Feira Nova Project Information

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The following is some information from Habitat on the wonderful people we will be helping to obtain affordable and safe housing. Our team is very excited to be leaving in a few days to benefit our new friends in Brazil.

Rebuilding Women’s Lives Project
The project aims to support 100 women whose labor is scraping manioc living in precarious housing realities. All pay to rent houses in most cases sharing the same living with relatives. Looking for a solution HFH Brazil was invited by the Center of Women of Vitória do Santo Antão City, Women Center of Glória do Goitá City, and local council to integrate the actions on the Rebuilding Women’s Lives Project, as the mainly institution organizing an initiative for housing construction and sustainable local development in Feira Nova city, under the approaches of gender, ethnicity, citizenship and income. The city of Feira Nova is located 77 km far from the capital Recife. It has population of 19,000 and is located in the basin of micro Goitá, which includes 4 more municipalities. Its economy is largely rural with a significant presence of family farming and the production chain of manioc. As most municipalities in Brazil, there is a lack of public housing policies more effective and accessible ace families of low income.

The City currently takes part of the Joint Integrated Project (CIP) and aims to build projects in micro region of Goitá strengthen the fight to stop the cycle of poverty with strategies and actions that address human capital, social and productive. All steps of the project have been built with local leaders, apart from the perspective of sustainable development, citizenship, gender and ethnicity but also actions to encourage better income. It has obtained several achievements through partnerships and mobilization of women. Known as “houses of flour” the boxes where women works are inhuman and based on patriarchal culture of exploitation, encouraged by the social conducts along of time. The treatment of women is discriminatory and oppressive containing unequal relations of gender and occurs during teenager and youth. The early work has been increasingly common in this region, bringing major impacts on education and integration of women into the workplace. A significant part of scrapers are in the age of 13 to 30 years as no other alternative of job to survive. Over 60% of women are heads of families. Over 60% of the women interviewed are single or divorced assuming alone the maintenance of their homes, education and caring the children and household chores. The income obtained from these women in the “houses of flour” is a misery, 85% of them receive less than $ 94 per month. Each 100 kg of peeled cassava they earn $ 0,94 or $ 9,40 per 1.000kg. To obtain that they use to work 15 hours at day starting at 4am until 10pm without any security and in miserable conditions.

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Comments

[jan]

Admireable all who are taking part in this.

[Pat Peterson]

Interesting Introduction
Hope to read all about the adventure.