Learning outdoors for children of the favelas

At the end of May, SINAL hosted a group of students from the american university, Canisisus College, as part of a Learning Journey on sustainability in the Atlantic Rainforest. On Day 4 of their journey, the students came with the SINAL team to work with the children from Hervalina Diniz school to revitalize and reform part of the enclosed courtyard space in the school. Since last year, the SINAL team has been working with the director and the students to improve the space - painting murals, starting a garden, and builidng a recycled tool shed. With Canisius, we had a full morning of painting, cleaning, designing, and building. We use recycled materials to build new furniture where the children can sit and read, using pallets and old tires. The students painted beautiful desingns on the walls and made a tree out of handprints! The kids had a wonderful time as well as the Americans - the children were excited to get to practice their english with the university students and the Americans were thriled to be able to make a concrete difference during their time. 

We look forward to continuing to reform and improve the space so that the children can spend more time outside in a safe, beautiful and inspiring environment.