Foundation builds schools for Amazon children

School isn’t out for many interior Brazilian youngsters eager to learn how to live harmoniously with Mother Nature.

The Fundação Almerinda Malaquias (Almerinda Malaquias Foundation), linked with Amazon-based tour company Katerre Expedition, is working to ensure children in some remote parts of the Brazilian Amazon receive a quality education and that they and others in their communities develop a strong appreciation for the Amazon’s natural attributes at the same time.

Ruy Tone, foundation president and one of the partners of Katerre Expedition, which offers area river cruises, says the foundation is reaching out to many isolated communities, eager to help provide their children with an improved education in parts of Brazil that often have seen some of the “worst educational indicators” in the country.

“It’s very powerful what we have here,” says Tone, an engineer by trade who doesn’t draw a salary but does get a share of Katerre’s profits, which he donates to the foundation, which was started by by now-retired Switzerland native Jean Daniel Valotton and his Brazilian wife Marta Valotton.

The foundation has already built five schools and is working on seven others and expects to reach half of its goal of 25 new schools by year’s end, replacing schools that were no longer seen as suitable for their communities’ needs.

The new schools have “efficient, local, sustainable” architectural influences, such as openings that allow for cross-ventilation, useful in the often steamy Amazon.

The foundation says its work leads to increased literacy and reduces the number of people who leave their isolated, often riverside communities because of limited  education opportunities. 

The foundation and Katerre also have a factory in the city of Novo Airao that produces a host of crafts, including skillfully carved wooden replicas of different jungle creatures. Those creatures have often been fashioned from scrap wood, underlying the foundation’s environmental commitment.

Katerre and the foundation now have 40 families working in the income-generating project and 40 others working in the education sector, while 200 children a year learn of environmental issues as well.

Students who attend an affiliated Novo Airao school will learn traditional subjects but Ruy notes they’ll also receive instruction on safeguarding the rainforest. Tourism is seen as a way for area people to support themselves in a manner that isn’t destructive to the Amazon, which has been grappling with deforestation, with the likes of logging, ranching and mining frequently blamed.

The foundation among other things brings students to its Mirante do Gaviao Lodge, (which Tone labels an “example of the cross between generating income and preserving nature), helping introduce them to the tourism trade and possible tourism industry careers. “They can understand that these jobs at the lodge only exist because of the clients that come to see preserved areas. So preserving forests and rivers can be also profitable, like eco tourism,” Tone says.

To date, over 700 children have attended the Novo Airo school. “At the income area, we have taught more than 1,000 people. From that figure, 40 are making money with the handcrafts. In the education area  we have 200 children every year,” Tone states.

Foundation executive director Telma Lima in turn reports that there is a waiting list for classrooms.

More information can be found at katerre.com/us or by emailing [email protected].