(ANS – San Paolo) – In the month of July, four teachers of Physical Education from RSE, the Network of Salesian Schools in Brazil, will go to Haiti for an educational project with children and teenagers.

The project will start on I July when the four teachers arrive in Haiti, a country much in need of help, especially since the earthquake of 2010. The Brazilian teachers will share their sporting and educational skills with students of Salesian schools and young people in Salesian social services in Haiti.

The aim of this initiative is to contribute, thorough sport and joy, to the integral development of children and teenagers, aged between 5 and 18. “This project is more than just an act of social solidarity.  It is the gift of life. There is an enthusiasm, a desire and a motivating force which is contagious. It affects not only the teachers involved, but all those who are contributing to the project.” So says the coordinator of the Project, Sr. Adair Sberga FMA. Sister is also the director of the “Nossa Senhora Auxiliadora” College in Ribeirão Preto.

During July, the students of the schools and young people from the Salesian social services of Haiti will enjoy recreational activities such as treasure hunts, educational games, sporting disciplines and workshops. “Our intention is to introduce the young people to sport though activities that have a recreational dimension but also an affective, cognitive and spiritual aspect;” says Sr Sberga. The Haitian children and teenagers will be taught football and volleyball, which are both widespread in Brazil.

The teachers will bring jackets, tennis uniforms and tennis balls, footballs and volleyballs. These materials were acquired with the help of several schools of the RSE in San Paolo which held competitions and fundraising campaigns in a collective effort to make the project a success.

The four teachers are Corjesus Costa, from the Mother Mazzarello Institute, and Rogério Batista, from the “Nossa Senhora Auxiliadora” Institute, both in San Paolo; Guilherme Brondi who has been teaching for 18 years in the  “Nossa Senhora Auxiliadora” Institute in Ribeirão Preto,  and Renato de Castro who has been working just a few months  in the “Nossa Senhora Auxiliadora” High School in Campinas. For them, this project means much more than just teaching sporting disciplines.

The RSE is the largest Catholic Teaching Network on the American Continent. It has about 5,000 teachers and 85,000 pupils at all levels,

Published 25/06/2013