School Days

When our family arrived in Brasil we felt the need to have our family be involved in the "real" Brasil

Brasilia is a lovely city but is not how 95% of the of the country lives

One of Rob's co-workers had been helping a rural school about 1 hour outside of the city

He had adopted a classroom, offered support, encouragement and gave the students hope

Thanks to this co-worker we were able to get in contact with the school and visit

The school is low income school, seriously low income

Most the of the families live on small tracks of land given to them by the government

The idea being that the families can use the land to live off of and hopefully grow enough food to support themselves and sell a little leftover for profit

One of the difficult things about this arrangement is they are given the land and then have nothing to start a garden with so often times the land just sits empty 

This past month we had the chance to visit the school and talk with them

The kids LOVE American visitors

For many its the first time they have seen so many Americans at the same time

We were crowded for photos and to listen to us speak English

While we were there Rob had the chance to talk to the school about setting goals

Many of these kids have no hope, no future and nothing to look forward to

We hope that making visits can instill a little hope into their lives

During our visit to the school we took a field trip with the principal and one of the teachers to a students home

This particular family has been having a really difficult time.  The father has been diagnosed with Parkinson's and is wheelchair bound, the Mom left the family and three children are in the home caring for themselves as best as they can

The definition of "home" is loosely translated.  They do have four walls around them and the roof is constructed with tarps and metal. 

Some of the teachers are in the process of building a new home for them

Thanks to the school they now have "running" water.  A water tank has been installed on the property. 

House building in progress

The school remembered last visit time we visited my little one loving Pao de Queijo.  This time they made sure she was well stocked.  This sweet school cook translated the lunch menu the day we went so we could read it in English, made baskets of pao de queijo and sweet treats to take home. 

Adorable girl that followed Samantha around wanting to learn English and Rob peeking his head into the classroom to talk to some students

We were able to adopt the 9th grade class.  Exciting since my two oldest are 9th graders as well.  I'm so grateful for the many blessings our family enjoys.  Our hope is in a small way we can pay it forward.

Some friends and family have asked how they can help...here are some ways these two schools could directly benefit from our support:
*Make a financial donation we can use to purchase building materials for the school
*Many of the kids are in need of school supplies.  You could order things online through Amazon, Target, Wal-Mart etc and ship to our mailing address and we can deliver them to the school
*Come visit us in Brasil and we'll take you to the school to teach English and feel of your love :)

Feel free to email me directly at meredithholman@hotmail.com for more information on how to help