Dream News 2: Incredible results of our students

[dropcap]L[/dropcap]Living your Dream started to teach English to children from orphanages in Rio. Word of mouth was so powerful that students outside the ‘orphanages’ wanted to participate as well. It was decided that all children in need were welcome to participate on the condition that they were motivated to learn.

Davi in the Netherlands

In August 2013, Davi arrived in the Netherlands. Karin Conings, Davi’s Dutch teacher, taught him three times a week since he arrived. Davi is now fluent in Dutch. To thank her for her support, Davi promised to give a presentation at her Primary School. The 10 year-old students in her class were taught about South America, Brazil and Davi’s personal life at Casa do Caminho, something that really impressed them.

Fundraiser concert on June, 21st in Beek

Davi will return to Brazil on the 10th of August after one year of living with the wonderful Pirson family. Davi has two dreams. Firstly to adopt and reunite his three brothers and his sister in one house and secondly, to study a at University to get an Engineering degree. To help Davi achieve his dreams, we organized a fundraising concert in the Netherlands. Davi is a popular guy in town. His smile and his humble and positive attitude have impressed many people. It was a fantastic night with a great variety of bands, songwriters and music for young and old. Over 200 people attended the concert. Since then, over 70 people have become monthly sponsors to support Davi’s family. The fundraising results were fantastic. These are presented in the Financial Report on the last page of this newsletter. Our aim was to be able to cover Davi’s rent and University expenses for 6 years. After this time, Davi and his brothers should be able to sustain the family themselves. We estimated the funds needed to do so would be around 750 Euros per month. At the moment, we have raised close to 450 Euros per month which is an incredible amount. We are very thankful to all of the sponsors. We still need another 300 Euros monthly for Davi’s family. Small amounts are also welcome. If you are interested in donating, please donate here or contact us via email: livingyourdream.aeb@gmail.com

An ex resident of the Orphanage and our student, Escarlet, volunteers in Spain.

With our monthy reports and evaluation of students’ progress, we are able to reward the hardest working students. Escarlett deserved this trip thanks to her motivation in our English lessons. On May 11th Escarlett farewelled her adoptive family for 6 months. Since then, her focus has been to work with children and elderly people with Down Syndrome. She is slowly adapting to this new culture. She lives with other volunteers from around the world and twice a week she has Spanish classes. This is a great opportunity for Escarlett. We wish her a fun and educational experience. We are sure she will grow through this new experience in her life. We also like to thank our partner and main sponsor, Caminhos Language Centre who made this possible.

Brave Kids

Nicia and five of our students are in Poland to participate in a cultural exchange program. Under the guidance of Nicia, Carlos, Evelin, Lamon, Larson and Mike, will participate in a cross-cultural exchange program in Poland. Nicia Agnelo was an ex Director of the Orphanage for over thirty years. She is a loyal and trustworthy person who has helped Living your Dream since it’s inception. The five children from Xerem, are all from very poor backgrounds. Under the guidance of Mike’s mother, a Capoeira teacher, the children have been training Capoeira and Theatre two to three times per week, since April. A lot of preparation was needed to have the kids ready for a 10 minute performance in Poland and we found many challenges to organize all the travel documents on time. For example, only one day prior to the children’s departure (June 18th) did they have the last passport in hand! Brave Kids’ mission is to support vulnerable young people globally through artistic experience. We hope to inspire them to imagine a better future for themselves and their community, providing them with tools to help realize their dreams. Currently, the children are in Puszczykowo, 12 km south from Poznan, and staying with three wonderful Polish host families. Our first trip with Brave Kids was well received and positive overall. With the assistance of the Project Leaders, our children in conjunction with children from countries Siberia, Israel, Morocco, and Portugal will attend workshops daily. Our Project Leaders are there to support, lead, teach and encourage children by exchanging ideas and skills. This creative process and approach will provide the children with new ways to express themselves and incentive to dream of a better future. After two weeks, the children will travel to Wroclaw where all the participants from 25 different countries will come together to perform a final show. We would also like to thank our partner and main sponsor, Caminhos Language Centre to make this all possible. Caminhos Language Centre funded the costs of the passports, transportation and provided our children with fabulous tracksuits in the colors of the Brazilian flag!

Luciano and Vitor

Two of Davi’s younger brothers have been rewarded for their great performance last year. Thanks to the support of our sponsors, Luciano started at the Escola SESI in February. This school is an initiative of Industrial Social Service in Brazil. It is a private school and is highly respected in the country. Entering this school was a big change and challenge for Luciano. The school’s teaching methods were completely different to what Luciano had previously experienced and the level of education was higher. Luciano started with a theatre course where he could make new friends. We are very proud of Luciano. He is performing very well at his new school. Well done Luciano! Here are his results:

Davi’s other brother, Vitor, is taking a preparation course at one of the best institutions in Duque de Caxias. He recently took a test at Escola SENAI (this school is part of the SESI too and offers technical courses). Vitor passed the test with flying colours and was granted a Scholarship. In the mornings, Vitor attends his Electrical Course and in the afternoons he attends the preparation course. This course will prepare him for High School next year. After Summer break, Vitor will return to primary school which he hopes to complete next quarter. His schedule is very structured; he leaves Renascer ( the Orphanage where he lives with his brother Luciano) at 7am and returns at 6pm. He is enthusiastic about both courses and he most enjoys the technical subjects even though it consumes a lot of his time. We are very proud of the two boys. Despite all of the challenges they have faced, they have done extremely well over the past six months. They are motivated to make the most out of every opportunity and we want to continue supporting them. You can help them too!

Daiana

Daiana decided to focus on High School as she will graduate this year. Alongside her study, she is looking for a job. She wants to start to earn a living. We did not want to see her go, but we understand her choice. Living your Dream offers the Children the ability for them to make their own decisions. They are free to come and go. We hope to see her return in the future.

New Volunteer!

We are very happy to announce that Saíde Maria Sarmiento Lepesqueur has joined Living your Dream as a Volunteer. She is a professional English teacher coming from Columbia. She currently lives in Rio with her Husband and her dream was to become a Volunteer. Her main responsibility is teaching English lessons in Xerém. We are very happy that she is expanding our team. Her expertise and great teaching capabilities are already making an impact, with all of our students in Xerem passing their last exam! Welcome on board Saíde and we thank you for joining our team.

Willing to help the kids?

We have set up a PayPal Donation system on our webpage where you can donate any amount you wish and nominate any project you wish to support.

Spread the word – Thank you

You can find us everywhere and we would really appreciate if you could spread the word! You can write a review on us on Tripadvisor & Yelp, Like us on Facebook, give us A “+” on Google +,  Tweet us on Twitter, or contact us through our Webpage! We would really love your feedback!  

By learning Brazilian Portuguese at Caminhos Language School, you will be one step closer to make these students’ dreams come true.  Your tuition fee supports our social projects.

Living Your Dream Financial Report 2013 – 2014 (until June)