PROJECT UPDATE
DECEMBER 2022 - JANUARY 2023
Ready to turn the world into a more sustainable place
On December 16, the first class of the Young Sustainability Committee participated in a graduation ceremony. During their time on the Committee, the kids aged between 12 and 18 had classes in three training areas: sustainability, leadership, and communication. The Sustainability Youth Committee was created and developed activities in the second half of 2022, from a partnership between the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the FWB.
Navideña Cup
Motivated by the World Cup in Qatar, the project Brazil, a Heart that Welcomes held its own soccer competition, baptized Copa Navideña (Christmas Cup), with the children from the Reception Centers Pricumã and Jardim Floresta (Forest Garden). The games took place in a soccer field in the city of Boa Vista, the capital of the state of Roraima. The program included stretching, games, soccer matches for the boys and ball kicking games for the girls. The winners received trophies and medals. And to recharge the athletes' energy, a delicious collective snack was served.
Team training
The project team underwent training during the month of January that covered standard operating procedures, risk management and notification, first aid and firefighting, Code of Conduct and Ethics, FWB Values, and administrative procedures. Focusing on improving procedures to bring the best of each to the project's beneficiaries.
"I went in a caravan to visit the Reception Center
the first one in Roraima. At the hostel where I was staying, the caravan had not yet arrived. I met a couple at breakfast. A couple with a child that I noticed, had special needs. It caught my attention, I am a retired teacher, I spent a lifetime dealing with special education. I said to a friend, "How about we think about welcoming them? And she was setting up a factory to make educational toys. ‘Oh, if only it were a person who worked with wood,’ and I said to her, "Can you believe I found a couple and a child here with this profile? The young man is a carpenter. The next day he called me and told me he had talked to a friend and the friend offered them a studio apartment to live in for two months.” Marialice Rezende - Volunteer sponsor and host of the project Brazil, a Heart that Welcomes
PROJECT UPDATE
FEBRUARY-MARCH/2023
New multi-sport courts
The multi-sport court of the Forest Garden Reception Center was damaged due to weather conditions. Thanks to sponsors and the partnership with Acnur, a renovation was carried out for a month and a half: floor and fencing were restored with a new layer of concrete and new wire, new basketball backboards were installed and all the painting was based on FWB identity. Pricumã Reception Center also got a new court (one of the few reception centers that did not have a sports structure).
More training for collaborators
After a busy January dedicated to take care of the physical health of our collaborators, in March it was time to have a training to take care of their psychological health. About 30 project collaborators attended lectures lead by Mariana Scicacci Rigonati, FWB Mental Health Group's psychotherapist and volunteer. Themes related to fundamental psychological care necessary to work in the field were discussed in the lectures, not only to deal with the people assisted, but also to give psychosocial support to humanitarian workers in our project.
Visits!
The Reference and Training Center in Pacaraima and the Sustainability Center in Boa Vista were visited on March 28th by Davide Torzilli, representative on a mission for the United Nations High Commission in Brazil, and Johannes Zutt, World Bank Director in Brazil. They paid a visit in order to get to know the “Welcome Operation” structures, as well as some centers of “Brazil, a Heart that Welcomes”.
"Brazil, a Heart that Welcomes” moves our hearts not only because it welcomes,
but because it also contributes directly to recovering the autonomy and dignity of families who passed by our territory. To live the fraternity in each welcoming process is a daily challenge, to which our team is dedicated and committed. Beside welcoming non-native migrant families, our work has acquired more and more importance at the borders, since we have sought to extend our efforts, through new donations and sponsorships, to answer the needs of indigenous communities of Taurepang ethnicity, which with a fraternal gesture, welcomed their Venezuelan indigenous brothers who also needed to migrate. Sakaomutá, Taraoparu, Sorocaima and Bananal communities are nowadays assisted by “Brazil, a Heart that Welcomes”, in Pacaraima, Such work is only possible due to the support of our dear sponsors."
Kamyla Ferreira - Project Coordinator