Nursery Walk With Love is the Solution

2019

Picture Gallery

The Initiative

Who We Are

The NGO Nursery Walk With Love is the Solution (Caminhar com Amor é a Solução) is a nonprofit institution that aims to build social awareness in needy communities in the regions of Santo Amaro and Cidade Ademar. In order to rescue values such as dignity, respect and community coexistence, the institution offers family and community support services including:

  • direct care to 542 children in a daycare center in partnership with the São Paulo City Hall
  • attends families with child education services
  • youth and adult literacy
  • sports and leisure
  • Professionalization and culture.

It also works to welcome and listen to people in situations of high social vulnerability, street dwellers as well as children, teenagers and young people in need to find a refuge. The goal is to work assuring and protecting the rights of kids and youth.

District

Campo Limpo

The Proposal

Consciousness Awakening Project (Projeto Despertar da Consciência) proposes to implement integrative practices in Childhood Education of the CEI (Child’s Educational Center) Caminhar com Amor – Unit II.

The practice of Yoga will be carried out with the teachers, who will include it in the educational program. However, there was also a need to provide training and technical support for the systematic implementation of this and other practices. The practices chosen are Yoga, Meditation, Shantala and Nonviolent Communication.

  • Yoga is an ancient practice that has emerged in India, a Sanskrit word that can be understood as integrating the body and the mind. According to Maria L. Packer, yoga stimulates body awareness through gestures and postures, promoting strength and flexibility, improving the flow of energy, the immune system, bringing a fantastic capacity for concentration.
  • Meditation is like witnessing to one’s own breathing. Breathing is important for not only supplying oxygen and strengthening the lungs, but it is also a tool that has a direct effect on the brain and emotions.
  • Shantala is an ancient Indian massage, much practiced by mothers (caregivers) in their children, spread in the West by the French obstetrician Frederick Leboyer. It consists of slow movements to caress the skin and lengthen the baby’s body (chest, arms, hands, belly, legs, feet, back and face) and can be applied daily.
  • Nonviolent Communication (NVC) was developed by the American psychologist Marshall Rosenberg and proposes a new way of communicating, which focuses on dialogues based on empathy. Many problems of interpersonal relationships, whether in the corporate, social or family environment could be solved by the development of the ability to communicate more compassionately. The NVC proposes techniques to develop this form of communication in four pillars: observation, feeling, need and request.

Background

According to the Ministry of Education (through the Secretariat of Basic Education and the Directorate of Programs and Integral Education in its Operational Manual of Integral Education, Brasília / DF – 2013), Yoga and Meditation activities “… stimulate brain functioning, intelligence and creativity, enhancing the learning process. The development of breathing exercises and the control of vital energy brings a calming effect, potentiates daily activities, and reassures the body and the flow of thoughts. “

It is noteworthy that the Ministry of Health, through the Secretariat of Health Care, in accordance with ordinance 145 of January 11, 2017, included Meditation and Yoga in the list of complementary therapies available through the Unified Health System (SUS).

The Parque Santo Antonio neighborhood has a high rate of homicides and domestic violence, according to Veja São Paulo magazine in a 2017 report *. These factors expose children and families to an extremely vulnerable condition, which has a negative impact on their development. A survey by the Public Security Secretariat of the State of São Paulo published by the Sou da Paz Institute ** in the first half of 2018 highlighted the region of Parque Santo Antônio as second place in recorded cases of rape (Capão Redondo was in first).

Faced with this reality, the project wants to implement integrative practices in a formal educational environment, giving training opportunities, knowledge and engagement to new possibilities of coexistence with quality, to look at each other with more respect and dignity. Placing the child as a priority, giving them all the support for their full development.

We believe that the Consciousness Awakening Project is a way to implement the Sustainable Development Goals: Quality Education, Health and Welfare. It also contemplates the implementation of the National Curricular Common Core (BNCC) for Early Childhood Education.

The project favors Quality Education insofar as:

  • Promotes professional training;
  • Considers the relevance of technical follow-up to implement integrative practices in Early Childhood Education;
  • Prioritize cooperative and innovative attitudes among professionals, children, parents and community;
  • Promotes Integral Education of Early Childhood.

The project also favors Health and Welfare insofar as:

  • Promotes a welcoming environment for adults and children;
  • Provides space for practices of empathic listening and genuine dialogue;
  • Respects and values ​​the physical, emotional, social and spiritual dimensions of the project actors;
  • Acts in the prevention of stress, anxiety and violence.

* https://vejasp.abril.com.br/cidades/criminalidade-parque-santo-antonio/

** http://www.soudapaz.org/upload/pdf/sdp_analisa_1o_semestre_2018.pdf

How It Works

The project will be carried out in the 12 – month period totaling 20 meetings, with the goal to postpone for another twelve months.

April to June 2019 – Step 1: Two fortnightly meetings for teacher training, from 8 A.M. to 4 P.M.

CEI’s coordination will create groups of teachers to learn the techniques. There will be practical training where the teachers will get to know the theory and practice of Yoga, Shantala and Meditation.

August to October 2019 – Step 2: Conduct a monthly meeting for orientation and explanation with teachers’ team. In classrooms, follow-up of the implementation of the techniques in practices that will last thirty minutes in each class.

November and December 2019 – Step 3: Conduct a monthly meeting with the team to begin implementing the practices with families.

January to March 2020 – Step 4: Conduct a monthly meeting with the team to begin implementing practices in partner’s organizations.

Non-Violent Communication (NVC) will be developed during this first year bringing awareness to the teachers’ and then, in a more operational branch, through on-site training during the pedagogical meetings, that take place in 4 times throughout 2019: April, May, July, and August.

Project Audience

  • Currently, Unit II of Nursery Walk With Love is the Solution (Caminhar com Amor é a Solução) serves 256 children under the age of 5, who will benefit directly, and indirectly impacts approximately 500 families, being 30% in extreme vulnerability. In addition, 40 teachers and 8 members of the unit’s staff will be directly benefited; as well as their families, indirectly.
  • Furthermore, approximately 100 young people, elderly and people in extreme vulnerability from partner’s associations will benefit from activities that will be offered in the second half of the year.

Objectives of the Investment

  • Reduce anxiety, irritability, depression, aggression and difficulty in elaborating situations routinely experienced by CEI professionals from “Walk With Love” (“Caminhar com Amor”) unit II, improving the personal relationship of all staff as well as children and families.
  • Develop awareness of the process of non-violent communication and empathic listening in 40 teachers and 8 members of the “Walk With Love” (“Caminhar com Amor”)
  • Reduce the aggressiveness of children and families in dealing with teachers.
  • Inform the community on meditation, yoga and NVC practices. Moreover, at each meeting make a presence list.
  • Strengthen the project, expand its reach and implement also in 2020.
  • Improve the support network to strengthen activities and organization.
  • Involve community actors to be protagonists of the improvements they seek for their community.
  • Increase the center’s and project’s visibility inside and outside the community.

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