Projeto Uerê Brazil

Overview

In the slums of Rio, children are ‘at risk’ on a daily basis from: violent disputes between rival drug factions and militias; poverty; broken families and families where the parents themselves have suffered trauma and/ or engage in substance and alcohol abuse and violence. The children suffer from extremely low self esteem, high repetition rates in school and early school drop out, which can then lead them to the streets or the drug business.

Yvonne Bezerra de Mello was a student at the Sorbonne in Paris and spent her youth working with vision impaired children in Rio de Janeiro, street children and those living through war in Africa, and in immigrant ghettos in Paris. For over 20 years now, she has been using her vast experience of the impact of trauma on emotional behaviour and the ability to memorise, her knowledge of neuroscience and of teaching to develop a pedagogy to help the children ‘unlock’ their brains, learn and thrive.

At Project Uere, the children are given nutritious meals and a teaching programme that involves: high levels of interaction between the teachers and students so that they can develop the art of conversation and self expression; oral exercises to improve the functioning of the brain and memory; physical exercises to improve circulation and ease aches from the poor sleeping and living conditions; and then study of languages and the curriculum through maps, theatre and multimedia, and finally play. Extra curricular activities like the arts, martial arts, computer classes, music and soccer are a vital element of children expressing themselves and growing self esteem. They also learn team spirit, discipline and develop timing and spatial senses.

The performance at her school is so outstanding that the City Department of Education has elected her to train teachers of 150 schools with the worst performance in Rio de Janeiro and other states wish to learn. Her school however, is privately funded. It can host 430 children; over 100 are on the waiting list.