Life in the northeast of Brazil is one of varying extremes.  For example many of the teams we have taken have stayed in nice hotels on the beach fronts of Fortaleza and Joao Pessoa, while working everyday with people living in extreme poverty.  I believe this serves to drive the point home in the hearts of team members that awareness of injustice associated with poverty, like: lack of clean drinking water, unacceptable housing, systemic illiteracy and lack of proper nutrition, without action is pointless.  The real challenge is for our teams to return to the United States and influence people to act on the knowledge presented to them.

Influence is a powerful instrument to bring about change if exercised in the right moment with the right audience.  I believe we have the opportune moment and we have a target audience that is highly motivated to do something positive for the 7000 people living in the Villa Feliz and Communidade slum projects, as well as not only sustaining the Funducao Educar school, but be the driving force in the expansion of the school through the Brazilian equivalent of the 12th grade.

For example, sustaining and growing Funducao Educar is a simple of issue of reaching critical mass (gaining so much momentum that a project or idea is unstoppable).  To sustain the current population of the school, Seeds of Life needs to raise $4,000.00 per month beginning in September 2010 (March – August is being covered by The Father’s House).  Simply using social networks like FaceBook and SocialVibe, Seeds of Life would need only 4,000 people to offer $1 per month, or 400 people to offer $10 per month, or 80 people to offer $50 per month, or 40 people to offer $100 per month (I think you get the hint).

The point being is the people who have been to Brazil over the past 10 months, through the momentum created by Seeds of Life, have the opportunity to raise awareness with everyone in their spheres of influence, thus raising the funds necessary to see the school grow beyond current levels.

The goal is to raise $150,000 per year beginning in 2012.  This would equate to about $12,500.00 per month.  Excess money would be re-invested so that with the interest, Seeds of Life could identify future projects within the domain of Funducao Educar.

Raising awareness is not difficult, nor is influencing people to take action a mystery.  Most people want to do something about the injustice that is rampant in our world, they just need a focused target.  We will provide that target.