Sample Volunteer Abroad Projects — Brazil
VIP has established and developed very good relationships with non-governmental and independent organizations all over Brazil, resulting in many volunteer project possibilities for those who would like to have such an experience. The project will be selected based on the profile of the volunteer to make the best possible match. Here are some sample projects divided into three different areas:
Education - Social Services - Environment
Education
Not uncommonly, needy children do not return to their homes after school for a number of reasons; instead, they play in the streets and become easy targets for drug dealers and people who start exploiting them - even their own parents. For these and many other reasons there are many projects in Brazil with their focus on poor children. Volunteers in these projects are always welcome - there is mcuh to be done.
Sociedade Alfa Gente
Sociedade Alfa Gente, based in Florianopolis , is a non-profit organization that works to keep children away from the streets. They help about 400 children with two projects, supervised by a specialist in educational orientation. One deals with 1 up to 6-year-old children, and the other takes care of 7 up to 12-year-old ones. The main tasks for the volunteer will be to help teachers with the cleaning and feeding of the younger children besides playing and supporting with educational and recreational activities with the older ones. Experimento will select a host family near the chosen project as the accommodation choice.
Projeto Guarapes
Projeto Guarapes is run by a private school in Natal , serving a neighborhood of needy people with approximately 20,000 inhabitants. They offer educational formation to young children from 2 to 6 years of age. The volunteer is expected to help teachers and the school staff with the children's hygiene, feeding and recreational activities. Homestay will be the accommodation for this project, supervised by a psychologist.
Social Services
Brazil is a country with one of the world's largest social gaps. A lot of people don't even have enough money for their food supplies or other basic needs. The situation very often worsens due to special needs of disabled family member.
Project of the underage worker
The Casa do Menor Trabalhador (House of the underage work) is a project in Natal, which gives support and help to needy children and teenagers, between 7 and 18 years of age, aiming to develop the sense of exercising their citizenship through integral support.
There are 550 students in the house, 14 rooms, 2 sports courts, 8 washrooms, 1 kitchen, 1 cafeteria, 1 video room, library, 22 employees, and 40 teachers. The students spend all day in the project, and there are different activities such as: street dance, freemasonry, baking, English classes, sports, farm services, choral and flute classes.
The school is open from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm, Monday through Friday. The project needs help from volunteers - and having foreigners as volunteers is a once in a lifetime chance to experience another culture and share new experiences.
The volunteers can contribute by helping the teachers in classes such as:
bakery, woodcrafts, English, etc or organize games such as soccer, basketball and volleyball matches. The volunteer may also be able to take part in or help with dance, flute and choral classes, along with other activities.
Environment
The whole environment is in real danger at present. In Brazil, such fact is a sad reality, not different at all from the situation in other countries. And it is even worse in a way if one considers that the majority of the population doesn't have a complete and deep enough environmental education. For such reasons some organizations, like the ones mentioned below, are extremely important to elevate the level of awareness about the environment in Brazil.
GAP - Grupo Ambientalista de Palmeiras
GAP - Grupo Ambientalista de Palmeiras is a non-profit organization that struggles against the degradation of the environment and for the preservation and conservation of the local natural resources. Based in Palmeiras, a small town in Bahia state, GAP is supposed to guarantee the necessary protection of the natural areas around Chapada Diamantina National Park by providing education to the local population, by fighting - as fire brigades - against common fires, by working on the reforestation of destroyed areas, by collecting waste selectively, by monitoring the local tourist attractions (many, indeed), by capturing and setting free (redirecting) local animals and by cleaning polluted rivers. These are some of the duties the volunteer has to be ready to do. The volunteer will be accommodated with a host family selected by Experimento .
