In 2015, the civil engineer and human resources executive, Caroline Garcia, left her job and started looking for a new activity: she decided to start a volunteer work. It was the homeless people who always called her attention, so she started her project. Located in São Paulo, the Instituto Mudavidas is responsible to allocate homeless people in the labor market. According to their talents, the institute offers training programs, courses and employability workshops. After professional and personal´s profile analysis, followed by the learning process, they are ready to start working and to have a normal life.
Image Source: Personal File
The institute searches the jobs on sites, newspapers and partner companies. First, employees do the contact to ask if they have any prejudice against this public, avoiding future embarrassment. Then, they are trained by the institute and finally do the traditional selective program. Carolina tells that she didn’t know how to help people until she thought about the idea of creating the institute. “I work with humans resources, I know how to get a job, to train for an interview, to do a curriculum. So maybe I can start something different” – she affirms.
In São Paulo, there are the Shelter Centers, houses operated like hostels prepared to greet the homeless, offering food, clothes and protection. The Instituto Mudavidas works there, doing interactions with the management of each place. This is one of the many difficulties they handle, because of the lack of resources, especially economic. For the people in a homeless situation, there are many options of workshops, for example: Residential Electrician, Library Project, Homemade Soap, Interactive Maintenance, Juridical Service, Hydroponic Garden, Locksmith, Joinery, Sewing, Haircut, Employability and Informatics, etc.
Unfortunately, many homeless people do not have their rights of citizen guaranteed, sometimes they are violated even by the police. Carolina believes that this happens for many reasons, like the prejudice and the naturalness that other people handle with the situation. “The people don’t know how to help. I’ve heard something that I disagreed at the time, but now I understand. When you offer food, clothes or money to a homeless person it is cool, but at the same time, that don’t change their situation. Rather than giving alms I prefer to provide some real opportunity, like my NGO or just taking that person to a Shelter Center” – tells Carolina. She also said about her pride and happiness with the institute’s creation. “It was through my project that I started giving more value to little things that before I didn’t.”
If you want to help the institute, contact with it through Facebook. Donations of clothing, equipment or money are accepted. Being a volunteer is a task that depends on knowledge in something related to employability. Also you can help by spreading it to people you know.