Help bring education to every child in the Amazons.
The education crisis is enormous. But together, we can solve it. Whether you choose to join us by giving once, or on a monthly basis, know that your generosity will help children transform their world.
A child wakes up in their bed in the United States, they put on their clothes, they hop on the bus that comes to the end of their road, and they go to school. In their classroom their teacher is given the tools necessary to teach them throughout the whole day. Their lessons include math, science, English, gym, and art class. If they are lucky, they may even go to the computer lab! The AC blows gently on them as they tackle a worksheet in their brightly lit classroom. Throughout the entire day they do not have to worry about the electricity, floods, or much else but learning their times tables.
In the Amazon jungles of Brazil the same student would have a much different day. Upon waking up in their home and getting ready for school they must overcome transportation issues. This means walking many miles through the mud to the school closest to their community and catching a small boat to cross the Amazon River if need be. Once they get to school the facilities are similar to their home: no AC, sporadic electricity, inadequate water supply, no computers, and poor lighting. Their teacher must overcome similar obstacles to get to school in addition to creating lesson plans for the large classrooms and preparing food for the students for the day. Due to this, their teacher does not always have the time to recharge, meaning the educational experience is not always up to par.
The impact of this environment is incredibly stressful for the child which can make it difficult to focus on school. It also makes it easy for students to want to drop out of school at an early age. Over 20% of people in Brazil aged 14-29 have not completed a single stage of basic education due to the limited number of resources.
One student, a 15-year-old girl in Parintins, shared her story with Sunshine Life. It was so difficult for her to make it to a schoolhouse from her remote community that she had to attend class via a radio channel. Every few weeks, someone would drop a folder off for her with the work the teacher was planning to share over the radio. With no phone due to her family’s finances, she had no way of asking her teacher any questions. She just had to hope one of her classmates would be curious about the same thing.
Schools, as well as providing an education, serve as a place of solace. For many students, they need school to know where their next meal is coming from. They need the potential access to electricity and running water.
To be a student in the floodplains comes with many obstacles. That is why the work Sunshine Life does is so important. To us, education leads to understanding and understanding leads to changes of thought. These changes, in turn, allow someone to transform their life. On one of the walls of a flooded school we visited there was a quote by Paulo Freire (a renowned Brazilian educator and philosopher) that encompassed Sunshine Life’s thoughts. It read; “Education does not transform the world, education changes people. People transform the world”. That is why we need your help tackling the problems surrounding education in the Amazon. By joining us, you will make sure every child receives the education they deserve, thus empowering the children to transform their world for the better.