Some of the benefited students’ and their parents’ opinions
Marlon’s dad is a farm worker. His mother works as a maid. Those are very low paying positions in Brazil. Together, mom and dad make less than $700 per month ($8,400 a year).
That’s not much. Life is tough. After buying food & paying the rent, there’s not much left for almost anything else.
They live in Barra Longa, a small town in Minas Gerais States, in Brazil.
Marlon is one of the many students Holistica Foundation is able to assist via 1BOOK4LIFE Program.
Marlon’s mom walks him to school every day. About the books he was given, she says:
“He went nuts! He was so so happy when he got the books. His father and I couldn’t believe how much joy those books brought to our child. Thank you. Really, thank you so much!“
Check the map to see where the school is located.
Creche Municipal Menino Jesus
That’s Marlon´s school! 🙂
“I would like to make a request to all businesspeople around the world: please, keep helping 1BOOK4LIFE Program! Every child who gets a book, or 2 books, or more, will leave the streets and will become something in the future.
They will be able to be at home, reading, studying and learning. They will be at home, doing all the things they are supposed to be doing and not at the streets close to all the violence and criminality.”
“Becoming a singer is very hard, but I don’t tell her that because children need to have dreams. She is still young and sometimes she says she wants to be a teacher, a policewoman… She hasn’t decided yet.”
– ALEXSANDRA RODRIGUES, Thalia’s mother.
Thalia’s parents had a very difficult life.
For many years they had to move from town to town looking for jobs until they were able to settle in Ecoporanga, a small town located in the Espirito Santo State.
Her mother, Alexsandra, never met her parents and today works hard to educate her three children in hopes for a better future. “I hope they are able to find a good job. I can only teach them how to work hard, be honest and dignified.”
About the books she got, her mother says:
“Thalia got home from school and she was really excited! She had never been gifted books before. It was so wonderful to see how happy she was! Now she keeps her books in a handmade bag which she brings everywhere. For now I don’t think she will be lending the books to anyone. But she let’s her brother William read which is a great opportunity for him to be learning and falling in love with reading as well. It has changed our lives!
Thank you!”
Check the map to see where the school is located.
School: Benedita Monteiro
“When I got the books I felt something really good. I felt that I would be able to learn how to read really fast.”
Iasmyn was lucky. She was gifted two brand new books for the first time in her life. And not any books; she got books written by Mauricio de Sousa and Ziraldo, both renowned and award-winning Brazilian authors.
Avid reader, she read the books to her sister, her mother and her father. All members of the family enjoyed their time together very much.
She hasn’t loaned the books to her classmates yet, but she intend to do it soon. According to her, “it is very good to be gifted books because reading helps us learn more and more.”
Iasmyn dreams of being a teacher when she grows up, right there in Prata dos Baianos, her hometown.
She enjoys reading the books to her classmates and friends in the community.
Check the map to see where the school is located.
School: Patrimonio Prata dos Baianos
Emanuelle got the books “Vovo Delicia” by Ziraldo and “Papa-Capim – The Boy from the Mirror” by Mauricio de Sousa. She liked Papa-Capim very much and read a little passage to us, said Martha Barreto Chief of Field Research at IDGB – Instituto do Gesto Bom.
The book tells the story of an Indian (native Brazilian people) who lives in the woods and sees a mirror for the first time in his life. Emanuelle has never seen Indians, but her friends went to Aracruz (a town closed to an area with many Indigenous villages) and told her the Indians there have cars, houses, clothes, all that. “This Indian from the book, however, is really different. He lived in the middle of the bush and hunted, this one is different.”
Emanuelle thinks books are very important because people learn more and can improve their lives. She wants to be a pediatrician and considers herself a good reader.
Check the map to see where the school is located.
School: Benedita Monteiro
Baiana is from Bahia State but has been in Vitoria, Espirito Santos State’s capital, for over 30 years. She chose to live at Resistencia, an impoverished neighborhood close to the capital’s center.
She works at the local school preparing the students’ meals and she is also a community leader. People in the community see her as a friend; someone they can always count on. “I love to work and I love my community. I want to be here forever, working for the kids, the people and the whole community”, she says.
When 1BOOK4LIFE Program brought the books to the schools’ students, she was moved and said, with tears in her eyes:
“It was amazing! I’ve never seen this happen before. Really, it is the first time that I see something this important happening in a school around here. I hope that 1BOOK4LIFE Program keeps bringing joy, happiness and hope to students in Brazil. There are millions of students in need who can only hope for you to keep helping!”
Check the map to see where the school is located.
School: Ronaldo Soares
That’s the school where Anty Baiana works! 🙂
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