KAS Brasilien

KAS Partner “Saúde e Alegria” (PSA) in Santarém, in the federal state of Pará, is dedicated to ecological and social education of the local communities around the rivers of Tapajós and Arapiuns: Tiberio Alloggio , Christian Matthäus (KAS)and Caetano Scannavino Filho (from left to right).

KAS Brasilien

The region where PSA is active is the western part of the Brazilian state of Pará around the rivers of Tapajós and Arapiuns.

KAS Brasilien

At the Education Centre of the indigenous forest, the "Centro Experimental Floresta Ativa", Matthäus hands over footballs, that have been gifted form Germany, to representatives of the local communities.

KAS Brasilien

The Education Centre that has been built in a completely sustainable manner will be operating entirely with self-generated solar energy.

KAS Brasilien

During the rainy season the climate in the Amazon region assures enough water supplies. On the picture a water cistern can be seen.

KAS Brasilien

The villages that are far away from any connection by train or road can only be reached and supplied by ship.

KAS Brasilien

The villages that are far away from any connection by train or road can only be reached and supplied by ship.

KAS Brasilien

The village of Pedra Branca commemorates the inauguration of the potable water system: PSA, the partner of KAS, joints progresses of the quality of life with social mobility; the community elected a responsible committee for the maintenance of the water cistern.

KAS Brasilien

The Rhinish football team collected several donations during the World Cup in 2014 so that it was now possible to hand over seven footballs and some air pumps during the inauguration ceremony. Matthäus pointed out to the friendship between Germany and Brazil. Hereafter, the people of the community realized a football match.

KAS Brasilien

The whole community assisted the inauguration of the potable water system that they had been awaiting for a long time.

KAS Brasilien

During his presentation, Christian Matthäus thanked all the participants for their efforts and pointed out the long-lasting partnership between PSA and KAS which already installed in the 1990s the first potable water system in a village adjacent to the Tapajós River. Pedra Branca is the 30th village that inaugurates this system thanks to the material support of PSA and KAS Brazil.

KAS Brasilien

The ceremony came to an end with the cut of the ribbon and the activation of the potable water system. All the families of the village now dispose of running water in their homes.

The Projeto Saúde e Alegria (the Health and Happiness Project), a non-profit, is led by the brothers Scannavino and focusses upon the field of sustainable environmental management, hosting seminars on the diversification of agriculture in disadvantaged and access-challenged riverside communities, and also organising youth training courses on sustainable community management. KAS Brazil and PSA enjoy a decades-long strategic partnership, since the 1990s, in the field of Environmental Education and Social Management in the Amazon. KAS Brazil finances various projects of the organisation, which currently employs over one hundred employees and voluntary staff.

Matthäus learned about the PSA’s latest projects and challenges during his trip and gave a presentation on the structure and latest developments of and within German political foundations, with a particular focus on KAS.

Matthäus also spent a few days in the Tapajós National Forest and the Arapiuns Extractive Reserve, which includes all municipalities around the mouth of the rivers Arapiuns and Tapajós. He visited the Indigenous Forest Sustainability Centre, which is currently under construction and scheduled to open in 2016. It is hoped to be used as a community meeting point and an educational centre. Courses on sustainable soil management, new farming practices and capacitation courses with a specific focus upon women will be offered.

The main event of Mattäus’ trip was the inauguration ceremony of a water cistern in the village community of Pedra Branca, located near the mouth of the Tapajós River. It is the 30th water cistern in region.

Prior to the installation of the cistern, the Pedra Branca community lived without drinking water in their homes. The new cistern led, therefore, to an increase in the entire community’s quality of life, with a particular improvement felt by the women in the community, who were previously responsible for fetching water. PSA was responsible for both the technical installation of the cistern and for capacitation courses in which representatives of the community were elected to monitor its functionality, with a view to strengthening community solidarity and buy-in. Matthäus thanked the community for their efforts in his speech and mentioned the long and fruitful cooperation between PSA and KAS Brazil, noting that the improvement in quality of life leaves more time available for joint educational efforts.

Matthäus presented a gift of footballs to the village community, as an anniversary celebration of the 2014 World Cup. The gift of footballs was financed by donations of the Rhineland football Club FC Unkel 80. FC Unkel 80. In Unkel, a German town, the football club spearheads projects with an aim to inspire and motivate young football talents in geographically disadvantaged regions of Brazil. Recalling Germany’s successful World Cup, Matthäus also presented the Pedra Branca community with the donations collected on behalf of the football team in Unkel.

After the ceremonial cutting of the ribbon, the water cistern was finally up and running, to the joy of the municipality, which celebrated with traditional Brazilian June festivity dances.