The city of Santa Rita de Cássia is located in West Bahia, in the far south of Piaui region, north of Tocantins; it covers an area of 7.039 km², with a total population of 24.000 people.
Despite being a small city, its population density has greatly increased since people are flowing from the suburbs and rural zones towards the city centre in search of jobs, health care and schools for children. This yields a compelling necessity of humanitarian aids, especially for children between 3 and 6 years old, both in terms of food and health care; in fact, many children suffer from malnutrition and anaemia, both actual risks for those coming from rural areas.
The Amizade nursery school seeks to help families in need and supply these grave nutritional and medical deficiencies. It was opened in 1990 in the rural workers union building, where it remained until 2001; since its first year of activity, it was directed by Zenilde Bispo, until 1993, when Father Guido Griffo asked the nouns "Daughters of Wisdom" to assume its direction. From 1993 to 2004, 823 children were enrolled, with the cooperation of 16 professors during the whole period (at the present moment, 5 professors are working in the institution). Starting from the current year, a strong cooperation is going on between professors, parents and children, who receive aid and support for their intellectual, social and psychological development, in order to awake their attitudes, abilities and values.
Due to the excessive demographic growth and the stagnating economy, it became necessary to build new premises in the suburbs, closer to where poorer families live. The project was approved, and the construction works began on June 1st, 2000, at the beginning of the new millennium. In 2001 the construction of a new building started in the Santana community, in the Novo Horizonte suburb of Santa Rita.
At the present moment, the Amizade nursery school is doing an excellent work, aiding the poor and strengthening the religious community. It must be noticed that every year the nursery school provides help and counselling to many families with specific needs (such as malnourished children) and saves the lives of many children; the key factor of its impressive evolution lies in the strong cooperation among professors, parents and representative of the Amizade Group.
The Aroeiras nursery school was opened in January 1984 by missionary Josefa Silva de Araujo Moura, with the objective of relieving food scarcity for children. Most people in Aroeiras live on the cultivation of corn, beans, rice and manioca. Production is high when rain falls abundant, whereas during some years two plants out of three are lost.
When Josefa arrived here in 1983, she was faced with the striking reality of drought and famine oppressing the great sertao. She thus realized that help could come from religious friends and the Diocese. Everything started by giving children milk at 7 a.m., and a snack at 10. It was far from being sufficient, yet enough to soothe 50 children's hunger. Thanks to the increasing fund raising, it became possible to distribute a further meal each day. From 1984 to 1990 50 children per year could be given food this way.
In 1991, with the help of Italian friends, the nursery school could be renewed, and children could finally benefit from proper nourishment and education. Until 1999, children used to spend their entire day at the nursery school, receiving love, care, and psychological assistance. The number of children hosted remained 50 until 2000, when the Italian friends further extended the scope of the project, and the number of assisted children increased to 100 and 50 in the morning and afternoon shift respectively. The capacity of the nursery school did not further increase throughout 2003.
In 2004, the Amizade group has enabled us to work with not less then 120 children between 2 and 7 years old. And during this year 2006 a new structure will be inaugurated!
The management of Laura Pasqua nursery school is strongly centred on the educational system, developing new strategies to assist children with learning problems. Focusing on children education, we insist on daily practices to teach them the use of knife and fork, toothbrush, toilet and so on. Based on a democratic management, collective work is carried out in the school, living day by day according to basic citizenship principles.
We have collaborated in defining a Pedagogic Project, based on a Unified Scholastic Program, for municipal schools. Our project is based on educational guidelines aiming at: inspire in children the concepts of citizenship, collective property, responsibility and other fundamental values to form autonomous and critical citizens; making children experience new educational methodologies, avoiding preconceptions and valuing brotherhood, peace, friendship and respect for school, for others and for their own selves.
Scholastic methods are subject to daily assessment in order to refine pedagogical practices and make learning a pleasant experience. A report is drawn twice a year and sent to the volunteers who provide financial support. Within the school, the teacher is often seen as a friend and a guide by the youngest children, who need special care, love and patience. As a professional, the teacher must be creative, motivated and friendly. Innovative ideas are welcome and he/she will find the necessary attention and stimuli to develop his/her own projects.
By constantly promoting interdisciplinary activities, we dream of a well-functioning school from an administrative, educational and social viewpoint. Parents are starting to understand that the school is not a personal property of the director, or the teachers, but rather a common belonging, and are embracing its cause. With tighter connections with the community it belongs to, the school can effectively act as a formative environment for the new citizens, strengthening democracy, and constitute an effective remedy to problems such as school dropouts and failures, often due to extra-scholastic problems.
Our scholastic projects are based on sound and effective strategies since they foster the families' participation in the education of their own children; on celebration days, we organize parties and other events in order to establish a closer relationship between school and parents, involve them in daily activities, and promote a tighter link with the entire community.