What is Project Vida?
Vida - the Portuguese word for life. We aim to breathe life back in to the futures of the young people in Rocinha through education and opportunity.
The project will fund and run a community centre in the heart of Rocinha which will provide vocational and creative education to young people in Rocinha.
Rocinha is Brazil’s biggest favela with
300 000 inhabitants squeezed into less than 1 sq mile. Pacification in 2011 of the favelas saw many of the drug gangs driven out of the Favela and control given to the police. This has left Rocinha in limbo without clear direction
for the future. Living in a favela automatically means you are a taboo subject with massive stigma being attached to you, which has left local people feeling isolated.
Did you know that less than 1% of the population of Rocinha has more than a high school diploma? How can you escape this poverty cycle?
Where We Can Help
‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.’
This saying is fundamental for our project. We plan to provide education and opportunities for free that will empower younge people in Rocinha to have more sustainable futures. And how do we aim to do this? Through our three floor building, each with a unique
function.
1. DJ School: Music brings people together and is the beating heart of favela's like Rocinha. We aim to teach students how to become professional DJ's so that they can go out and have a sustainable income. With music so popular in Brazil,
DJ's are always in demand!
2. Community Centre: Here we will teach vocational classes giving young people the tangible skills they need and desire. Classes such as English, Arts and Craft or even entreprenurial ones teaching them how to set up their own business.
3. Hostel: Our dedicated hostel will be a place for volunteers from around the world
to stay while they pass on their skills through the classes they run on the floor below. The hostel is open to anyone, with more and more tourists staying in the favela's the hostel is in a great position to generate a sustainable income to support the project
in the long term.
Trip to Rocinha Favela
During this summer we spent 2 breathtaking weeks living in the Rocinha favela. During this time we fell in love with the favela as Rocinha welcomed us with open arms. We were overwhelmed and inspired by the community and their desire to aid and support their
community in any way they could. We were also inspired by the children living in the favela and how so many of them had big dreams of making a better life for themselves. From this we knew that opportunity was the consensus opinion to why
they couldn't prosper. Project Vida aims to change this.
Who Are We?
We are a group of Loughborough University students from the UK. Coming together to try and make a difference to the world.
Matt "I started Project Vida after having the opportunity to stay in one of Rio's favela's in summer 2014. The favela's are so different to how the media portray. The people are so welcoming,
accepting and fun loving despite the problems that exist there. It was a refreshing experience and one that made me want to start the project and give back to a community in need.
Fiona "What made me want to join Vida was its objective to deal with inequality. I want to address the gap between the rich and the poor and empower young people in the favela"
Imogen “I joined Vida as I wanted to work with young people and provide them with opportunities to improve their futures through the power of education.”
Oliver- "I joined Vida as I wanted to apply my business knowledge and enrich my studies by applying it in a charitable and rewarding way. Furthermore
the project itself particular took my interest because of its unique and fascinating nature."
Tom- "I was attracted to joining Project Vida because of it's unique impact that it would be having on the community. The fact that there was a long term goal to make the Project self sustainable
also interested me hugely, as there was always that challenge of being able to expand and to recreate our Project in other favelas, forever learning from our mistakes and our successes."
Gabrielle- “ Giving back to communities has always been extremely important to me. Seeing how misunderstood Rocinha is, which is then allowing the need for help in this community continuously
being overlooked, made me feel that I had to be involved, if only to help to world see how much it is needed here.”
Our Support Network
Zezinho - Currently based in Rocinha, he runs favela tours and a hugely popular DJ school from his home, which teaches people how to become DJ’s and have an income from it. Favela tours will
be run from the Project Vida building and a percentage of the profits will be reinvested. Well known and connected across Rocinha, Zezinho is at the heart of the project. He will also be managing the project from Brazil in conjunction with Project Vida from
England.
KICK – Our first sponsor and part of our advisory network. KICK are a charity based in North London that shares our values and our focus on the development of the youth population.
Enactus – Providing key support, adds to our global connections, and has a wealth of experience in project development.
Why is Project Vida unique?
With the negative stigma attached to the favela's, help and support has been difficult to find which is where we come in. Our sustainable and scaleable approach to youth development is Rocinha is unique and there is is no other project like ours. The hostel,
tours and donations ensure we have a diversified revenue stream that will allow the project to continue operating and expand into other favela's across Rio and eventually Brazil.
Links
Website: www.project-vida.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ProjectVida
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheProjectVida
