“We are building a school, not just with classrooms, but with dreams, hopes, and opportunities.”
Vanessa Romao, Client Services Team Lead, K2 Brazil
On 3rd April, funded by the K2 Foundation, a team of builders started work on rebuilding a dilapidated school in a São Paulo favela. In partnership with Associação Semeando Amor, a charity which supports children who are growing up in the favelas, K2 is rebuilding the school so that it can continue to provide a safe, educational space for local children. Six months on, the rebuild is well underway, with both the ground and the first floors starting to take shape…
On the ground floor, eleven rooms have now been built: an office, a classroom, a bathroom for the teachers, a bathroom for the children, a medical room, a cafeteria, a kitchen, a pantry, a washing up/cleaning room, a laundry room, and a storage room. The medical room will provide a dedicated and hygienic space for the doctors/dentists who visit the school every fifteen days to carry out check-ups, which the children receive for free. The cafeteria, the largest space in the school, will be a multi-purpose room which can also be used for dance classes and other forms of exercise. The storage room will be used primarily for taking in donations, which will then be distributed amongst the children or sold on, with the money received being channelled back into the school.
Work on the first floor is also well underway, with nine rooms now constructed: four classrooms, a bathroom for the children, a library, an IT room, a playroom, and a nursery. The roof of the building is punctuated by numerous skylights and there are big windows in each classroom, meaning that if you stand at either end of the first floor, you can see all the way through from the first to the last classroom. In this way, we are maximising the amount of natural light which is able to enter the building. Construction on the top floor will commence shortly. This floor will be open to the elements, providing a safe outdoor space for the children to play, exercise and grow plants – weather-permitting, of course!
Across both the ground and the first floor, the entrance and connecting areas are also starting to take shape. The elevator shaft and the space for the stairs have been constructed within the entrance hall, a passageway has been built on the ground floor, and a corridor has been built on the first floor. The passageway sits behind the kitchen, allowing for gas and other supplies to be transported in and out of that space without them having to be carried through the main body of the school. The corridor is fairly spacious, which means that it can be used for storage, e.g of books or of the plants that the children will grow as part of their education.
We are thrilled with the progress that has been made so far, but in order for construction to continue at the same pace, we need donations to the K2 Foundation to keep coming in. Any donation, however insignificant you may consider it to be, is truly valued, and will help to protect the happiness of the children we are working to support. As Vanessa Romao, Client Services Team Lead, K2 Brazil, who has been closely involved with the school project since its inception explains, “we are building a school, not just with classrooms, but with dreams, hopes, and opportunities. We are creating an environment where these children will have the chance to excel, to believe in themselves, and to secure a better future. But for this dream to become a reality, we need the support of all of you. All kinds of donations, plus volunteers and partners who share this vision and are willing to join us on this journey – all are really important. Today, I ask everyone to join us in this mission. Let’s make the impossible possible. Let’s build more than just a school; let’s build a future for these children.”
The school rebuild is just one of a range of global projects that the K2 Foundation is supporting. To donate to the Foundation and so support all of these projects, please click here.
A quick reminder about the aim of the K2 Foundation
Established at the beginning of 2023, the K2 Foundation supports the future of children around the world, particularly within the regions that K2 operates. It does this by raising money through a variety of activities/ventures, from charity bake sales to the Nepal expedition and volunteering programme. It then uses the funds raised to make a positive impact on children’s lives through a range of partnerships/projects, which include a partnership with Naomi House & Jacksplace, two hospices supporting life-threatened and life-limited children; a partnership with SOS Africa, which sees us sponsoring the education of five local children; and of course the project to rebuild the São Paulo school.
For more information, please visit the K2 Foundation
