"Love comes from the Soul. Otherwise, it can die on the wedding night... But if it has the Spirit and heart of both lovers as its foundation, then the honeymoon will be repeated throughout their whole lives, despite the squabbles that always punctuate the life of a couple.” Paiva Netto.

In whichever part of the world, Human Beings always have many doubts when the subject is loving relationships. Questions like: “Is there a perfect person for everybody? Am I with the right person? How can I find that person?” can be heard from people of all different ages.

The Good Will Portal invites netizens to understand this subject from the perspective of Ecumenical Spirituality*, which considers the whole Human Being, endowed with both body and spirit, because relationships constitute stronger ties than we can see. They are relationships that are determined before we are born.

Good Will Portal — Does every loving relationship have spiritual consequences?

 

 

 

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GW Portal — Is there a Mr. or Mrs. right for everybody? If there is, do I go after them or will they find me?

 

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GW Portal  — How do I know if it’s the right person? Is there any way of separating desire from love?

 

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GW Portal — Is the right person for our whole life?

 

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So, what is needed for a happy and long-lasting relationship? Click on the image below to read the article: 

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*Ecumenical Spirituality — This banner of the Legion of Good Will is present in all its social and educational actions, because it is understood as “the cradle of the most generous values that are born of the Soul; the dwelling of the emotions and of the reasoning enlightened by intuition; the atmosphere that embraces everything that transcends the ordinary field of matter and comes from the elevated human sensitivity, such as Truth, Mercy, Morals, Ethics, Honesty, Generosity, and Brotherly Love.” Extract taken from the book É Urgente Reeducar! [It is Urgent to Re-educate!], which is the fundament of the LBV’s educational proposal, written by educator Paiva Netto, a best-selling author.

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The estimated number of one million suicides per year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), is very worrying. There are 24 suicides a day, on average, in Brazil. This number is equivalent to 9,000 deaths a year and considered high, since AIDS, for example, is the cause of a little over 10,000 deaths. According to the “Map of Violence 2011” report, prepared by the Sangari Institute and the Ministry of Justice, the rate of suicides in Brazil among young people exceeds that of adults, unlike what happens in most countries. In the 1998-2008 period the indices grew by 17%.

To show the seriousness of the problem in the world, in comparison with local data, psychiatrist Dr. José Manoel Bertolote, a professor from the Department of Neurology, Psychology, and Psychiatry of the Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho (UNESP, São Paulo State University) and a consultant for the WHO on the topic, recently presented some facts illustrating this. “Botucatu today has 130,000 inhabitants. Every year, worldwide, approximately seven cities like Botucatu commit suicide,” was the comparison he gave. It is worth observing that this survey did not consider data relating to those who make attempts to take their own life, the rates of which are 40 times greater in the United States, for example, than those who succeed in committing suicide. 

Based also on studies from the WHO, the specialist points to a worrying finding: young people are increasingly more likely to adopt suicidal behavior. It is already the third most common cause of death among economically active individuals in the age group between 15 and 44 years old and the second main cause of death among young people aged between 15 and 19. Another segment that requires care are the elderly, among whom the growth in suicide rates is related to the abandonment and solitude in which many of these people live, sometimes weakened by chronic and degenerative diseases.

In Dr. Bertolote’s opinion, any illness that duplicates every 20 or 30 years would demand drastic measures from the authorities. “This has not happened in Brazil. Some studies show that if we take young people, aged between 15 and 25, [we shall note that] the increase in suicide over the last 20 years is even greater. There’s a brutal increase in suicide among young males,” he commented.

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Author of the recently launched O suicídio e sua prevenção [Suicide and its prevention], the book has information and strategies for preventing the problem. Dr. Bertolote cites studies from several countries that have presented the most common risk factors. In addition to alcoholism and drugs, “behind 90% of the suicides in the Western world is a mental disorder (mainly depression and schizophrenia).”

Given the risk factors we need to be alert in order to provide solidary support. “That’s what we have to do. We have to get closer to those who are showing signs that something is not right. It may be uncomfortable. We ask: ‘How are you?’ and no one really wants to know, because it’s just a form of politeness. Sometimes the person says: ‘Oh, I’m fine’, but they’re rotten inside... Now, if you say to them: ‘Look, I see that you’re not well. Can I do something? Can I help?’, then, perhaps you’ll have to leave what you’re doing and accompany this person some place, but you’ll be able to save a life.”

