With the aim of encouraging the inclusion and training of young indigenous migrants and Venezuelan refugees sheltered in Boa Vista, Roraima, the Intervention Sectors of the Fraternity – International Humanitarian Federation (FIHF), through the Indigenous Cultural and Training Centre (CCFI), organized various training courses that were offered to this public, such as bakery, sewing, shoemaking, music, carpentry, IT and carpentry. In this Case Study, you will learn about three initiatives — Communication, Production of Ecological Pads and Mosaic — carried out between 2020 and 2022.
Communication Workshops
The communication workshops were carried out jointly by the Sectors of Art-Education in Emergency and Communication. Photography, audiovisual and communication theory initiatives were developed, specifically aimed at the migrant and refugee adolescent population, as an option to rebuild their life stories and show that it is possible to start over in a dignified and healthy way.
The results were a notable change in behavior in each participant, as they were surprised by themselves, discovering the potential they had to photograph and learn new things. The greatest lesson learned from the Communication initiatives was winning over the interest of young people during the course of the workshops and obtaining a participatory attitude from them, as the data indicators collected during the workshops favorably illustrate.
Ecological Pads Workshop
The Eboma Tida Pilot Project – Workshop for Making Ecological Pads arose from the need to create a bond with indigenous Venezuelan refugee girls and adolescents to address and work on a relevant topic: menstruation.
It is known that puberty and adolescence are phases of great physical, psychological, behavioral and social changes. Furthermore, for refugee girls and adolescents, these changes add up to their traumatic experiences and their current situation of refuge, placing them in situations of extreme vulnerability.
The project aimed to:
- promote physical, mental, emotional and social well-being;
- dialogue about menstruation, self-care and hygiene;
- bring reflection on environmental sustainability and ecological pads;
- get to know the menstrual cycle in indigenous traditions and present the theme from the point of view of other cultures, as well as their myths and taboos;
- encourage participants to facilitate other workshops;
- provide opportunities for the experience of making sanitary pads with your own hands.
The work was carried out between July 8th and August 11th, 2021 with girls and adolescents from the Nova Canaã Shelter, aged between 10 and 19 years old.
Mosaic Workshop
The work carried out with mosaic in the Roraima Humanitarian Mission, with young Venezuelan indigenous people, was developed based on the need to involve young people in activities that, in addition to assisting their insertion in Brazil, would also give them the necessary support in the practical sphere, including the reorganization of psycho-emotional levels – essential support in this phase of life, of important transformations.
Since this indigenous population uses handicrafts as an extraordinary form of expression, culture and source of income, a proposal arose to introduce knowledge about mosaic through the Emergency Art-Education Sector, which aimed to stimulate essential values and principles in human beings, re-signify traumas, build and strengthen resilience and, at the same time, help the target audience to expand opportunities for insertion in the job market.
The mosaic activities were introduced between November 16th and December 11th, 2021, with the participation of adolescents and young people between 12 and 21 years old, from Jardim Floresta Shelter.
May the sharing of challenges and lessons learned from these initiatives serve as an impetus for the implementation of good practices that seek to stimulate, all over the world, the potential and resilience of adolescents and young people who experience contexts of emergency and humanitarian crises.
