A group of 15 Adventist Education employees in the Midwest conducted a volunteer project in the São Domingos indigenous community in Luciara, Mato Grosso, with volunteers from the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) in Araguaia. The action, carried out last week, aimed to renovate the local indigenous school and promote pedagogical training for teachers and informative lectures for the community.
The initiative came from the ADRA base installed in the city of São Felix do Araguaia, Mato Grosso. The humanitarian agency is prepared to receive volunteers periodically to serve the needy population that lives nearby as well as the indigenous community in the region.
This time, Krehawa village was chosen to receive the group of volunteers: representatives of Adventist Education in the Midwest. The site has a community of 210 Karajá Indians and a state indigenous school for children and adolescents. There are 110 students and 8 teachers who form the Hadori indigenous school.
“The pedagogical training was carried out based on the areas of greatest need, as indicated by the teachers working at the school. The subjects of text production, mathematics, and Portuguese language were worked on,”
explains Rafaela Reis, one of the organizers of the project and coordinator of ADRA in Araguaia.
Reis additionally points out that the lectures to the community were also made based on the same criteria. The themes chosen were strengthening the family nucleus, domestic finances, and issues related to problems with alcohol and drugs, aimed at teenagers and parents. There were three nights of lectures, and the space reached a maximum capacity of 130 people.
During the day, the volunteers dedicated themselves to the renovation of the school.
"The group carried out a thorough cleaning of the entire building, the removal of imperfections from the walls, and the internal and external painting of the school. Three classrooms, the administration and coordination room were painted; the two school bathrooms were renovated, changing the filter of the students' drinking fountain,"
details Reis.
According to Professor Luiz Carlos Mauri, one of the leaders of the São Domingos community, the school's renovation came at a good time, as the building had not been restored for eight years.
“The school had broken fans; the paintings were well worn; and the slates were also damaged. Now it's very beautiful.… The students, the community, and the chief, we were all very happy with the renovation,”
he celebrates.
In addition, the group also prepared a puppet-making workshop for the school's teachers. During the workshop, teachers created their own puppets based on characters and Karajá cultural identity. Volunteers also performed puppet shows for children during the evening lectures.
For Pastor Samuel Bruno, director of Adventist Education for the entire Midwest, bringing some of the leadership and collaborators of Adventist Education to projects of this type has a well-defined objective.
“We want to reinforce our purpose as Adventist Education, which is to form for service to others. And as leaders, we need to be the first to live this concept in practice,”
he reflects.
Geise Kelly Gomes is secretary of Adventist Education in the Midwest and participated in her first mission with the group. “What impressed me the most was the receptivity they had with us. Seeing the joy in the eyes of each child when we arrived in the village is priceless,” she highlights. Geise also spoke about the lessons learned in recent days.
"Their culture is slowly being lost, and they fight to preserve it. They are open to modernity, they just don't want culture to be forgotten. Another thing is the paintings they use on their face and body. They all have a meaning."
With the school renovated, the volunteers also took advantage of the moment to decorate some rooms, with materials such as EVA, cardboard, the alphabet, animal figures, etc., all done with the teachers and adapted to the local language and culture.
"My advice to anyone interested in participating in a mission is to study the culture and customs of the place so that this experience is as natural as possible, avoiding situations that could generate barriers or make it difficult to integrate with the community to be served," mentioned Professor Edimar Junior, director of Adventist Education for Western Mato Grosso. This is the third mission he carried out, all in different cultures. "Projects like this reinforce our spirit of service."
Group carried out renovation of the Hadori Indigenous State School
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