School with empathy. How to teach children who have experienced trauma?

Children living in the favelas often witness violence. Growing up in constant fear means that they learn more slowly, fail at school and leave school prematurely. Kulczyk Foundation supported the Projeto Uerê school, in which Brazilian children in need receive help and professional support.

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School with empathy. How to teach children who have experienced trauma?

Yvonne Bezerra de Mello, who was a guest of our 2nd Expert Forum "I know. I feel ... I help! School with empathy", discusses the ideas behind the school and the difficult life of children in Brazil.

Children in the favelas very often witness violence. Sometimes their learning difficulties are mistakenly attributed to developmental disorders, while in fact they result from the trauma arising from a constant contact with violence.

Projeto Uerê school is located in the turbulent neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, where two gangs fight for dominance. Yvonne compares the living conditions in this district to the war zone, and therefore developed a special teaching method, Uerê-Mello, which is adapted to the needs of children and teenagers with cognitive and emotional blockage. You can read more about the tenets of her pedagogy here.