Provide Quality Education to 15000 Amazon Children

After such a rough and challenging year, we would like to share with you, our global supporters, the actions that Vaga Lume Association took to support rural communities in the Amazon. All this work was done by our donors, partners, employees, and of course, our almost 1,000 volunteers from, and spread through, the Legal Brazilian Amazon.

 At the beginning of the year  Vaga Lume was ready for a year full of challenges based on an expansion plan to open at least 4 new libraries in Amazon rural communities at the same time that we would continue to manage the existingl 86 community libraries, providing courses, trainings, immersions, meetings and sending 10,000 news books to the region.

But then… the pandemic arrived, the world rapidly changed, people could not get together, get close, be together without a mask, no touch before sanitizers. And, of course, our work, just like everything else, was hit by this big world issue. Yet, Vaga Lume responded.

We established safety rules and work conditions for employees and volunteers, at the same time that we had to close the libraries so it would not contribute to the virus dissemination. We acted as fast as we could and collected thousands of humanitary aid donations to send to the rural communities in the Amazon and we adapted: creating and optimizing ways to communicate better with our beneficiaries and volunteers in the region. 

We have learned even more about the potential of the virtual connection and because of that we now have a pilot project to take internet connection to two communities in Tefé, a city located in Amazonas state. Besides all of that we also adapted our volunteer trainings to an online format and, since the libraries were closed, this year the books were individually sent  to  children, in their homes, so they could read and travel the magical world of literature without getting exposed.

Now, in consideration to your support we would like to bring you Our achievements in 2020:

Humanitarian aid delivered to  Amazonian communities:

•         4,755 face shields
•         80.091 cloth face masks
•         1,200 alcohol hand sanitizers
•         15 sanitary barrier kits (more than 500 items such as signs and folders to support villagers to block their communities from outsiders)
•         340 food care boxes
•         62,500 new clothing

Books and Library items:

•         956 uniforms for volunteers
•         86 mats
•         19,000 office items
•         9,379 books (86 in braille) delivered to our library users
•         76 kindle e-readers

Trainings and Meetings

•     9 hours of shared reading training program with 26 veteran volunteers 
•     13 Quarantine Challenges (our volunteers were challenged to create, express, and share their experiences regarding reading and community activities through the quarantine period)
•       31 meetings with veteran volunteers
• 8 monitoring evaluations including the annual evaluation of the work at the community libraries.
•     29 meetings with educators
•     37 workshops of the Youth Exchange  Program and 170 letters exchanged.

And here we are now. After all of this we can only thank you for your support and wish you a very happy and healthy 2021!

The Brazilian Legal Amazon corresponds to 61% of the national territory and covers nine out of twenty-seven of the Brazilian states. The region concentrates one of the greatest diversities of fauna and flora in the world. In addition, there is a diversity of communities that inhabit it: more than 180 indigenous people, more than 500 quilombola communities – the descendants of slaves who escaped from Brazil's plantations in order to build a new community to achieve its freedom -,  riverside communities, and the populations who are living in large cities that might recognize themselves or not in these denominations and groups.

Thus, in addition to all the environmental diversity, we also find many different cultures present in the Amazon, each one with its own form of organization and social interaction. Some researches show an important dimension of the life of the populations that live in the forest: the management of the biodiversity in these communities happens through its cultural practices, cultivated since centuries ago through the use of techniques of low environmental impacts.

These studies also show that the removal of populations from their lands, the interference in the way they live and the occupation of the land for activities such as the cultivation of soybeans or cattle, can generate impacts that has no coming back from to one of thewealthiest natural reserves in the world. Nowadays, it is possible to affirm that the main threats present in the region are due to deforestation, caused predominantly by illegal logging and agriculture.

All these forms of the use of the land generate conflicts and interfere in the way traditional populations live and use the soil, whether they are riverside, indigenous or quilombolas. These impacts cause losses for society in general, such as environmental de-characterization, loss of quality of life and increase of violence.

Since 2019, both traditional populations and the biodiversity of the forest have been threatened due to the increase of fires, often illegal, and the persecution of traditional people. In 2020, in addition to the risk that these populations are facing due to the arrival of COVID-19 in the region, they had to face deforestation and the risk of protecting their territory. Data shows that Brazil is one of the deadliest countries for environmental activists *. Researches indicate that the increase in deforestation and the persecution of traditional peoples may be related to the federal government ‘s strong position of encouraging the use of weapons and exploring the soil for production in the Amazon region.

Traditional populations have been in constant fight for their rights, their occupied lands and the maintenance of their culture. Due to the current scenario, it is extremely important that we support traditional communities by recognizing their importance to environmental conservation and valuing their cultures.

* Global Witness