A dream comes true

After all these years spent in Europe, after all these years doing a wonderful and exemplary job with Florence Nightingale as an inspiration – she is a legend I deeply admire – after all these years of thoughts and work, it is with great pleasure I announce the setting up of PINGO DE GENTE SOCIO-CULTURAL ORGANIZATION.

The aim of the association is to help young underprivileged people by giving them the opportunity to have access to books, computers, language courses, sports and music.

We want to offer a free and professional support to secondary school pupils until their school leaving certificate. Professionals would open up the gates of knowledge day by day with concern, patience and devotion and show the young people how to manage their future in society and how to improve their quality of life. More than the half of poor young people in Brazil who have a school certificate have not been well-informed about their professional future and have no money to study. As a result they often go “easier” ways and begin taking drugs, drinking, stealing and some prostitute themselves. In a word, a descent into hell!
The Brazilian press makes us aware of these serious daily problems.

After 27 years I went back to Paraguaçu and I found a silent town. Paraguaçu is located 485 km from São Paulo and has 43.889 inhabitants, mainly women. Most of the people there are poor. The city was built in 1915 and stretches across an area of 1000 km².

I notice that there is sometimes very cruel violence amongst young people. These live on the street or are young mothers and fathers. Adults are often illiterate. Do we lack means? Yes. There is a general lack of human investment.

Learning can sometimes be tough but learning to follow rules, to gain self-respect, to respect others and to have respect for the community are the essential values a good education should pass on as these values allow young people to face their future.

My personal experiences as well as my work experience help me in my steps. Access to education and to a decent job leads to good mental health. Reading is also an essential therapy through which one can discover other cultures.

How many teenagers in Paraguaçu ever had the opportunity to read a book? How many children were able to travel around the world with their heroes and adventurers, discovering other cultures through reading? Not many, unfortunately!

I am sure the youth of Barra Funda, Vila Nova, Vila Mirim, etc. are afraid of the future. We all are afraid of the unknown. But if we sit idly by, the situation of young people will worsen. We have to forget about our differences so as to support the young of Paraguaçu and make them more socially stable.
I am convinced this youth doesn't want any more talking but acts with long-lasting effects.

Together with PINGO DE GENTE SOCIO-CULTURAL ORGANIZATION we will intelligently overcome this feeling of fear and anguish and give an answer to all the questions through responsibility, prevention and action initiatives and also through a better understanding of life.

PINGO DE GENTE SOCIO-CULTURAL ORGANIZATION is not there to judge vulnerable youth but to offer a helping hand and recognize its qualities. Helping professionals will help young people to counteract injustice, abuse and failure. Our help is based on respect, understanding and tolerance.

PINGO DE GENTE SOCIO-CULTURAL ORGANIZATION also wants to help poor children by providing appropriate medical care on a regular basis. Appropriate facilities will be needed for better professional reception. Let us not forget how important women are for the family and the community. We will offer them support, listen to them and answer their questions. Together we will find the best solutions be it at a professional, social or family level.

From now on our main aim is to make a list of all women working as servants, be they paid by the hour, on a daily or a monthly basis. What is important here is that their work is recognised. They should get fair and legal wages. There is still much prejudice and discrimination in this sector. This is why we will fight for the recognition of their work. Mothers who work as servants will thus be able to offer their children a good Christmas meal and also get a thirteenth month’s salary.

There is nothing worse for a mother than to see one of her children die or being forced to give their children away or see them cry because they are hungry. In Paraguaçu mothers often are victims of a system that has neither means nor infrastructure. The system shows no understanding and lacks the courage to apply the law. If laws were applied appropriately, women would suffer much less.
You can believe me, I know what I am talking about. Those mothers have already shed enough tears. Enough!

We also care about the aged very much. We see them as particularly precious souls. They are our walking encyclopaedias.

In every society worthy of the name one knows that education and health are two crucial requirements for a good quality of life. Without them one is cast out of society, which can have very serious consequences. A happy society is an educated and healthy one.

You can pray...don’t hesitate to pray because without faith and an active religious life, we are nothing. But prayers alone won’t heal everything. What we need is medicine, treatments, good medical examinations, prevention in all sectors. We also need to give responsible and competent professionals appropriate training. And offer patients a caring reception and be there and listen to them night and day.

As a health professional I cannot keep silent about one of the most serious issues in Paraguaçu i.e. cancer. In comparison with the number of inhabitants, a large number of people are struck with cancer. Cancer strikes both men and women, all age groups and all social classes but mainly the poor and the lower classes. Some ill people escape and sadly, many others pass away untimely.

My family already lost four of its members.
Amongst all this frustration there is a light though. The guardian angels of Paraguaçu i.e. the firemen are indeed at the inhabitant’s service round the clock. Sometimes I wonder what the fate of people there, especially the poor, would be like without their help. The firemen lack money and human means but their smile, their devotion and their respect never fails them. By knowing the needs of the population by heart, they spread a feeling of fraternity, trust and equality.

Necessary change will occur and PINGO DE GENTE SOCIO-CULTURAL ORGANIZATION will enter this period with talent, audacity, real enthusiasm and total simplicity for a better future. You deserve it!

A famous European once said: „The respect of others, especially the weaker ones, is a sign of true democracy“. For this reason as for many others, I invite all men and women of goodwill to have a special thought for my country, Brazil, and for those children who play adult roles in order to help them become worthy men and women in tomorrow’s world.

No, you are not responsible for the miseries of mankind, especially not the miseries in Brazil but it is about saying „I have done something to make things better“.

Join us and jump in the train of solidarity. Help us to pass on trust, perseverance, respect, a sense of responsibility and devotion in every step so as to give young people appropriate cultural training courses that will help them enter a fearless future. The youth needs our support and our trust.

I cry out for help from foreign organizations based in Brazil.
I cry out for a gesture towards the youth of my little town. I am sure you won’t miss the departure for this long, yet pleasant and productive journey.

„To create means to remember…Memories give energy, courage and hope.“
Victor Hugo

God bless you.

Maria Madalena Gonçalves dos Santos
President and founder
PINGO DE GENTE SOCIO-CULTURAL ORGANIZATION
International NGO, Brazil, Belgium, Europe.