About us
Our reason to help
favela education e.V. was founded in 1993 to support and encourage children in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.
Our concept is the targeted support of each of our five to a maximum of 10 children in the program. We are convinced that humanitarian support must be as individualized as possible. Only in this way can the aid measures have an effective and lasting effect, because they respect the dignity and wishes of the beneficiaries.
During our stays in Brazil, we have seen how hopeless a life far below the poverty line in the communities – back in the day they were called favelas – is, especially for young people. However, within our abilities it is not possible to improve the lives of around 32 million Brazilians who are currently living in slums. The aim of our work is to enable children to lead a dignified and worthwhile life and thus give them a self-selected future. Our help is aimed at individual people in their reasonably intact family environment.
We have now successfully accompanied a generation of sponsored children through school and will continue to support them in their efforts to build their own livelihoods. It is particularly nice to see that our young people serve as role models for many residents – especially the other children – and that the idea of favela education is carried forward through them.
Our guidelines
The shortcomings of the Brazilian social system are particularly glaring for children in the communities, formerly known as favelas. Often times children usually have a family, but to ensure their survival they have to beg or steal on the streets. When they come home with money, it is rarely used for food, health or education. In most cases, the little they have is used for other means than eduaction by their parents. Measures that provide families with money do not reach the children.
They are the weakest link in the structure of a community and can hardly count on the care of their parents; human lives do not count for much in the slums, not even the lives of their own relatives.
One way to help would be to take the children out of the favelas and their families and place them in boarding schools or homes. Our experience has shown that the young people very quickly flee these places of supposed help because they experience the social community of the favela as a home, despite or precisely because of the lack of prospects. Solidarity among their peers is very pronounced. In addition, family structures are not completely broken in all cases.
For all these reasons, we have found a person for our favela education e.V. project who manages our project on site in Brazil with a steady hand and is in close contact with all those involved. In addition to the children and their parents, this naturally also includes the drug lords in the individual favelas. You can’t get past them, nothing works without their goodwill.
Our measures
In our Brazilian friend Eduardo, we have been able to gain the trust of the children and now also their parents, but he is also tolerated by those in power in the favelas.
Eduardo has regularly visited the various slums in Rio and continues to do so. His aim was to find families who have not yet completely lost sight of a better future, but who are themselves too poor, weak or uneducated to give their children a perspective. His insights and assessments on the ground were and are important when deciding which children to include in the support program. The number of children we support is primarily based on our funding options. There are currently six children and young people in the program.
Our supervisor registers the children at the school and pays the school fees there directly. He buys the school materials and clothes and ensures that the parents do not trade them in. He picks the children up from home every morning and accompanies them to school. Eduardo also picks them up again, cooks and supervises their homework. He organizes cultural excursions such as museum visits, accompanies them to sports activities and brings them home again. Each child has regular check-ups and a monthly food package. Eduardo is a reliable and indispensable partner for us on site and he is a confidant, mediator, advisor and friend for the favela children.
Our supporting members
Favela education works without large structures and bureaucratic effort. Our most important goal in organizing the association is to ensure that every euro can flow into our project. That is why everyone here works on a voluntary basis. We have decided to keep the circle of donors as manageable as possible so that the personal character of favela education is also maintained in relation to the sponsors.
Our circle of regular donors – most of whom have been with us from the very beginning – comprises around 35 people who donate between 15 and 200 euros per month, depending on their means, by standing order or direct debit. There are also one-off donations for birthdays, anniversaries and the like. The Rotary Club Düsseldorf-Karlstadt has been supporting favela education for years with considerable amounts. The sponsors meet once a year at a joint meeting, where we report on the children’s development, exchange information and discuss and plan further measures/activities.