Scholarships for girls
Providing education for girls is a priority. In the countryside, far too many girls lack basic education, unable to attend school because in poor families, priority is given to the boys' education, whereas girls are forced to help at home.
Old prejudices against the education of women still hold firm in such regions. Yet it is essential that girls gain access to the classrooms and receive a professional training. Besides obvious reasons linked to social justice, this imperative is based on the fact that a majority of single-parent families rely upon women. If they intend on providing for their families and on participating in the education of their children, they must themselves possess some basic education.
Making parents aware of this problem and providing scholarships gives girls a better opportunity to go to school. Thus, only one year after this program was implemented, forty girls had entered the school system.
Two examples illustrate the success of our program:
In May 2001, representatives of Nordesta met a family living in the heart of the "Pedra Talhada" forest. The elder girl had never gone to school, though her two younger brothers went daily.
It was difficult to convince the mother to let her girl follow a course of studies similar to that of her brothers. Indeed, ancestral habits are profoundly fixed in the minds of the local population.
But after much discussion, we finally managed to convince her. Today, the three children go to school everyday and take turns helping their mother at home. The follow up conducted by our local officials have confirmed that the mother has stayed true to her word and allows her daughter to attend school like her brothers.
Another young girl, Larissa, used to live in extreme poverty with her sick mother.
Both of them lived in a hut made out of tarpaulin and plastic cans.
The scholarship we provided to Larissa allows her to eat properly and go to school (after some preparatory studies at the village nursery).
Today, the operation « The Way to Schools for Girls » extends well beyond the municipality of Quebrangulo and reaches more and more girls in other regions of Brazil.