SUFFERING

Information is fundamental in the task of preventing cases of suicide. This is the opinion of PhD in Psychology Dr. Blanca Susana Guevara Werlang, a full professor at the School of Psychology of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUC-RS) and coordinator of the Prevention and Intervention in Violent Behavior Group at PUC, Brazil. “People don’t have information about suicide. There are many taboos surrounding the subject. If education professionals, for example, had more knowledge about risk factors—which are the protecting factors, which behaviors may denounce this—, they could also help. They could talk to the family. They could send the person to a psychologist, a psychiatrist, or another specific public health sector,” she said.

Dr. Blanca Werlang stresses that studying suicidal behavior is also discussing the question of suffering. “These individuals suffer a lot. Sometimes the idea is not to die, but just to put an end to this unbearable pain.” According to the specialist, faults occur in personal psychological development: “The person begins to accumulate psychological tension, psychological suffering. If they communicate little with others, if they have family problems, if there’s no link with a spiritual reference point, whatever that may be, or if they have few friends, they end up suffering a lot.”

Considered to be a psycho-social disturbance with multiple causes, suicide is a complex event. “It’s not just because a person has a depressive disturbance that they’re going to commit suicide. There are social, economic, family, and spiritual factors involved. The combination of all these elements is what actually leads a person to become psychologically disorganized and to internalize this intolerable suffering.” 

The psychologist also demonstrates concern with the high rates of this type of occurrence in the younger population. Dr. Werlang understands that the important factor here is a lack of reference. “The feeling we get is that the family transfers the responsibility to the school and the school to the family. Society doesn’t take responsibility either. The public representatives are all very mixed up. (...) Today the values of fraternity, spiritual values, the question of not harming others, of lending and dividing things with one’s neighbor, they’re all forgotten. Being religious is a protective factor, as is having good family relations,” she explained.

IMPACT ON FAMILY AND FRIENDS

The death of someone who has decided to abandon life is usually difficult for the family and friends to overcome. Journalist Paula Fontenelle experienced this reality at first hand: her father committed suicide in 2005. In her search for answers, she dedicated three years of her life researching the subject, studying various cases, and interviewing psychologists and other specialists. The result of this work is her book Suicídio, o futuro interrompido — Guia para sobreviventes [Suicide: the future interrupted – A guide for survivors].

In her work the author proves the importance of paying attention to the people who are close to those who committed this act of despair and the need to break the silence that surrounds them. “In the literature of this field of study they call those who lose someone to suicide a survivor, because they’re the individual who’s going to have to live with that for the rest of their life and survive the pain of this loss, which is a different pain... When you lose a person because of an accident, a disease, or through natural causes, you talk about it to everyone and everybody asks what it was like. Talking about it is part of the mourning process. But when it’s suicide, no one asks. No one wants to hear about it. (...) I remember that our family went through this.” 

The journalist also believes that, to a certain extent, the aggression of the act reverberates in those who are closest. “When the person dies it’s normal to be frightened. You don’t believe they did that. Later you begin to feel that you’re to blame: ‘How is it that I didn’t notice?’. The feeling of guilt is normal and anger too.... ‘How could they do this to me? They were irresponsible. How can they do this to their own child?’”

In sounding the alert, the book indicates the main signs of suicidal behavior in order to help fight it. “Faith is very important. It’s one of the crucial factors that gives support to some people. Faith in God, in a Superior Being, regardless of the religion you practice, is a type of support very much like the support of a person who gives you their hand. Faith is believing in the future; believing always that that [pain and suffering...] is going to pass.” 

In the case of a loved one who is manifesting such signs, she recommends first opening a channel of communication and paying attention to them. Then try and understand and make it easy for them to get things off their chest. “Another very important thing that doctors also say is to try and make a type of pact with the person: ‘Look, give me a month for us to see if you’re going to get better or not. That’s all I’m asking’. I did this with a friend of mine... I took her to a psychiatrist and she’s still alive today.”

THE POWER OF PRAYER

A feeling of religiousness has been a valuable ally in helping those who suffer recover their self-esteem and will to live. It has been proved that praying and meditating are capable of helping restore the equilibrium of the body and soul and the fact that the person belongs to a religious community in itself represents a very favorable social support at times of intense suffering.

The President-Preacher of the Religion of God, of the Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, Paiva Netto, says that at times of difficulty, when it seems that certain issues have no way out, he resorts to prayer and as a result he gains the strength he needs to overcome the obstacles. In his article “Atheists can also pray”, he points out: “Prayer is not a refuge for cowards or the idle. It elevates us; and work provides us with a feeling of achievement. The Pope prays. The Dalai Lama meditates. Chico Xavier prayed. Rabbis chant their prayers and evangelicals sing their praises to God. Muslims recite the Holy Koran... What is Prayer if not Love that is willing to undertake great feats? When an atheist brother carries out an act that benefits society he is praying. Praying is not simply a figurative action. It is the strongest instrument that the human essence, the Divine Capital, has. As the German Catholic monk Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) once wrote in The Imitation of Christ: ‘Sublime is the art of talking with God.”

