Lucilene has been given a future
Meet Lucilene, she is 10 and every single day without fail she asks her teacher at the University of Life to pray for her mother. Lucilene lives with her grandmother in a tiny house in the local favela (slum). Her mother, whose photo is in the picture frame, is a drug addict. She is 26 years old and Lucilene hardly sees her. She sleeps all day and goes out all night. Lucilene’s father was shot dead whilst dealing drugs in the favela.
The University of Life is Lucilene’s refuge of hope and peace. She desperately hopes that her mother will kick the habit of drugs and be restored to health. Lucilene’s dreams are being nurtured in the project; she has friends who are always there for her and an opportunity to have a life different to the hopeless cycle of despair that she sees in her mother.
Most of the children at the project have stories similar to Lucilene. Inside the project, they are full of smiles, but outside in the favela life is a battle of life and death.
As these students grow older they will have to make hard choices about how to survive. Gangs, drugs and robbery have stolen the lives of their parents and older brothers and sisters. Everyday is a race to save these young lives and put them on a path of change.
The University of Life is not just about food and fun, however, a healthy environment is one of the first steps. The project offers quality training, orientation for life and leadership development, so that these kids can be full of character and determination to succeed in life. We are committed to supporting these students as they grow into adulthood, steadily transforming their community and city one child at a time.
Name and Photograph have been changed for child protection reasons.