I am going back to Brazil to teach Salsa and Swing to the kids of the favela community called Santa Luzia in Brazil!

So You Think You Can Dance's ALEX DA SILVA hosted an event to raise funds for the dance program.  Thank you Alex!

Please donate your dance shoes to our program!  Old, new, used, unused...  I'll take em!

The community of Santa Luzia is a wonderful place to work. The children are in need of attention and love, and some space to be children. Shoot me a message if you are interested in volunteering your time with the kids in Santa Luzia. It will be a heart-warming experience you will never forget.    :)

Here is what you get out of it  -->

Experience Brazil:
Play Capoeira, the native Brazilian martial art;  dance samba; learn to cook traditional Bahian dishes; participate in Bahia's second-largest annual festival – Festa de Sao Joao.

Learn to Speak Portuguese:
Participate in a three-week intensive Portuguese language learning program PLUS have the advantage of total Portuguese immersion.

Live with a Brazilian Family:
Live in a home-stay with a Brazilian family where you can practice your Portuguese, and learn first-hand about daily live in Salvador, Bahia.

Work with street kids:
Play with young children, teach English, be a mentor.

Travel to different cities in Bahia:
Take excursions to the Island of Morro de Sao Paolo, the natural wonderland of Chiapada Diamantina, and other locales in the Northeastern state of Bahia.

Salvador da Bahia
The state of Bahia is in Northeast Brasil on the eastern coast of the country. The city of Salvador was the primary port of entry for African slaves through the 1800s. Salvadors African influences still remain and add to the strong Afro-Brazilian culture that characterizes the area. The Northeast of Brazil is also the most impoverished part of the country. A small percentage of people in Salvador has steady jobs and can afford houses and cars. This percentage tends to live closer to the beach. A larger percentage of the population lives in homes that have been built without architectural planning on public land with faulty plumbing and electricity, and rarely have hot water. They buy gas by the tank for their stove when they have enough cash. At the very bottom of the scale are the slums. These are areas where people at the end of their ropes with no resources at their disposal have been forced to build their own shacks on an open patch of land - sometimes on a hillside, sometimes under the freeway without running water or electricity, and collect and sell recyclables or beg for money to survive.

Santa Luzia
I work with the community called Santa Luzia. I do not live in this community. During summers and winters when I go to Salvador, I take the bus from my home-stay location to Santa Luzia, just near the historic city center. Santa Luzia is a small community of shacks built out of scrap material tucked into the hillside behind the tall buildings in the commercial district of the city center. The shacks (barracas) were built on public property without permission or planning. It is, by definition, a favela: a slum. The people of Santa Luzia live in extreme poverty. The whole community of about 123 families depends on one water fountain for all their cooking, laundry, and bathing.    Wires running from shack to shack give little lighting that the government charges the residents monthly for. There are no toilets. The children are born into this poverty and do not get a fair chance to compete for successful places in society. Their surroundings often lead them into the same lifestyles as the generation before them, feeding a vicious cycle of unemployment, illiteracy, hunger and poverty. My goal is to show them that someone cares. I play with the kids and organize games for them to provide some relief and support for parents in the favela who live under the crushing pressure of poverty, struggling to survive on a daily basis, while raising several children. I believe that one person can make a difference, and I hope my contribution, although small, will inspire people to pursue greater things for themselves.  

I am Courtney Elizabeth.  I am an undergraduate student at UC Berkeley studying Classical Civilizations and Spanish & Portuguese.

I started working with the people of Santa Luzia in the summer of 2004 when I volunteered with Operation Crossroads Africa for two months. I returned four months later in January, and then again in summer 2005 with a group of 6 people. I fell in love with Brazilian culture, and with the children and adults living in Santa Luzia, as well as my hosts, the Sanyl family.  I will keep going back to Salvador to contribute what I can.

I am travelling to Brazil again this January for two weeks.  If you would like to come,  send me an email at courtliz@berkeley.edu

A lot of people have contributed to my work in Brazil.  Here are a few of them:

Hanna Chung is our donations coordinator. A UC Berkeley graduate, Hanna spent some time working with high school kids through Kaplan. She now works in a San Francisco hospital blood bank. Hanna speaks Portuguese. She vounteers her time campaigning for clothing donations, school supplies, and other donations for the children and families living in Santa Luzia.

Kazu Ohno raised funds for our work with the kids in Santa Luzia, which allowed us to create classrooms to teach English and handicrafts in an old warehouse. His fundraising efforts paid for scholarships for four favela children to attend a special trade-school that prepares children for the field of their choice in addition to teaching the basic curricula. Kazu is currently creating a Non-Profit that will give assistance to small grass-roots projects serving disadvantaged youth in Brazil.
Kazu works as a financial consultant for start-up businesses.

Kurt Longenbaugh helps us store clothing donations during the year until volunteers can carry them down to Brazil in June and January.

Koichi shipped boxes of donations to Brazil for our program in summer, 2005 at no charge.

Rita Toth is a long term donor who contributes to my work with Santa Luzia every summer. For summer, 2006 she has donated several board games, bags, and shoes.

Rachel Lieberman volunteered in summer, 2005, working with children and adults teaching English, and friendship bracelet-making.

Alyson Micklas volunteered in summer, 2005, working and playing with children. She did a painting project with the kids, and a lesson on oral hygiene. She also organized a very successful "Beauty Shop" day for the community, where everyone game to give and receive manicures, pedicures, hair-washes, and back massages.

Lindsey Kawahara volunteered in summer 2005. She ran an extrememly successful English class for kids between 9 and 13.

Jessica Micklas volunteered in summer, 2005. She taught a lesson on clocks and telling time to younger children in Santa Luzia. She provided assistance for every project and was an indespensable part of our work with the kids.

Peter and Penny Horstman have a yard sale to raise funds for Santa Luzia every June.