Peace-building project expands in Brazilian public schools

MISSIONER NEWSLETTER – Summer 2025

Kathy Bond and Flávio Rocha, Brazil

Kathy Bond with students at a public school in João Pessoa, part of the growing AFYA in Action peace-building initiative.

BRAZIL—Warm greetings from João Pessoa. The rain finally came down giving hope for a good corn harvest and lots of corn dishes for the Saint John’s celebrations around his feast day on June 24th.

In this mission update, we want to do a deeper dive into our project in public schools. Three years ago, we teamed up with Maryknoll Sisters and AFYA Holistic Health Center staff to launch AFYA in Action in Public Schools, a project aimed at reducing violence and building a culture of peace in periphery neighborhoods.

The invitation to begin the project came from school administrators and teachers who saw more and more students and staff experiencing higher levels of anxiety that resulted in increased cases of self-harm, property destruction, conflicts, and suicide ideation in the post-pandemic moment.

Last year we had six schools in this project, but because of the good results we received invitations to include other schools and have expanded.

Flavio Rocha shares a moment of connection with students during a weekly session focused on reducing anxiety and promoting emotional well-being.

The project has four pillars: weekly classes with the students in the eight schools focusing on skills to help reduce anxiety including breathing, movement, and meditation techniques along with games to help with concentration levels; monthly formation with the school staff at AFYA to teach the methods so that the professionals become multipliers in their respective schools; student visits to AFYA to learn about medicinal plants, healthy eating, and holistic therapies and individual holistic healing sessions for students in traumatic situations. One of the most-talked about parts of the visits is experimenting AFYA brownies, made of black beans, bananas, and oat flour and collard/lime green juice.

Gerlande Lima, a psychologist at Joacil Brito Elementary School, has accompanied the project for two years. “We are extremely grateful for this partnership with AFYA. The feedback that I have received from the teachers is that the students who are participating in the project have improved their behavior inside and outside the classroom in addition to performing better academically,” she shares. “There was one student who was constantly getting into fights. After participating in the weekly sessions, he has avoided fighting and is more focused in his studies. Additionally, when he sees conflicts during recess, he is often sharing with his classmates the breathing and meditation techniques that he learned in the project.”

Many of the techniques to manage anxiety focus on improving concentration and being more present in the moment. They are often connected to nature such as animal movements and sounds, which are very popular with children. One example is the butterfly breath, which combines slow, alternate hands movements and deep breaths to calm minds, release stress, and improve concentration.

One of the students who has benefited from the project is Camile Correa Santos, 10, who lost her mother and grandmother within a week earlier this year. The shock and trauma left Camile disoriented as she moved between relative’s houses. Always a strong student, her 5th-grade teacher began noticing disruptive behavior and poor performance. After five weeks in the program, the school psychologist said that Camile is slowing improving her attention span and behavior in class.

The project has captured the attention of other cities. Last month a contact in a neighboring state asked us to write a proposal to replicate the project in her city. As we await the results, we are excited about the possibility of multiplying the project in the second half of the year.

The summer brings a trip to the United States in August, during which we will visit Maya in Washington, D.C. and Kathy’s parents in Battle Creek, attend Maryknoll Lay Missioners 50th celebration in Ossining (August 14-17), and lead an Ecology and Spirituality retreat in Toledo sponsored by the Northeast Ohio Maryknoll Affiliates.  For more details, click here.

We hope to see many of you on our travels.

In peace and hope for healing in the midst of so much brokenness,
Flavio and Kathy

Please consider supporting our mission work in João Pessoa with a donation through the link below.

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