set up his life in Europe first and get a job in France . Until then, we will continue to provide financial support. We kindly ask the donors to continue to support for at least another four years until Tiago is an adult. Davi is supported by about 40 sponsors who pay a monthly amount.

     

    AEB Foundation

    The AEB Foundation does fundraising for all the projects described above and does annual fundraisers for specific projects. The board consists of Jan Bijen (chairman), Jascha Lewkowitz (secretary treasurer) and Maarten Vonhögen (secretary).

  • Canadian students build a park in Nova Friburgo school.

    Canadian students build a park in Nova Friburgo school.

    Coming from Canada direct to the neighborhood of Cordoeira – participate in an action in local school, build park and participate in bioconstruction and agroforestry project in partnership with ‘Eco Caminhos’.

     

    In partnership with the social program OFFGRID we are pleased to welcome a group of students from sainteanne school in Canada to help us build a playground in a school in Nova Friburgo – Padre Rafael Municipal School, in the Cordoeira neighborhood.

    They came to help us with a lot of love, passion, enthusiasm and happiness spreading throughout our community and also giving us a hand in the mass in our permaculture project at Eco Caminhos.
    They are from many parts of the globe we have Hungarians, Russians, Spanish, Indians, Chinese, Italians, English and French all together on a mission that began on Monday, 6, where they will remain until March 22.
    This is a great opportunity for them to learn a new language like Portuguese and also about different cultures and customs.

     

     

    Bart points out that the experience is rich for both students coming from other countries and young Brazilians:

    “Here they have the opportunity to know a foreign language and understand that young people on the other side of the world are equal, are only from another culture, with different race and language, but have many similar things and make us believe that the world is much smaller than we imagine”.

    The financial resources for the construction of the School Park were part of a donation from the students and they are acting as volunteers. It’s a wonderful gesture!

    The OFFGRID project is a bilingual project that follows the vision of development of children and young people through humanized sustainable habits and skills.

    João Guilherme Wermelinger, dentist who participates in the ‘Off Grid’ project at Padre Rafael school said he is full of expectations:

    “I’m sure it will be days of discovery, hope, diversity and inclusions, served by altruism and also empathy”.

     

    The seven young students from different corners of the world are accompanied by a teacher and will also produce a documentary on sustainable tourism, which is part of the completion of their school program.

    In addition to the interventions and benefits of the school in Cordoeira, students will have agroforestry experiences, will learn about Bioconstruction, as well as leisure activities such as trails, and walks in waterfalls of the city.

     

    Opportunities like this are extremely important both for young foreigners who come to make an exchange in Brazilian lands and for the young people here, who start to see more possibilities for a better future, the importance of taking care of our environment using sustainable practices for the greater good of the community and the planet in which we live. It is a fact that this immersion will provide a new worldview to these young people and we believe that we are following the right path in search of a better future.