"A dream that you dream alone can be a pure illusion, a dream that you dream together is a sign of solution ..." (Rubem Alves) "

In the summer 2010 a group of friends - Andrea, Simone, Marco, Stefano, Alessandro, Francesco and Gianluca - had an idea. Today the Grajaù Project is a non-profit organization aimed at organizing fundraising events and initiatives to the benefit of the ‘Centro di Convivencia Santa Dorotea’ (cohabitation Centre of St. Dorothea) located in a Brazilian favela on the outskirts of Sao Paulo and managed by the Dorothean Sisters.

The project

Every day, before and after school, about 160 children and young people aged 6 to 15 gather to play recreational, educational and sporting activities, including the game of football, or rather futsal, as they call it, on the pitch. cement placed inside the center and away from the dangers and temptations of the street, above all drugs and prostitution. The prerogative and the characteristic that the Grajaù Project intends to maintain and pursue are to create as much direct contact as possible with the reality of the Center receiving the initiatives, both through the physical presence and periodic attendance of the community of the Center by the supporters, and by identifying precise, concrete and achievable objectives. In fact, the mutual direct knowledge and the physical presence on the spot are received and appreciated perhaps to an extent no less than the economic contributions as precious attention by those who, from far away, are interested in them, thus generating hope for a better future. Values. Here the values ​​of friendship and solidarity are the basis of the life education given by the Dorotee Sisters in an environment of great poverty, but at the same time full of dignity, rigor and passion.

“Santa Dorotea” educational center: where it operates

The “Santa Dorotea” Educational Center is located in the Jardim Cipramar neighborhood (Grajaù area) on the southern outskirts of Sao Paulo in Brazil: a very poor area with a high rate of crime and violence. Families, for the most part migrants from other states, have a high number of children and the condition, which is precarious in itself, is further burdened by the very low income. There are many cases in which the mother is the head of the family, due to the absence of the figure of her father, and forced to work outside the home with the consequent abandonment of the children to themselves. A school system that leaves a lot of time uncovered, with children - mostly teenagers - without meeting points to refer to, driven to forced idleness, who become easy prey to the underworld by often entering the business of the shop, the use of drugs and violence. Numerous girls who become pregnant at only 13/14 years. Some turn to prostitution as a means of supporting the family living in misery. There are not rare cases of young people who do not reach the age of 16 because they have been murdered (sometimes due to a debt of a few euros). Finally, it is estimated that the highest unemployment rate, compared to the number of unemployed in the city of Sao Paulo (about 1,600,000), is located precisely in the peripheral areas such as Grajaù and Cocaia. Precisely in this area, since 1995, the religious community of the Dorotee Sisters has been present and operating.

“Santa Dorotea” educational center: its foundation

On March 5, 2001 the community of the Dorothean Sisters along with a group of lay women founded the Centre of Saint Dorothea to fight the poverty that dramatically affects young generations. The decisive incentive for the foundation was something happening within the church itself: a teenager involved as a “courier” in the drug dealing chain was assassinated in the churchyard while he was trying to hide from the stalkers. The Centre of Saint Dorothea is therefore an educational place where 160 young people aged 7 to 17 (80 in the morning and 80 in the afternoon) use their free time from school carrying out different activities: manual arts, dance, gym, capoeira, volleyball, soccer, basket, painting, IT, theatre, music and educational support. The aim of the Centre of Saint Dorothea is to keep young people away from the streets and from the drug dealers and to offer them a space to stay together and in peace, to do what they like to do, to be helped and supported in learning, to carry out social-educational activities that allow them to be more conscious of themselves and others, to be independent and to know solidarity and how to live as a community. The Centre also aims at teaching them how to take part to the life of the local community through meetings with other groups (school, catechism classes, young groups), sharing teenage topics and problems (sexuality, AIDS, drugs, premature pregnancy) with the help of a psychologist and supporting them towards a life project fulfilment.

Volunteers

The Centre is run by a team of 40 volunteers as teachers or supervisors who work at different times during the day. Following an agreement with the municipality in April 2008, it was possible to hire 12 volunteers with a contract and offer to the 160 young people also lunch and/or dinner (besides breakfast or a snack, which had previously been offered). The agreement with the municipality covers the out-of-pocket expenses (food, wage of 12 workers, electricity, water, gas, telephone bils and some small maintenance works, such as changing light bulbs or painting). This is already enough, but the organization has to pay for the whole physical area (5,000 sq. meters, 1,200 of which are build on) and for all renovation works that constantly require maintenance.

"The initiative started is just a drop of water in the ocean, but we are comforted by the hope that these young people have the opportunity to live an experience of positive growth and, perhaps, they can themselves constitute a life proposal alternative to the one that “destroys” many of their comrades: “street kids. It is the dream that feeds our present. " Sister Paola Grignani

For this reason, solidarity of those who wish to believe in this project to support teenagers that have less growth opportunities is very important.

If you wish to join the friends of the ‘Centro di Convivencia Santa Dorotea’ too, or for further information, please visit the website of the Grajaù project. Grajaú Project .