National Education
According to the Organização Institucional do Trabalho (Institutional Organization of Work/Labor) - and the DIT (Diagnostic Integration of Work), low education coupled with unemployment and unregistered employment, socially exclude 19 million Brazilians between 15 and 19 years of age, that is more than half of the total youth of the country (34 million). Of these 6.5 million do not work nor study, representing one in every five youths. Of the young people between the ages of 15 to 17, only half is attending high school. Four million youths are leaving school without completing basic education. Statistical data from the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, 1996), already demonstrated high incidences confirming school evasion. Between those that do and do not frequent school, the data started to become unbalanced in regards to the young people between the ages 15 to 19. For example, according to a study done among a group of 2892 youths living in an agricultural setting, only 479 of them where attending school and 2,413 of them did not attend school at all.
Local Education
The local situation at Fazenda Emanuel is as follows. Our region is serviced by two elementary schools located within 6 km of our project. One school has grades 1 to 4. Eighty percent of the pupils in this school do not continue their studies after grade four. A second grade school is located in the near town of Sao Carlos about 6 km from our project. In accordance with the official data from this school only 50% of the pupils continue their studies after grade 8.
Fazenda Emanuel Education Program
The requirement for labour at harvest time is the main contributing factor to children not finishing their education as well as 30% of the parents of these children are illiterate and there are not enough school teachers in brazil as a result the student : teacher ratio is 1 teacher per 30 to 40 students.
It is our focus to assist the local children in the completion of their elementary and high school education in conjunction with the acquiring of a trade or skill. This is accomplished this through helping them with their school homework, tutoring, sports, games, crafts, cultural activities (musical, theater and dance) as well as a computer course for adolescents. In this way, our desire is to influence them in a positive way in the basic areas of development: intellectually, physically, emotionally, socially, and spiritually. At this moment we are assisting 47 children and adolescents between the ages of four and 17.
Agriculture and Environment
In addition to the children's Education Program, Fazenda Emanuel is in the process of providing a program to deal with the local agriculture and environment.
National Agriculture and Environment
In recent years, there has been a tremendous growth in the volume of agro toxins commercialized in Brazil. According to official data, Brazil is the 3rd largest consumer of agro toxins in the entire world. The way agro toxins are being used in Brazilian agricultural is alarming. Dosages, grace periods and registers are not generally respected. When toxin residues in harvested products are measured, a high frequency of cases are found to be in excess of the preset limits. Over-use of chemical fertilizers and agro toxins can cause an imbalance in the nutritional quality of foods and are extremely harmful to human health, causing diseases mainly among children and the elderly, such as pulmonary illnesses and cancer, leading to death.
Local Agriculture and Environment
For the last 40 years, the mainstay of farming has been the growing of tobacco and rice. Excessive use of chemical pesticides, further compounded by the lack of crop rotation has resulted in soil depletion and polluting of the drinking water. Although the drinking water for the nearby town of Camaqua is treated for micro-organisms to prevent disease, it is not dealing effectively with the chemical pesticide residue present in the water. (Apendix A) Chemical pesticide residues are also found on locally grown foods. The federal government has banned to growing of tobacco by the year 2012. This is further impacting the local agriculture.
Fazenda Emanuel Agricultural and Environmental Program
Given the federal mandate to eliminate the growth of tobacco, we are presented with a perfect opportunity. Local agriculture has to make a shift to a different crop. Why not make a complete shift by moving to a viable and productive organic crop, thus removing the requirement for chemicals with the result of restoring the environment and positively impacting the health of the population? This program is designed to raise the awareness of the agricultural community within which we are working and to contribute in a positive form, to the quality of life for these families, mobilizing them for preservation of the environment and offering them the tools for the development of sustainable alternative crops. The following courses will be offered: 1. A computer course oriented to the management of small companies and properties in the agricultural area. 2. Courses on organic agriculture covering subjects such as "Agriculture and Health", "Organic Farming", "Effective Micro-organisms" and "Self-Sufficiency". 3. General education to raise social awareness to the importance of preserving and conserving the environment. The intend is to provide the expertise to shorten the transition from chemical farming towards organic farming by using "Effective Micro-organisms" which have been proven to help reduce the transition from chemical agriculture to organic agriculture. This process usually takes 3 to 5 years if we let nature take its course, but with the use of "Effective Micro-organisms" this is reduced to 1 year without loss of productivity. Every year after this transition the soil well recuperate more and more and production will actually go up. In this way we will be able to help the small properties be come more productive and raise the level and quality of lifestyle for the families in the region.
For more information about "Effective Micro-organisms" you can look at the following websites:
www.effectivemicro-organisms.co.uk
This project involves the building of a barn, purchase of animals and seeds to be used on the farm. It is also the project that will be sustaining Fazenda Emanuel in its daily basic needs. In addition to providing the daily needs of the Fazenda, the animals and vegetable garden provide a means of instruction to the children. By showing how to take care of animals in all of it's various facets (food, health, breeding) and how to plant and maintain a vegetable garden the children and young people learn skills that they can use in their home situations (I.e. planting a garden at home).
This project consists of the renovation of the 6 existing buildings . The buildings need a layer of paint, the floors and the bathrooms need to be redone, the roofs have to be redone and we need a new kitchen (the new kitchen was realized as of end of October 2005). This project also includes cleaning the well for fresh drinking water, checking the fences and cleaning / making additional ponds for the fish project. Click here for more photos of the needed work to be done.
