Casa do Zezinho

Oficina de Sexualidade

Workshops for adolescents on leading healthy and responsible lifestyles

Casa do Zezinho opened its doors in 1993, and presently attends to about 1,500 children and adolescents per day, improving their lives in various ways through education. The organization is located in the “Triangle of Death” region on the outskirts of São Paulo where 350,000 people live in favelas.The Casa helps children and youth who live in conditions of great vulnerability below the poverty line. Living in precarious homes and in an environment of constant violence, these children also have limited access to cultural activities.

The lack of privacy and family structure leads adolescents to engage in premature sexual behavior, whose consequences are exacerbated by the lack of sexual education, thus contributing to a high number of cases of sexual abuse and teenage pregnancy.

With support from BrazilFoundation, the Casa do Zezinho will:

• Educate 300 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 16;
• Contribute to demystifying taboos and prejudices;
• Teach students about STDSs, their risks, and about preventing unplanned pregnancies;
• Offer orientation to young parents.

“Our pedagogy of informal education offers ten thousand children and adolescents a means to realize their dreams.” – Maria Corina Gama de Macedo, Executive director and general supervisor at Casa do Zezinho