VOA - Patricia’s story
Who: Children at Risk Foundation and Rede Cultural Beija-Flor
What: The VOA Project: Cultural activities and vocational training for children growing up in the Brazilian favela. Empowering and supporting women.
There are many factors that lead a woman to have to look after her children alone. Lack of family planning, violence, sexism, poverty. In Brazil, the number of solo mothers is high. Research published in 2023 showed that more than 11 million women aged between 15 and 50 were in this situation.
Without the participation of the child's father and a support network, these women find it very difficult to stay in the job market or even to get a job at all. The situation worsens when schooling is low and there is no professional training.
One of these mothers is Patrícia Silva. At 46, she has two daughters. The youngest, Larissa, is 7 and lives with Patrícia in a small two-room house in a poor neighborhood in Diadema, a city in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo.
Patrícia found herself alone with her young daughter after being a victim of domestic violence, which led her to seek police and legal protection in the public services. Despite this time of sadness and insecurity, Patrícia was about to begin an important change in her life.
"I heard about Beija-Flor (RCBF) through a referral and found out about the hairdressing course. I was unemployed and couldn't get a job. As I've always liked the [beauty] area, I started doing the course. I saw that it was what I wanted," explains Patrícia.
After completing her course, Patrícia adapted the space she had used as a living room so that she could serve her clients. Still modest, the place has the basics for the start of this promising career. Patrícia proudly shows her professional certificate hanging on the wall. "My life has changed," she says confidently. "After I took the course, I make my living from here."
It is now through her new profession that she manages to provide for her expenses, including feeding her family.
At RCBF, Patrícia found much more than the possibility of having a job and generating income to support herself. She found a warm welcome, as she says. "Beija-Flor came into my life as a support, a help. I was in a very difficult situation, emotionally and financially."
After learning about the institution's activities, Patrícia also enrolled in the dance therapy workshop. "I really needed psychological support. I found it through dance therapy. I develop my mind, I surrender. Some days I come out smiling, other days crying. But I always come out okay."
The professional hairdressing and barbering courses offered by the Rede Cultural Beija-Flor are sponsored by the Grieg Foundation. Hundreds of young people and adults, women and men in situations of social vulnerability, have become professionals thanks to this support.
The importance of this project can be summed up in Patrícia's own words: "I come in here and I feel at peace".
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