{"id":28430,"date":"2016-05-10T12:05:25","date_gmt":"2016-05-10T15:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=28430"},"modified":"2016-05-23T13:24:43","modified_gmt":"2016-05-23T16:24:43","slug":"educational-ngo-seeks-safe-location-amid-growing-violence-in-vila-alianca","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=28430","title":{"rendered":"Educational NGO Seeks Safe Location Amid Growing Violence in Vila Alian\u00e7a"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas\"\"<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

A\u00a0community organization in Rio de Janeiro\u2019s West Zone<\/a>\u00a0which has been\u00a0educating local children for almost three decades is currently under threat due to increased violence<\/a> in the area.<\/p>\n

Semente do Amanh\u00e3<\/a> (Seed of Tomorrow) has been providing cultural education and safe recreational spaces for children in the Vila Alian\u00e7a<\/a> favela in\u00a0Bangu<\/a>\u00a0for the last 28 years. The NGO currently serves 180 children between the ages of 3 and 18, and has a further 302 children on its waiting list. Daily activities focus on developing children\u2019s creativity and self-expression, as well as providing concrete transferable skills through classes such as ballet, judo, drama, citizenship and IT courses. However, the biggest obstacle currently facing the NGO is the effect of increased violence in the local area on its funding streams.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Selling cut-price clothing and furniture has traditionally been the NGO\u2019s main source of income, proving more lucrative than previous Internet campaigns. But violence has significantly increased in the area in the last year, and with shootouts between police<\/a> and traffickers<\/a> taking place almost every day, shoppers are no longer willing to risk visiting.<\/p>\n

Selmina Nascimento, Semente do Amanh\u00e3\u2019s founder, feels the need to raise funds and move to a new building in a safer area is now paramount, as the routine conflicts force the NGO to suspend activities, and have left the walls of the building littered with bullet holes and children displaying signs of psychological trauma.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have any protection here and shots are frequent,\u201d said Selmina, pointing to holes in the windows and walls of the room used for drama lessons. \u201cMy fear is that one day one of the children will be hit while inside the building. We need to leave here before something worse happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"One<\/a><\/p>\n

Semente do Amanh\u00e3\u2019s positive legacy is emerging across multiple generations in Vila Alian\u00e7a\u2019s community, with current pupils like eight-year-old L\u00eddia and Ele aspiring to \u201cchange the world by being better citizens and treating others as we like to be treated.\u201d Similarly, parents such as Marcia Paula say the organization is \u201cchanging the neighborhood for the better by transforming the children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Generations that have already reaped the benefits are also beginning to give back to their community. Alex, 22, is now a university graduate and project coordinator for the NGO, having started as a student\u00a0there 11 years ago. \u201cYou can already see the change in the community,\u201d he said. \u201cIt would be a lot worse if Semente do Amanh\u00e3 weren’t\u00a0here.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Selmina, introducing children to cultural elements that they may not otherwise be exposed to is vital to their development. Some activities also come from donated resources, such as the instruments gifted to the NGO in 2015 that allowed children to form a marching band<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe children here are only used to baile funk<\/a> and pagode<\/a> music, but the marching band brought them new rhythms and new types of music,\u201d Selmina explained. \u201cIt\u2019s incredibly gratifying to see how their self-esteem rises with their accomplishments, and to see how our work here allows them to find meaning and importance in their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

In addition to classes run directly in the favela, Semente do Amanh\u00e3 organizes group excursions to museums and locations across the city for children whose parents are often unable to take them. Groups sometimes also perform in private schools, which staff members say is \u201ca big surprise for students to see that favela children are capable of doing the same things as them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur aim is to show children here that something exists beyond the favela, and that they can dream of being someone,\u201d said Selmina. \u201cThe construction of that identity, that future, begins today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Semente do Amanh\u00e3 is seeking\u00a0donations to help them purchase and move to\u00a0a new building in Vila Alian\u00e7a. They accept donations\u00a0through their website<\/a> or support their other projects here<\/a>. Follow them on Facebook here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

To donate to Semente do Amanh\u00e3\u00a0and for more information (in Portuguese) click here<\/a>. For those requiring an English interface,\u00a0Catalytic Communities<\/a>, the US 501[c][3] nonprofit that runs RioOnWatch, can also act as fiscal sponsor for those who would like to make a US tax-deductible donation in English\u00a0here<\/a>. You may follow up at\u00a0donate@catcomm.org confirming your donation is\u00a0earmarked for \u201cSemente do Amanh\u00e3.\u201d<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas A\u00a0community organization in Rio de Janeiro\u2019s West Zone\u00a0which has been\u00a0educating local children for almost three decades is currently under threat due to increased violence in the area. Semente do Amanh\u00e3 (Seed […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":28527,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1288,1290,1284,1503,329,1329],"tags":[317,258,364,504,1382,125,397,221,423,1945,1017,30,121,21,259],"writer":[1956],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-28430","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-highlight","8":"category-civilsociety","9":"category-interviews-profiles","10":"category-opportunities-to-support-favelas","11":"category-solutions","12":"category-by-international-observers","13":"tag-bangu","14":"tag-community-solution","15":"tag-community-based-organization-cbo","16":"tag-culture","17":"tag-development","18":"tag-drug-traffic","19":"tag-education","20":"tag-favela-culture","21":"tag-psychological-terror","22":"tag-safety","23":"tag-childrens-rights","24":"tag-urban-violence","25":"tag-vila-alianca","26":"tag-west-zone","27":"tag-youth","28":"writer-ciara-long"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28430"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=28430"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=28430"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=28430"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=28430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}