Volunteering in Salvador, Bahia, Brasil

[windsey]

This past summer, I helped my college friend, courtney, put together a little volunteer program of six californians (and a couple "drop-ins"). We worked with kids in a favela (shanty town) and set up a day program during the kids' winter vacation. It was tough work since we were all starting from scratch, but we did it! my friend, courtney, is still running the program and is putting together another group to go this coming summer. everybody funds themselves, so it's cheaper than going through a bigger NGO. that's how the program first started, through a large NGO that courtney went through. but the program was abandoned, and courtney picked it up (along with me) and put together a makeshift program (with the help of craig's list to advertise the opportunity). from that, a group of six set off for salvador. a handfull of others from around the bay area contacted us and said that they would be traveling through and would love to help for a few days. that was exciting too. we had a high school chem teacher from san francisco drop by and make playdough with the kids from salt and flour... so if you're interested or just want to know more information (even if you happen to be passing through only for a few days)... contact courtney on her myspace (http://www.myspace.com/courtsabourts) or by email at courtliz@berkeley.edu
Here's a partial description... ooo and a website to visit!

http://web.mit.edu/mitpsc/fellowships/focu...ad-wom-06.shtml

This is for anyone with at least an elementary background in Portuguese who is interested in volunteering with children in a favela with a Brasilian NGO in Salvador Bahia Brasil for summer 2006 for about two months somewhere between june and early august at the latest. The NGO is the CFDN (Centro Feminina Da Diaspora Negra).

Its mission is to provide services that will benefit women of the African diaspora. One of the ways CFDN is making an effort to improve the social status of women and people of the African Diaspora in Brazil is by providing an enrichment program for Santa Luzia: a community of impoverished Afro-Brazilians in the city of Salvador da Bahia. Programa Santa Luzia contributes to the goals of CFDN by providing enrichment opportunities for the children of Santa Luzia, many of whom are girls of African descent.

[windsey]

oh and you work about 4 days out of the week, for about 3-4 hours with the kids.. but you do a lot of prep work. and we usually planned weekend travel trips together. we only had one member go off on his own some weekends because he was 40 something and had been to Brasil a dozen times and knew everyone and had been almost everywhere. since it was a small group we were all really flexible about our plans and had a lot of say in what we wanted to do and see. half the group even went to the amazon for a few days...

[bluepea]

Thanks a lot and welcome to the boards. I hope some people here can find this helpful!

[TheJake]

thats awesome! I wish i could afford to go back!

[tegan_lala]

oh. I would love to do that! I actually have to do some volunteer work (& I want to) to get my mum to pay for the flight back...

Working with kids would be great.. Would you have anything during late 2006 - early 2 007[b] ?

[tegan_lala]

oops I was to lazy to read it in full. I actually am not qualified and prob would like to volunteer where it doesn't cost me much.

[windsey]

well, i don't know about "expensive." my friend changed the cost... in that... right now it's pay for your own plane ticket... and that's about it... she's putting together a homestay. and i don't know what the family would charge... depending on water and electric bills... other than that... everyone's on their own. so i consider this cheaper than a lot of other volunteer opportunities. at least through some other NGOs i know. like operations crossroads africa. which is something like $2000... maybe more. i dunno... too expensive for me. but this one is mostly just to cover your own food and transportation around.