Project: Description: “It takes a village to raise a child”~African proverb
The concepts contained in this African proverb guide Projeto Aldeias in its initiatives and in the definition of its ethics, policy, and citizen action. They support the commitment assumed as a civil society organization, in the defense of collective accountability in processes involving the education of children and young people.
Aldeias’ mission is therefore to stimulate a sense of belonging and strengthen the Amazonian identity in children, adolescents and young people from the peripheral regions of Altamira through socio-environmental actions, based on creative, cultural, artistic and educational activities.
“Reforest” childhood and youth, considering the village as a unit of the collective responsible for transmitting aspects of the culture of generations, rescuing and appropriating its space, time, geography and history, in processes of (re)connection of children and young people with the Forest.
Daniela Silva, or as she is popularly known as Dani, is a climate activist, black feminist, educator and creator of the Aldeias project.
This interest in the fight for human rights and for social and environmental causes arises with the first rumors of the construction of the Belo Monte Hydroelectric Power Plant, in community meetings, where leaders such as Bishop Dom Erwin and Antônia Melo denounced the threat of construction of this infrastructure project, which would, in the future, brutally impact the Amazonian identity and the communities’ way of life.
Faced with the cruel reality imposed by the construction of the second largest hydroelectric plant in the world, Daniela watched Altamira lead the ranking of the most violent cities in the country, where children and young people lost their parents, including two nephews, Neymar and Maria, a remarkable fact that contributed to the creation of Projeto Aldeias, a support network for children and youth in the Amazon.
Today, Daniela dreams of expanding the project, which she coordinates, in addition to fighting to inspire and make other people and organizations aware of the importance of looking, listening and actions in defense of the rights of children and youth, so that they are in fact subjects of rights in this country.