 

Version: Rob Dinham
Revision: Rosana Bertolin

Despite the countless individual, social, and political efforts to eradicate poverty on a world scale, the subject is worrying and it is a constant topic in international debates. In addition to the physical need for nourishment, egalitarian strategies for access to health care, housing, drinking water, and education need to be discussed. These elements are all essential for the autonomy and full development of individuals. Inequality jeopardizes this scenario even more, since poverty marginalizes social groups and perpetuates cycles of violence and discrimination, making it impossible to lead a harmonious social life.

Vivian R. Ferreira

This is why for more than 65 years the Legion of Good Will (LBV) has been proposing social mobilization campaigns and socio-educational and socio-assistance programs that fight contempt for individuals and indifference to their condition. Its proposal is to apply the values of Ecumenical Spirituality*¹ to Education. These values make education an effective strategy for social, environmental, economic, and political investment for promoting the equalitarian and fraternal development of society and raising the awareness of individuals of the importance of experiencing an Ecumenical Citizenship. 

The President of the LBV and creator of the Organization’s own teaching methodology, educator Paiva Netto, argues: “Love is not the degradation of bodies or minds, but the Power of God or a Superior Wisdom (as our atheist Brothers think) in us. It is the most intelligent Policy that an individual can conceive of. Otherwise, the Earth will be afflicted by the painful opposite of this, such as the suicidal ecocide we see all around us, for example. We need to spiritualize people within the Ecumenism of Hearts. Only then and with perseverance will the various segments of society start to live in harmony, however long it takes for this to happen.”*²

Egeziel Carlos

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Get to know the recommendations of the LBV sent to the UN for eradicating poverty and for the sustainability of nations, based on education.

The Organization is present in 7 countries, where it manages Schools, Social Service Centers, and Homes for the Elderly. Activities also extend to include educational projects and campaigns for raising awareness about Life and valuing it. Numerous children, teenagers, young people, adults, the elderly, and entire families receive the conditions they need to develop their potential and rise up again to build and rebuild their individual and collective stories. 

“TODAY I’M A CRAFTSWOMAN”

Check out the story of Mrs. Maria Raimunda, from Maranhão (Brazil), who, because of the courses she attended in the LBV’s Social Service Center, was able to change her financial, personal, and family life for the better:                 

 

 

Help us expand this work. Make an online donation via our website www.legionofgoodwill.org. For further information write to english@boavontade.com.

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*¹ Ecumenical Spirituality — This ideal of the Legion of Good Will is present in all its socio-educational actions, since it is understood as “the cradle of the most generous values that come from the Soul, the home of emotions and of reason illuminated by intuition, the environment that encompasses everything that transcends the common field of matter and is derived from the sublimated human feeling, such as Truth, Mercy, Morality, Ethics, Honesty and Brotherly Love.” A passage taken from the book É Urgente Reeducar! [It is Urgent to Re-educate!], which is the fundament of the LBV’s educational proposal, written by educator Paiva Netto, the author of various best-sellers who has sold more than 6 million books in Brazil and abroad.

*² Extract taken from the best-seller “It is Urgent to Re-educate!”, by writer Paiva Netto, in the chapter “The Ecumenism that is compassionate with sorrow”. 

For over 60 years, the Legion of Good Will expands its message of Unrestricted Ecumenism around the world through the Esperanto language

There is no doubt that Esperanto has been attracting countless people who have employed their very best to propagate the international language. This happens because it offers two very interesting aspects to those who study it: the linguistic and idealistic ones. This last identifies a great deal with the Legion of Good Will—the ideals of Peace and the brotherhood of the world’s nations. The late founder of the LBV, Alziro Zarur (1914-1979), verified the development potential of Zamenhof’s language, allying it to the Organization’s practices. For this reason, the LBV, since its origin, has been upholding Esperanto by all means at its disposal, fulfilling one of its goals: "To work for the widest diffusion of the international language Esperanto, a precious element towards the brotherhood of all nations, considering that the LBV is the Esperanto of religions, just as Esperanto is the LBV of languages”.

Arquivo BV

Meditadoj kaj Pensoj — Dialektiko de Bona Volo, published in 1988 by writer Paiva Netto, was the first printed book of the LBV in the international language. Its launching was highlighted in an article in the Esperanto magazine, an official organ of the Universal Esperanto Association (UEA), entitled “Brazilian Ecumenical Organization uses Esperanto”, written by Professor Jorge das Neves in the 1980s.

