Programs
TIOS:
TIOS is the name of the AOSCI program registered in
TIOS is the Portuguese acronym for International Training for the Orphans and their Survival. TIOS has four basic areas of activities:
1. Survival Skills Training Programs – including all levels of road, fire, water, and landmine safety; animal, insect, and snake safety; water purification, filtering and cholera; sanitation and hygiene and malaria safety; new baby care, first aid, and all basic safeties including road, and train safety.
2.
HIV/AIDS awareness and training – including a unique “5 Components of
HIV” course and theater and demonstrations using anatomical dolls which
are created by the older head-of-household orphan girls. The program is
available for free to groups in need of HIV awareness training. The
dolls and the program have been presented to more than 500 adults, youth
and children and proven to be a phenomenal way to bridge the language
and educational barriers which are present in
3. Rural Activism Training: The CdCAO acts as a rural activist training center. It receives trainers from other organizations who are already proven rural educators. They can come to the CdCAO to receive specialized safety and survival skills training along with at least one income generating activity. It is then up to them to return to the other NGO, CBO (Community Based Organization) or Church to continue the training. They will then provide reports to TIOS as to the effectiveness and continuation of the training and how many orphans have received the training on a local rural level through their organization.
Recently the CdCAO accepted a commission to create
art posters – contributed to by all four groups of orphans to take part
in an international exposition in
CdCAO:
The
All programs are free to the orphans. Also all four groups are receiving safety training, including first aid – all of the TIOS survival skills training package. There are four basic groups who attend the center:
1. Maozinho Talento: (Little Talented Hands) Preschoolers from 4 – 9 years who participate in sports, art, alphabet, basic math, music, morals, and geography. Courses are often according to the material donations received
2. Pintura: (Painting group) Boys and girls from 11 – 18 years doing painting of fabric, paper, water color, and design classes. They receive certificates according to their level of ability and skills. All classes have been made possible through your material donations. This group has been creating small art for sale to be more sustainable.
3. Costura: (sewing) This group is older orphan girls who are the head of their household or young widows who are supporting their own orphan children by sewing anatomical dolls to teach better HIV Training. The girls are learning to sew by hand, embroider, by manual machine and even electric machine. This is an income generating activity and each girl is paid according to the quality and quantity of dolls they produce. It is an all day program so they are served a snack and lunch.
4. Bordado (embroidery or cross stitch).This group is primarily girls, but there are some boys also from age 8 – 15 who want to learn how to do hand stitching craft work. They also receive a certificate for their level of ability and skill.
To date, the CdCAO has received more than 800
children and certified 67 orphans in its first quarter of classes, which
ended in December of 2006. The center has received more than a dozen
international visitors and is continuing to grow and expand as the main
training center for TIOS –
SSTOP:
Survival Skills Training for Orphans Program: This
program is funded through U.S. PEPFAR funding provided through the U.S.
Embassy in
Currently more than 35 girls have received training through this program. Twelve are actively attending this semester with 2 more working through a home-program which allows them to do the work from their house as they are unable to attend at the center for various family reasons.
The girls are learning to sew by hand, with manual
machines, to embroider and to create anatomical dolls with an electric
sewing machine. In this, they gain skills training on all aspects of
sewing. Also, they receive a payment of 80 meticais per doll – based on
a high quality doll (teaching them about importance of quality and not
just quantity). If a girl produces just 1.5 dolls per day, she can
receive 2,500 meticais per month which is nearly double the minimum
wage… unheard of in
The reason for the program is that there are very few vocational skills for uneducated or undereducated girls. Boys can be gardeners, guards, vendors in the street or market, carpenters, road workers…. The list goes on; and is long.
However, a young woman with lower education can only cut hair, do domestic work for about 500 meticais ($20 USD) per month, make home craft like crochet or embroidery, or sell vegetables from the garden. It’s a very meager existence.
Through this program the girls not only receive training, education and income, they can then pay the school fees for themselves, their siblings, and/or their own orphan children and feed them and increase their home situation.
By doing this, the CdCAO and TIOS doesn’t support just 12 women, but actually more than 50 who are directly receiving benefit from the program.