Pillar: support for small-scale projects

Aliento del Viento provides support for small-scale projects within the realm of: education; integration of persons with a handicap; health; food. We give some examples:

March to gaza (INT)
Drinking water for Vari Vino, Katukina (BR)
Growing up in the countryside (IT)
The little prince travels again (IT)
Resisting in a digital world (BE)
The voice of the children (INT)
A tent for everyone (IT)
Colibri à Rayures (BE)
The wheelchair swing project (BE)
People "with" and "without" disability meet eachoter thanks to music (BE)
Help mother earth! (IT)
Thanks to my handicap (BE)
A cello for Idil (PT)
Proost! (BE)

March to Gaza

Federico and Alessandro, members of the Iblei community, will participate in the march on Gaza with the Sicilian delegation. Ready to take risks to follow their hearts and support the people in Gaza. They will observe the situation first hand to bring back a realistic testimony and practical suggestions to support the people of Gaza.

Activists and health workers will leave from Cairo, Egypt, to reach al-Arish and then march to the Rafah border crossing in North Sinai, with the aim of getting it opened and allowing humanitarian aid; food, medicine and basic necessities into Gaza. This march is also a gesture of solidarity with the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which is trying to bring aid to Gaza despite the blockade, and with the team of activists who left Catania a few days ago.

I am grateful, as president, to be able to collaborate in this initiative and thus do my part to stop this genocide, especially for the Children of Life. Together we can send someone to witness and show in a peaceful way what we want for the world and for children in particular.

If you would like to give ecconomic support for Federico and Alessandro's trip, please write to welkom@aliento.be or els.remy@gmail.be for more information.

Here you will find information about the march, testimonials and what we can do for the Children of Life in Gaza.

Drinking water for Vari Vino, Katukina

A Brazilian indigenous tribe we know personally informed Aliento that they had no drinking water and were falling ill. We stayed there years ago and have remained in contact ever since. The video shows the river that was the only source of water for the village of Vari Vino. Every day they filtered leaves, twigs, etc. from the water, but this was no longer enough to make it drinkable. More information about the tribe is available here

Thanks to crowdfunding, we financed a 60-metre-deep well so that the 20 children of Aldeia Vari Vino can grow up healthy. The well was built by the company ‘Perfuraçoes Vale Poço’ for €4,500 (28,035 RS). Construction took two weeks.

We were in direct contact with the company, the invoice was paid without intermediaries and we were kept informed about the work.

Here you can find a photo gallery of the construction work.

The water is pumped with a generator. The Vari Vino community activates it for one hour a day. This is sufficient to meet their needs and ensure a long service life for the generator. They also avoid wasting water. In the first few days, during that hour, they let the children play and shower at the well.

TOGETHER WE HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE FOR THIS TRIBE!!!

And now they can focus all their energy and attention on spreading their precious traditional knowledge and protecting the Amazon.

Growing up in the countryside

For several years now, Aliento del Viento has been supporting the ‘Crescere in Campagna’ (Growing Up in the Countryside) programme through scholarships. Here are some testimonials from parents who have received a scholarship through Aliento.

Science shows that it is necessary for the healthy development of children to be in nature, to play, and to immerse themselves fully in creative activities that involve both body and mind. It is essential for the future that children have the opportunity to learn about and remain in contact with life itself, growing up in nature. That is why we want to continue our commitment.

If we all raise €5,400 together, we will give 11 children the chance to grow up together in the countryside, even in 2025-2026.

Practical information

All contributions are welcome to the account of

IVZW Aliento del viento

IBAN: BE43 9678 1967 2901

BIC/SWIFT: TRWIBEB1XXX

Crescere in campagna

- You can follow the fundraising campaign here.

The Little Prince travels again... to various schools

The Little Prince's journey of discovery offers many opportunities for children to learn about and reflect on different aspects of (social) life. These are important topics for children growing up in a world where social media is becoming more important than real social contact.

You can find this story everywhere: digitally, on film, etc., but fortunately it also exists as a real book!

Many teachers prefer a real book to digital teaching materials, simply because their experience has shown them that digitisation leads to a reduction in learning performance and has a negative impact on the overall development of children and young people.

