Cherishing the seed

          Every child is a seed of peace or violence that needs a lot of care and love to grow strong and bear good fruits. The building of a peace culture starts before the child is born, when the mother is pregnant, and consolidates in the first years of the child's life, living together with the family, the neighbors and in the school. On the other hand, prioritizing social action and public policies that guarantee the life quality of families in the first years of the children's life is the best investment one can make.

          Therefore, the Pastoral da Criança works a set of actions with the families and communities. More than 153 thousand volunteers are continually trained and recycled to know the levels and the quality of the development of more than 1.6 million children under age six assisted by the entity, including tracking potential domestic violence environments and situations. Fathers, mothers, family members and tutors receive guidance through home visits and monthly meetings, including topics such as how to give birth, increase and afford a peaceful environment for the development of the children.

          The opportunity to grow up and live in healthy families and communities, being cared and participating in activities fit to each phase of the child development ensures greater chances to form secure and balanced adults who are able to participate in the decisions that affect their reality. The best way to fight violence and promote a fraternal life is to invest in preventive actions, through daily practices that lead us to a full life in the family, the communities, churches, schools, work environments, and everywhere.

          Peace is a culture and depends on mid and long term investments in the base, in the roots of society. To cherish this seed means preventing exclusion and war, means preventing hostility among different groups. To cherish the seed is to invest in the quality of life as a whole, in the community life, in sharing, in adding efforts. Peace in the future depends on the children of today.