Empowering Young Brazilians - Art and Mobilization

Dear Viva a Vida Friends and Supporters!

Firstly, we are so proud and excited to tell you that Viva a Vida has won the Global Fund for Children’s (GFC) 2019 Maya Ajmera Sustainability Award!! GFC uses the award to recognize local leaders for their proven success and for their potential to make an even greater impact for young people in their communities. Chosen as one of only three winners out of approximately 150 projects worldwide, Viva a Vida will use the award to establish operational and strategic sustainability, providing activities to develop and inspire young community leaders and artists and by setting up a Youth Management Committee ensuring that young people’s voices are directly incorporated into our annual planning and funding proposals. We couldn’t have achieved any of this without the amazing support of our individual donors, so please accept a huge THANK YOU from Viva a Vida’s team and young participants (see the link below for more information from GFC).

On a more technical note, just to let you know that, because of your amazing help, we are nearing our GlobalGiving project target! We are planning to increase this by another couple of thousand dollars, as we continue to fundraise for this important work at a time when NGO funding in Brazil is particularly challenging.

Now, back to Viva a Vida’s success stories! Today we’d like to tell you about Dona Angela, a great woman, mother, student, community leader and President of Viva a Vida, who provides a warm, sensitive and constructive ear to all our participants!

Angela, known to everyone as Dona or Auntie Angela, is 43 years old and has been a resident of Vila de Abrantes for six years.

Dona Angela is the mother of two members of the V2 Theater Group and, since 2013 when they started attending classes, has frequently participated in NGO activities. She always supports us with ideas and interventions, whether that’s in fundraising, or with a surprise snack for our participants, by making a costume, taking the young people to an activity, turning up at talks, helping out at events… she’s always there!

She even joined the Trustee Board as a member of the Oversight Committee, from 2017 to 2019 and now, since Abril this year, she is our President!

But first, let’s hear a little more about her story. Dona Angela is a strong woman who always talks very gently but resolutely. She lives with her partner Fabiano, their two daughters, Maria and Ana Clara, and their son Angelo.

Dona Angela is from the south of Brazil and came to the Northeast with her family seeking professional opportunities. As the only people they knew were a few relatives already living here, her oldest daughter, Ana Clara, a pioneer of the V2 Group, had some initial difficulties adapting.

Ana Clara’s shyness was getting worse and the family was really worried about her. Then one day Ana Clara said she had joined a theater course publicized in the neighborhood elementary school, where she was studying.

“Most of the friends we have here in Bahia are participants at the NGO. At the beginning, Viva a Vida was very important in my daughter’s life because she made friends at a time when we had moved states and she was really lost.”

A Nursing Technician, now studying Veterinary Medicine, Dona Angela began to be an important influence in the lives of other young people in the community. The doors of her house are always open to young people and she has become a reference point for advice about the world of work, life plans and above all a super “mother” figure to all - welcoming, understanding and very, but very, active.

As she herself says: “The support I give to the young people, principally to the theater group, is for whatever they need. I make it very clear that I will do anything I can for them.”

If the subject is the university entrance exam or government programs, or choosing a higher education course, or organizing documents to obtain student discounts or grants, or needing someone to accompany you to these locations, someone to make phone calls – there is Dona Angela, always ready to help.

To give you a better idea, here is a great description from one of the V2 Theater Group members: “If Auntie Angela does anything it’s help, she’s always there, ready with a solution up her sleeve. “She’s like a mother to me, she always has a smile on her face, dedicated, full of love, sympathy and protection.”

With all this dedication to the young people, the community of Vila de Abrantes and Viva a Vida, in 2017 we invited her to join our Trustee Board. Initially she was a member of the Oversight Committee, where she remained for 2 years, providing essential support to the management team.

In Abril 2019, we were able to fulfil a long-held wish: electing the first woman from the community to be PRESIDENT of the institution.

With all her technical knowledge, her dedication to community causes, her ethical approach and her love for our young participants, there really was no better candidate!

Viva this success story of a fantastic successful woman!

Here are a few of the other amazing things you have helped fund over this period: 

• In April and May the V2 Theater Group completed a six-show community tour of their play In Dependence, directed and researched by Simone Requiao and produced by Tonny Ferreira. Performances were held in four local schools and two NGOs. The play continues to impress audiences with its messages about rights - as one young audience member said “I hope this understanding that racism exists really reaches the audience.”
• During this period the V2 Theater Group participated in an external evaluation, by Mara Vanessa a consultant from Curare, to assess the impact of Viva a Vida’s work. The results were impressive! Mara Vanessa’s report praised the high standard of our work and its strong positive impact on vulnerable young people. One of the participants described the process of being in the group thus: "I was bullied for being tall, thin, black... I was beaten at school. I was like a grub, when I was depressed I was in a cocoon, and the theater was the moment when the butterfly emerged and learnt to fly". May all Viva a Vida's butterflies emerge and fly!
• #VivaJuntos Continues! On April 3^rd we began a new cycle of workshops on Human and Socio-environmental Rights: racism and violence, which will take place over this first semester. Youth Worker Marcos Paulo will work with the eight classroom groups of pupils in the first year of High School at the State College of Vila de Abrantes. More than 200 pupils will be informed about combatting violence, establishing a culture of peace and how to report rights violations. Another semester bursting with learning!
• New Trustee Board: for the first time Viva a Vida’s Trustee Board is entirely made up of members of the Vila de Abrantes community, with the majority female. Three mothers of participants (Donas Marcia and Lene, alongside Dona Angela, our President), Lucas, a young participant from the V2 Theater Group and Ana Cristina an ex-staff member who is from the community. Viva community participation!
• Child Protection: on April 6^th Edilene and Maria, representatives of the local Child Protection team, visited Viva a Vida to talk about reporting sexual violence cases; maintaining confidentiality; and protecting family and team members”. The meeting was incredibly productive, strengthening our ability to protect vulnerable young people. We would like to thank Edilene and Maria for giving up their Saturday morning to talk to us!
• Parents and Families at School: the State College of Vila de Abrantes invited family members, teachers, school employees and Viva a Vida to talk about the importance of family involvement in the school context, particularly for pupils’ emotional health. Congratulations to the college for a lively meeting leading to closer ties between school and family!
• Camacari’s Social Development and Citizenship Department invited social protection agencies, NGOs and local residents to participate in a March against Sexual Violence against Children and Adolescents – our Projects Coordinator represented Viva a Vida.
• Open Agenda Talks: this semester we have worked closely with the Night Courses Sector of the local High School providing talks to young people and adults over four nights:
  • Sexual Violence and Abuse – Children and Adolescents, in partnership with the specialized Social Services Department
  • The World of Work and Social Security – with Juracy Bahia (formerly of Viva a Vida), a youth worker, social activist and economics student
  • The Importance of Community and Social Mobilization – with Jéssica Tatiane Ponce, Social Worker from a local Health Center
  • Between Exclusion and Resistance: the dynamic of racism in contemporary times, with Viva a Vida’s own Youth Worker and Masters student in anthropology and Afro-indigenous Diversity, Marcos Paulo
• Watch out for more Open Agenda Talks next semester!

Links:

• More about the Sustainability Award!