ADCAM Project Background
From Humble Beginnings to Steady Growth
The Association for the Cohesive Development of the Amazon (ADCAM) was founded in 1985 and is fully constituted under Brazilian law as a non-profit, philanthropic organization, serving disadvantaged children, youth, women, families and the elderly. It also maintains membership in and partnerships with local aid organizations such as the State Council for Children and Adolescents, the State Council for Social Assistance, the State Forum in Defense of Children and Adolescents and the Council for the Eradication of Child Labor.
ADCAM is located in Manaus, Brazil, the capital city of the State of Amazonas. Manaus lies 1,000 miles up the Amazon River from the Atlantic Ocean in the heart of the Amazon rainforest.
Since it is the only large city for about a 1,000 miles in any direction, over the last two decades it has attracted people from the villages of the interior who come to try to better their lives. These villagers are known as caboclos, a term which indicates indigenous background, and riberinhos, or people from the river villages.
This rural to urban migration of the river villagers has increased the population of Manaus by 100% in the last ten years to almost two million inhabitants. In a country ravaged by inflation and economic uncertainty, local government has been hard-pressed to meet the challenges of this rapid growth. The city dwellers, often from more developed areas of the south of Brazil, view the rural immigrants as inferior and not worth the investment of scarce resources.
As a result, the newly arrived villagers find
that their hope for a better life in the
city for themselves and their children becomes
a shattered dream. Unskilled in city ways
and often illiterate, finding work is difficult. 
If
they do find work, it is generally minimum
wage—about
US$ 45 per month. They settle in fast-spreading
shanty towns, piecing together whatever shelters
they can, living lives of extreme deprivation.
Under such pressures, families break down
and children are often abused, abandoned
or orphaned.
Because there were no schools in their villages, the villagers' children are far behind the city dwellers and if they actually succeed in enrolling in school, they can't keep up, get discouraged and drop out. Without a place to study and learn, and with no way to make a living, these children fall prey to the life of the street—drugs, prostitution and crime.
topResponding to Needs Arising from Grassroots
One of the early pressing needs the Association for the Cohesive Development of the Amazon (ADCAM) addressed when it was founded in 1985 was to start an orphanage. It was located in one of the poorest sections of the city of Manaus called Sao Jose. While operating the orphanage, the directors decided to start a pre-school and open it to the children of the surrounding community.
Not long after, several children, all about 11 years old, arrived at the office of the director. She thought they'd come to register their younger brothers and sisters. Instead, with tears in their eyes, they asked her to start a class for them too. See Franciney's story.
Through this heart-felt request of these eleven year old children, the directors of the ADCAM Project immediately understood the urgent necessity of opening a formal school with basic education and vocational training. They accepted the children's request and registered them on the spot. These same children returned later in the day with a group of 30 others who wanted to go to school, and the Masrour Vocational School was born.
Over the last 23 years, continuing the same process of responding to community needs, the school has grown from one classroom to a facility that serves over 1100 children a day from pre-school through university. It has also expanded its services to the whole community with outreach programs designed to help at-risk teens, women, families and the elderly, rural education programs, community health education, eradication of child labor and the promotion of symposia directed to professionals in government and private organizations for the investigation and discussion of socio-educational challenges affecting Amazonian society.
Working Toward Self-Sustainability
The Association for the Cohesive Development of the Amazon (ADCAM) maintains its sustainability through the following means:
Contracts to provide services for governmental organizations such as the State Secretary of Labor and Social Assistance (SETRAB), the Municipal Secretary of Social Assistance (SEMASC), the Municipal Secretary of Labor and Income Creation (SEMTRA), the Municipal Secretary of Children and Youth (SEMINF). Grants from non-governmental and governmental organizations such as the Federal Government of Brazil – Brasilia, the Masrour Association – Brasilia, the Unity Foundation – Luxembourg, the Frees Foundation – USA, the Baha'i Office of Social and Economic Development – Israel. Donations from corporations such as CCE of Amazonia, Itautinga Agro Industrial SA. Revenue from services provided by the Masrour Vocational School. Individual donations from donors in Brazil and internationally.
A New Opportunity
ADCAM now has a chance to increase revenues and move towards full self-sustainability in not only its financial base, but also in development of its future human resources, through the founding of the Tahirih College of Education and the Masrour Institute of Technology.
Each of these institutions of higher learning will generate income through tuition, and the new Masrour Institute of Technology has the possibility of generating income through the development of paid services offered to businesses and the community such as graphic design, refrigerator and air conditioner repair, and environmental testing.
College Students Will Serve the Community
The group of students who came from the streets and started in the ADCAM school a decade ago, are now ready for higher education. These children have shown remarkable capability and a desire to continue their education in order to serve their own community.
Franciney's Story: One example of this readiness for higher education is a young man named Franciney. He was one of the first children who came to the school when he was eleven years old to ask for a class for his age group. He was a street kid, sometimes in trouble, but with the guidance from the ADCAM Project, he eventually moved away from his former habits and became a model student. After he graduated from high school, he performed his mandatory military service and then returned to work at ADCAM as an assistant student supervisor, working with children who come from the same deprived conditions he came from. Franciney had a great desire for higher education so that he could teach at the school. This year, he fulfilled his dream and graduated college as a certified teacher. He wrote to thank all those who supported his efforts saying, “I am profoundly grateful for the confidence you placed in me . . . I will forever remember and cherish this deep in my heart.”
Children coming from the streets look up to Franciney and see his achievement as a possibility for themselves. It is one thing for someone to tell you that you can achieve the dream of a better life. It is truly another to see someone you know came from your deprived conditions who has actually done it. Franciney and others like him are the future human resources of the ADCAM Project. The Masrour Institute of Technology and the Tahirih College of Education are the means to train those who have shown so much capacity and caring to eventually take the ADCAM Project into the future.
Masrour Institute of Technology
In light of the economic difficulties in the Amazon area of Brazil and the scarcity of jobs and lack of qualified craftsmen, the Association for the Cohesive Development of the Amazon (ADCAM) formed a partnership with the Secretary of Labor (SETRAB) and began to plan and offer short-term professional courses with an eye toward upgrading the skills of workers in the job market or enabling them to start their own small businesses to better sustain their families.
Since 1997, approximately 500 families per year have benefited from these professional courses. Based on the success of this initiative, ADCAM determined to expand these services and through a grant from the Federal Ministry of Education (MEC) of around US$ 1 million to build and equip a vocational school, Masrour Institute of Technology, in 2003.
Inaugurated in October 2005, the goal of this Institute is to provide quality basic professional technical education for youth and adults in various fields such as business administration, mechanics, refrigeration, carpentry, social and economic development, social work, graphic design, music, environmental studies, and nutrition. When fully operational, the Institute will serve 1,500 students each term.
The Institute will also:
- Provide higher educational opportunities for the students of the ADCAM Project
- Serve the larger community by upgrading
workers' skills - Encourage the creation of new businesses
- Help ADCAM's efforts toward self-sustenance through income derived from tuition
- Derive revolving income from the use of the equipment at the school to develop paid services offered in the community such as graphic design, environmental testing, air conditioner and refrigerator repair, consulting services and so on.