Dear Friends and Family,

Thanks for visiting my fundraising page! This coming March, I will be traveling to Sao Paulo, Brazil over Spring Break. This will be the third Seven Hills Global Outreach (SHGO) mission to help create a sustainable impact on intellectual deficiences in Brazil.  A previous trip to Accra, Ghana with New Horison Special School and another trip is headed to Bo,Sierra Leone this January!

*Goal in Brazil*

Approximately ten percent of Brazil’s population lives with developmental deficiencies.We will be working with CIAM (Israelite Center for Multidiscipline Support) an organization that works with promoting the social inclusion of adults and children with intellectual deficiencies. We will work within the organization's Village of Hope, where challenged indivuduals gain skills of autonomy and confidence. We hope to build a relationship with CIAM to learn and facilitate future opportunities for Clark students to creatively disrupt through global initiatives!We also plan to meet up with an ASHOKA fellow, Carla Mauch, to learn about her organization Mais Diferenças, which focuses on law inclusion and opportunities for disabled people.

*Fundraising Goal*

My goal is to raise $1600 by March. This money with cover the cost of travel expenses, housing, and food for 10 days in Sao Paulo. Donations can be sent directly through this page. Every thought and donation will be appretiated :)

Please feel free to email me if you would like to know more about my mission at alclark@clarku.edu

Also, please feel free to forward this link to anyone you may want to donate or get help in any way!

Yours,

Alyssa

I will leave you with these powerful word's from Brazil's novelist Paulo Coelho:

"When we least expect it, life sets us a challenge to test our courage and willingness to change; at such a moment, there is no point in pretending that nothing has happened or in saying that we are not ready. The challenge will not wait. Life does not look back. A week is more than enough time for us to decide whether or not to accept our destiny."
 

*Find Out More about Brazil and Our Partners*

Our mission takes place in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the seventh most populated metropolitan area in the world. It is also the richest city in Brazil. However, much of the population of Brazil lives in favelas. Please look at the youtube link on this page to find out more. Brazil is faced with extreme poverty and an unstable social structure. One definition of a favela is occupation of land in large cities, where dwellers often have to live without any basic infrastructure, such as water, sewage, electricity, garbage collection, etc. In Rio de Janeiro, these favelas are home to about half  its population and are normally located in the hills, as this land is difficult to access and tend to be neglected by contractors.

*CIAM/ The Village of Hope*
CIAM caters to more than 600 people with intellectual deficiencies that come from poor families in the area. The organization also supports private and public schools in the teaching of the individuals with intellectual deficiency and facilitates apprenticeships.

The Village of Hope came from parents’ concern of the future goals of their children with personal and social autonomy limitations. This is an assisted living residence that promotes socialization and the opportunity to live life according to the normal standards of society.

*How this trip is Possible*
Our commitment in Brazil is made possible by the Seven Hills Foundation and its Global Outreach sector. Seven Hills is a nonprofit organization based in Worcester, MA. This organization is concerned with providing sufficient healthcare and social services to the surrounding population in need. Recently, it has expanded its mission to include international partners. The CEO and founder of Seven Hills, Dr. David Jordan teaches Social Entrepreneurship at Clark University. He is an avid “creative disrupter” and has initiated our passionate mission to effect social change in Sao, Paulo. Our mission is to set up communication in Brazil so that future generations of Clarkies can pursue the topic of social entrepreneurship on a global scale.