A group of collaborators of Fiotec participated in a very unusual tour on the morning of 7/9. The van left the Expansion Building at 10 a.m. and went to Jardim Gramacho in Duque de Caxias. The visit aimed to deliver the donations collected by the "Donate Dignity" campaign, in addition to presenting to the attending collaborators the reality experienced by residents of the community surrounding the Landfill of Jardim Gramacho, today already disabled.

At a first moment of the visit, the group was introduced to the Project "Go Missions", responsible for receiving and distributing donations collected by the campaign in Fiotec. Besides Elisângela Jaques, creator of the initiative, the collaborators Gustavo Amaral and Janaina Campos (Technical Advisor), Gabriela da Silva (Projects), Nathany Prado (Logistics), Flavia Estill (Special Projects), Janet Luciano (Human Resources), Luana Duarte (Financial and Accounting Management) had a pleasant surprise to know the activities offered by the Prohect "Go Missions".

Besides enabling better nutrition for registered families, who have four daily meals, the project proposes the training of the population of Jardim Gramacho. Computer, sewing, industrial kitchen and haircut courses are also in progress. The space also offers medical care and preparatory classes for young people who will do ENEM and entrance exams.

Giving the fish and teaching how to fish

The project "Go Missions" began timidly and today has developed innovative initiatives, such as encouraging domestic fish farming and planting of gardens. The teacher and pastor Anderson Leite, an enthusiast of the project, knows the area very well and believes that his destiny was to work with the community. "I came to Jardim Gramacho in September 2009 and stayed until November looking for a place to establish the judo school I wanted to start here. I could not find anything, until a friend of mine, who is also a fighter, with whom I had lost contact for a couple of years, called me, saying that his father had a shed in Jardim Gramacho that he could give me. So our project began," he reported.

Anderson believes that it not enough to give people what to eat, it is necessary to offer the knowledge and the conditions so that they can build a better future. "We should not just assist people, but allow them to do a job. It is not just giving them a fish, we have to teach them to fish," he concluded.

Life amid garbage and pigs

After being introduced to the project, the collaborators were able to learn the sad reality of people living in the community of Jardim Gramacho. Women and children walked amid pigs and mountains of garbage which are still seen, even with the closure of the landfill. Most of them do not even wear a pair of slippers. Many of the families who live there still live their lives digging in the garbage dumped illegally by street cleaning companies in the dead of night.

"I am also an intern for Social Services and I work in a community of Rio de Janeiro that presents another kind of reality and social issue. Seeing firsthand the condition of misery in which people live in Jardim Gramacho made ​​me think how this can be possible. People with no self-esteem or prospect of improvement, in a condition of slavery differently than in the past, the slavery of accommodation and powerlessness in view of this whole situation, "said Janet Luciano.

Even so, the assistant showed enthusiasm for the intervention, more than necessary, of the project "Go Missions", in the reality of those who live in the community. “The programs to fight hunger and encourage the sport and culture developed there seem to be succeeding. The idea of teaching people to create tilapia [a type of fish] caught my attention. I will surely help in family subsistence and feed many others,” he said. “As human beings, we must care about the situation of misery in which many people live."

The Campaign 'Donate Dignity' was a real success. Check the amount of items collected:

Feedstuff

Beans: 42kgs

Rice: 68 kgs

Pasta: 65 kgs

Salt: 15 kgs

Sugar: 21 kgs

Cookie: 82 packages

Water: 162 liters

Oil: 46 liters

Milk: 53 liters

Clothes

370 suits of clothes

Shoes

33 pairs

Backpacks and Bags

5 items