We are therefore delighted to give them “The Little Prince”, written by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Resisting in a digital world

Today's children live in a fast-paced world with parents who regularly suffer from stress. As a result, tablets are increasingly becoming a cheap babysitter. Unfortunately, this means that children develop social and communication skills that are far inferior to those they should acquire in their environment.

That's why Aliento del Viento is offering group courses starting this year, where children discover themselves in relation to others through playful exercises and learn how to defend themselves respectfully when necessary.

The voice of the children

‘La voce dei bambini’ (The voice of children) was created to give children and young people the opportunity to express themselves freely so that their voices can be heard by the adult world.

Listening means not only tuning in to the needs and demands of young people, but above all seeking solutions and then taking concrete action to offer them better living conditions.

Giving children a voice

Tutto le loro risposte, saggezze e messaggi si trovano sul sito di "La voce dei bambini".

What does the children say

Results interviews

Inform and motivate adults to take responsibility through articles.

The articles always have a first part that highlights a specific topic, a second part that explains the action that each person can take, and a third part with links to videos, articles, and books for further reading on the topic.

Concrete actions to improve children's living conditions

A collection for children and families in need. (Syracuse, Sicily)

The funds raised by the children will be invested in the project Growing up in the countryside.

A tent for everyone

This is an artistic, cultural and social project by the cultural association ‘Circo Riccio’.

‘A tent for everyone ...’ refers to all those people who want to actively engage with art, giving them the opportunity to get to know each other and exchange ideas and projects. Targeted events will be organised in the tent to give everyone, young and old, the opportunity to engage with the world of art and come into contact with the many disciplines involved. In particular, disadvantaged young people (from working-class neighbourhoods, young immigrants, etc.) will be given the opportunity to learn a noble and ancient craft through projects involving international artists who will hold regular workshops, bringing visibility to our area, including in the media. Aliento del Viento has chosen to support this project because the circus is a mirror of life. Sport is of fundamental importance for the healthy growth of every individual. Practising sport actively means constantly putting yourself out there, overcoming your limits every day, making sacrifices and exercising discipline, but it also brings satisfaction. Not to mention social aggression, which has become a rare commodity in today's technology-slave society. Sport, like the circus, has no age limit. Everyone can approach this magical world and experience their own being, because that is what it is all about: expressing what is inside you. Our goal is to get children excited and, using simple techniques, help them succeed in various exercises in such a way as to stimulate their desire to learn more and more. A child who learns even the most basic circus techniques gains greater self-confidence and develops the ability to try and try again (as well as balance and coordination) until they achieve their goal. The circus is good for both the mind and the body. It requires concentration but also athletic training, and in the circus as we understand it, no discipline is excluded. It ranges from theatre to dance, music to poetry, painting and any other known form of artistic expression. There is no competition, only cooperation, because everyone, absolutely everyone, has the right to express what they have inside.

With Aliento, we are committed to financing the equipment for the tent.

The first goal has been achieved: we have bought the juggling kit.

Juggling is the art of manipulating objects. It is divided into throwing (coordination) and balancing the same objects on the body (balance). Learning to juggle, giving free rein to creativity and movement in the open air can improve certain areas of the brain. Quick thinking and well-trained reflexes are just some of the benefits of juggling.

Colibri à Rayures

‘Il colibrì à rayures’ is an association that aims to inform and raise awareness about the extremely rare Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.The name ‘Colibrì’ was chosen because of a legend that tells a story with an important meaning for us.One day, there was a huge fire in the forest. All the animals were terrified and stood watching helplessly as the fire raged before their eyes, unable to do anything.

Only the little hummingbird busied itself gathering drops of water with its tiny beak and throwing them onto the fire. The armadillo, annoyed by all the commotion, said, ‘Hummingbird, you're crazy, you're not going to put out the fire with those drops of water,’ and the hummingbird replied, ‘I know, but I'm doing my part.’Small as we are, if we all flapped our wings together hard enough, we could move even the biggest mountains.

The stripes represent the stripes of the zebra, an animal that symbolises orphan diseases. Hence the name “colibrì à rayures” (striped hummingbird).

What is Ehlers-Danlos syndrome? It is a genetic disorder, an abnormality of the connective tissueThe stripes represent the stripes of the zebra, an animal that symbolises orphan diseases. Hence the name “colibrì à rayures” (striped hummingbird). (the glue that holds the skin together) that affects all organs, as well as muscles, bones, joints and, unfortunately, the list goes on. This results in dislocations and subluxations, extreme fatigue, tachycardia and, above all, severe pain. Some people with the condition are confined to wheelchairs, while others have to wear orthotics. It is still considered a rare disease today.

