Sponsor Environmental Education of Kids in Brazil

The Brilho do Cristal Community School, which currently serves 128 children and adolescents, ages 4 to 15, in the rural area of the state of Bahia, Brazil, in a region surrounded by environmental protection areas, continues to work to provide qualified education to the community of Vale do Capão, in the surroundings of Chapada Diamantina.

At the beginning of September, the school was one of 10 selected from 692 projects as a Sustainable School by the Santillana Institute, taking part in the awards ceremony that took place in Rio de Janeiro. Although it was not the standout school among the 5 representatives of early childhood education and elementary education, being among the finalists was a great sign of recognition for our pedagogical proposal and daily work.

The school also participated in the International Seminar on Educating Cities, Childhood and Sustainability, in the city of Irecê-BAHIA, on September 20th and 21st, presenting the project Knowing to Preserve.

We thank you for the support that allows our school to continue operating and carrying out projects in favor of children and teenagers, in our community, and also carrying out and disseminating practices necessary for the planet!

We continue to seek to maintain and improve our school, especially in terms of infrastructure, which is still very precarious, requiring investment in electrical and plumbing systems, the structure of the walls, which are made of clay, and the floor, which is cracked.

We are immensely grateful for the support we have received, which helps us to pay our teachers and continue our proposal!

Please share our initiative with your family and friends so that we can increase this support network!

Thank you very much!

Links:

• Finalist projects for the Sustainable Schools award

We started another school year on February 19th. We are happy with the growth of the school, which currently has 89 children in the morning shift, serving children aged 4 to 11; and 40 teenagers in the afternoon shift, which caters for ages 11 to 15. During this period, we invest in relationships between children, socio-emotional and group issues: how to deal with differences? How to recognize and minimize the challenges that are present in humanity's relationships with each other (racism, machismo, bullying, economic exploitation) and with nature (care and use of soil and natural resources; waste production; relationship between food, consumption, health and waste production), in addition to the permanent construction of bonds and appreciation of the place where we are, the local environmental preservation areas, the recognition and appreciation of people and local culture.
During this first period of the year, each group of early childhood education and elementary school also identified their interests to carry out research throughout the year, namely: human body, garden animals, backyard project (care of the outdoor area and vegetable garden ), Emotions and Feelings; Bees; Unconventional edible plants and flavors from South America; Stones and Minerals from Brazil.
Thanks to your contribution, we have been able to meet our staff payment commitments and the costs of keeping the school running. We still face problems with transporting children to school, as it is a location where there are no paved roads, which are dirt roads, and there is no public transport, meaning that some children need to walk for kilometers to school. We also want to make improvements to school furniture, desks, tables and bathroom facilities. We believe that, by continuing with support, we will be able to achieve these goals.
Our school community is increasingly strengthened with the support of families, educators and each of you, partners who believe in and support our project! We are very grateful for the collaboration that supports the existence and continuity of the school. We continue with the mission of offering quality education, with principles of sustainability and environmental education experienced in everyday life, by forming citizens aware of their role in preserving the planet.

Thanks a lot!