After a long drive yesterday afternoon and a meeting with UNICEF´s NGO partners in the Conceicao do Coite community in the semi-arid region, we arrived at a school that is working to prevent child labor through extended hours and a reading program, called the Reading Chest.
The government is working with UNICEF and its partners to grow this program which provides a stipend to families whose children participate. The stipend provided is equivalent or more to what a child would be making working on one of the farms or in a factory. Instead the children engage in a program that improves their reading skills and focuses on issues around three main themes: identity of their community, the relationship to nature and the environment, and their rights as citizens. The children performed songs, dances, and gave readings in honor of our visit. Most of all, we loved the opportunity we had to sit on the floor with them and talk about their favorite books, their lives, and their hopes for the future. It was the perfect start to our visit here in Brazil.
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| Our group with children participating in the Reading Chest program. |