The wheelchair swing project

Thanks to an initiative of the association El Soplo del Viento and a collaboration with several specialists and schools, more wheelchair-bound children will soon get be able to swing...
Ben De Gieter, a student at the high-school HoGent is designing a wheelchair swing in sustainable wood. He is guided by specialists in woodwork, safety of playground tools and accessibility for wheelchairs.
Last-year students at the VTI will start building the prototype of the wheelchair swing in September 2014.

Depending on the association's funds, this way El Soplo del Viento will be able to have one or several wheelchair swings made and donated to public playgrounds. Aliento del Viento gives financial support by singing and spreading the wheelchair swing song to collect money.

The King Baudouin Foundation participates in this project. All gifts to the Foundation of at least 40 euro are tax-deducible (art. 104 WIB).

People "with" and "without" disability meet each other thanks to music.

Musical evening

Aliento del Viento introduces you to songs from several cultures and traditions which are used for bringing rest or for healing.

Let yourself be carried by a stream of sounds played on caisa, shanti, singing bowls, shruti-box, sansula, flute, maracas, gong, drums, guitar... and experience how powerful music can be.

Drum Workshop

Drumming together, combining rhythms, discovering new rhythms, creating rhythms, dissolving rhythms in unity. Enjoy, relax, reload ...

A workshop for everybody who loves the shamanic drum. No musical experience needed! Drums are provided for those who don't have one.

Tamborcito, cura. Tamborcito cura mi corazon

Dynamic Mantra Evening

Singing simple, rhytmical mantras together is a very efficient way of boosting your vitality, creativity and joy of life.

It is with much pleasure that Aliento del Viento sings together with you dynamical mantras from various traditions, which we accompany on drums and maracas.

No musical knowledge needed. Everyone who likes singing mantras can participate. You are free to choose yourself just to sing along, or to drum along or play the maracas as well.

Help mother earth.

This project was born in Sicilia, as a consequence of a conversation with a person who was devastated by seeing all the garbish that was dumped in nature. His words came straigth from the heart and were the reason we started this project called "Help mother earth"

Objectives:

• Help the other by cleaning up garbish, by planting trees, by any kind of small action that will help the earth to breath. An action that goes one step further than not throwing garbish in nature or looking afther your own garden.
• We want to sensibilisate and motivate peope to undertake some action by publishing photographs of concrete actions in the Facebook-group with the name "Aiuta madre terra."
• Unite people that have the same goal.
• Collaborate with other associations that have the same objective.

Thanks to my handicap

"Aliento del Viento" wishes to emphasise the positive influence which a handicap may have on someone's personal development. This lead to the project "Thanks to my handicap", where a person with a physical disability, with the help of others, creates a soundscape that expresses his or her experience concerning the positive aspects of his or her handicap. In a second phase the video and audio recordings of these soundscapes will be used as a source of inspiration for visual artworks. This material will in turn be used by "Aliento del Viento" to organise an exhibition in which music and image reveal "the world of..."

A cello for Idil

Idil is the 14-year-old daughter of Rojbin, a Kurdish friend of Tim living in Lisbon. They moved to Portugal some six years ago so that Rojbin could complete her doctorate in mathematics. In the meantime Idil speaks perfect Portuguese, is in fact indistinguishable from any Portuguese girl her age, be it a very clever and mature one. She studies cello at the conservatory in Lisbon.

To continue her studies she would need a new instrument soon... but like many people in Portugal these days, Idil and Rojbin suffer from the economical crisis. Even with her degree in mathematics, Rojbin only makes enough money for them to survive, so buying a new cello for Idil is out of the question.

With the help of Idil and Rojbin themselves, and thanks to the generosity of a dozen people, Aliento del Viento has been able to gather enough money for buying a new cello, so that Idil may continue her musical studies.

Proost!

Proost, an initiative of KVG, invites people "with" and "without" a physical limitation to share a glass in the M-café in Leuven, every last Friday of the month. On these occasions there are always some volunteers present to help when needed. Volunteers of Aliento del Viento try to participate as much as possible.