Photo: Fábio Corrêa Spirits' Dream (Sonho dos Erês) The Spirits' Dream project (Sonho dos Erês), run by CCN (Maranhão Center for Black Culture), began with the active intervention of children, teenagers and young people looking for alternatives in the job market, through education, considering art and African descendent culture learning tools to reinforce their self-esteem. Their feelings are expressed in speech, dance, music, voice and the power to change their lives. One of the project's outstanding actions is the Workshop for Making Percussion Instruments, which offers educational, art and cultural activities involving the adolescents from neighborhoods close to the center's base. This restores cultural and ethnic identity and builds with them an awareness to help fight against racism. The Spirits' Dream holds meetings and workshops on organizations and citizenship, cultural excursions, family meetings, cultural exhibitions, and the graffiti and African-print workshops. These young people involved in the project build their basic concepts of well-being in the streets, where they are exposed to all kinds of adversity: drug trafficking, sexual abuse, hazardous and early child labor, and family, institutional and police violence, plus total ignorance about their political and cultural history. The grim reality is that they live on the fringe of the citizenship creating process. The Spirits' Dream is a transforming action for the culture of peace by considering affirmative actions against social exclusion, by fortifying self-esteem, ethnic and racial identity of the adolescents and young people living in a situation of social risk. It provides capacity building and professional training (making percussion instruments, graffiti and African-prints), art and culture to encourage the youngsters to develop and expand their ability to analyze and intervene positively in their own lives, giving them the tools to participate in their community/neighborhood and create a culture of respect, citizenship and non-violence. The aim of the Spirits' Dream project is to give continuity to the actions already taken by the Maranhão Center for Black Culture with 90 teenagers and young adults (16-23 age group) living on the fringe and in the streets, using art and culture in the educational relationships and as an instrument for socializing them. The project principles involve the understanding that identity and self-confidence are vital elements for children, teenagers and young adults to be able to exercise their citizenship with dignity, understanding that they have rights and are developing human beings, and, therefore, able to actively participate in achieving their own citizenship. More: Results « back