Day Two

Bright and early on Tuesday morning (7am to be correct) we were in a car and heading to the NGO office. After a short wait there for others to arrive we headed for the first of our three visits to the education centres which the NGO supports.


 As you can see it is an unprepossessing building but the children inside had reasonable facilities, were obviously enjoying themselves and the staff came across as a group of very caring people.























Then on to the next one which was in more attractive surroundings and much larger - 150 children to the 55-60 or so of the first one.  These children seemed to be a bit younger ranging from babies to maybe 8/9.

Again, the children were having a great time and were happy - the game above involved lots of singing and laughter. The facilities looked good too.

 Afterwards our team posed for a photo with Carin, our guide and chief administrator at the NGO (in the pink) and the Centre chief in the green.

 Then on to the third and final Centre where there seemed to be a lot more older children but again, although smaller than the second one (it was effectively a normal house and yard) the facilities seemed good.  We were prevailed upon for a group photo with the children and the staff.

The young lady beside me is our translator from the University, Mariana, who works with us in the morning and studies in the afternoon when another translator takes over. The lady in the centre is the manager of the Centre and the gentlemen beside her are Luis on your right and Werner on your left. I understand that Werner is the original founder and visionary of the NGO. Both Luis and Werner looked after us and drove us around the Centres along with Carin.

So what's it all about?  When you are the poor end of society you have to work and that applies to both parents.  If they don't have family members or friends they can leave their children with then either they lose an income, which has a significant effect at their level, or the kids roam free when not in school.  And what I didn't know until I came here was that you go to school either in the morning or the afternoon.  Effectively the schools handle two shifts (no wonder the teachers go on strike from time to time!). So the founder's idea was to set up a safe and educational facility where the children could go when not at school, or, for the younger ones, before they are at school age.  When they are there they are physically and mentally fed - breakfast lunch and dinner are all provided, along with everything else, free to all. And all that we saw indicated that they are mentally and physically exercised by the schemes the staff have put together. I understand that because they receive federal and municipal funds to run the Centres they are not allowed to ask for fees or solicit donations from those using it.

Later in the day we met up again with Laerte and went through our views on the objectives, approach and deliverables of our study and it is good to report that we were all pretty much in alignment with little in the way of changes required.  So tomorrow we get stuck into the planning and data gathering.

Laerte dropped us back at the hotel around 7:30 where we joined with the other teams in briefing each other on our various projects.  Finally, around 10, we were free to go to dinner.  Yes, a long day.