3/25/09 Report from Tatiane Andrade

Dear Think OutWord team,

About our project:

Things have been very busy over the last months. I have been practically living in Aramitan. Most nights I stay here!

We began the activities of Preparacao Jovem with an international work camp at the beginning of February and it ended last week. It was very enriching for us all and at times we were 55 people taking part in the activities. Now we have started the second work camp with participants mainly from the YIP program (http://www.yip.se) who are doing an internship here. We are together with about 30 Brazilian participants. We are and have been working in the Aramitan building and have put a lot of work in the construction of the volunteer accommodation – a building to host 3 volunteers with a toilet and kitchen. Parallel to this we have been working out in the local community, building a home for a family who live in absolute misery. They have 6 children, the mother is pregnant and they were living in a "home" without a kitchen or toilet. Their lives are now changed and so are the lives of all of us who were able to work on this project.

During the workcamp we have also had lots of times for reflection, and we have had talks from professionals about the history of Brazil, the situation of the youth in Brazil and so on. We have watched movies that are relevant to the current situation of Brazil and have organized cultural events for the community. Many of the young participants from Brazil are now again with us for this second workcamp and the idea is that they will continue during the year with the rest of the activities of Preparacao Jovem. These workcamps give us all the possibility of understanding more about the world and through these knowing more about who we are as individuals...

Of course we also face challenges and questions of how we will continue with the work and these questions make us go further in the work we do!

Many thanks for your support and interest in our work!

Tati