Created in the early days of the Legion of Good Will, the Department of Esperanto has as a goal to get the Unrestricted and Ecumenical message of the Organization across the whole world, employing to this end the international language as a powerful tool towards unity. This all-embracing vision of Ecumenism—that covers the much announced "culture shock”, which can drag entire nations into an unprecedented conflict, perhaps even worse than any recently envisioned—is the vision of journalist José de Paiva Netto, President of the LBV.

A strong supporter of the expansion of Esperanto, Paiva Netto has used it as a tool to leverage Ecumenism, which he sees as Universalism, brotherhood without boundaries and, therefore, a powerful tool to raise nations starting from the practice of Solidarity. "We refer then to the Ecumenism of the Hearts, the one that convinces us not to waste time with hatred and sterile quarrels, but rather to lend a hand to the fallen, for it is touched by the suffering of others; to take our own shirts off to clothe the unclothed; to act as a healing balm for the sick; to protect widows and orphans; it knows that Education with Ecumenical Spirituality will increasingly become fundamental for the progress of nations, because Ecumenism is Education open to Peace”, wrote Paiva Netto in the Solidary Society magazine (7th edition) sent to the UN since the year 2000, and also available in Esperanto.

The Italian-born Corsetti demonstrates his admiration for this ideal: "the LBV, as well as Esperanto, works to build a better world. While Esperanto does that in a cultural and theoretical manner, the LBV achieves that in practice, in a concrete manner, helping people here and now. I wish you all success!”.

Just as the Solidary Society magazine mentioned above, several other publications, by initiative of the leader of the Legion of Good Will, have been translated into Esperanto, such as ecumenical prayers, poems, short stories, texts from the Bible, magazines, newspapers, pamphlets, children’s books, among others. The construction of the Bona Volo Portal also stands out, which is constantly updated with content of diverse subjects interesting to mankind with the differential perspective of Ecumenical Spirituality.

“It is with pleasure that I read and translate texts from the Legion of Good Will. It is a very honorable work for me. Their ideals bring together in a wonderful manner both idealism and practice. The LBV found a very propitious path that has a usefulness no well-meaning man can doubt: solidarity above the details of any creed; philanthropy above the sterile quarrels over faith; education with a moral encouragement; and social support with dignity and respect”. (Paulo Sérgio Viana, Vice President of the Brazilian League of Esperanto - BEL)

 

Article published in the BONA VOLO [Good Will] magazine issue # 65 that was launched during the 94th Universal Esperanto Congress in Bialystok, Poland.

The Legion of Good Will of Portugal has been working for 22 years promoting Solidarity through socio-educational activities and human and spiritual support for others. The work of the Organization in Portugal reaches teaching institutions, supports similar entities and extends to symposiums, cultural exhibitions, health promotion events etc.

All these initiatives have helped consolidate the concept of Ecumenical Citizenship, because with the support from the LBV’s team of professionals and volunteers, those people who are helped feel encouraged to change their lives starting from positive attitudes founded on the full practice of spiritual, human and social solidarity.

Every month more than 400 volunteers work in the LBV’s socio- educational programs, helping in areas like oral health, through the Happy Smile program; or collecting food via the One Step Forward program; organizing donations received at the Organization’s own facilities through the FTAs (Free Time Activities); or making friendly visits as requested by families.

In the LBV’s task of monitoring those who are being helped, which includes motivational activities as well as programs and campaigns for the valorization of Life, many stories of personal triumph and love towards our fellow beings come to light. These stories appear both among those who benefit from the solidary actions as well as among the LBV’s own voluntary workers, since attitudes and good practices have also changed the lives of those who help the Organization. Such is the case of the retiree Rosa Orquídea Ferreira, a volunteer for the past 18 years in the city of Porto. “My experience here is great. It has taught me how to share, how to be humble, to love others and essentially to practice the New Commandment of Jesus, which is ‘Love one another as I have loved you’.”

The more these human stories become known, the more the happiness of the LBV’s team increases, as well as the certainty that its work has made a difference. “I learned about the LBV at a very complicated time in my life. I came with a friend and since I joined I’ve never once wanted to leave!” According to voluntary worker Rosa, the people closest to her have noticed changes in the way she acts. “They noticed a lot of difference... I started being a more understanding person, easier to get along with; now I can overcome my problems with a lot more faith and perseverance.”

The LBV of Portugal today has almost 3,000 people registered in its volunteer center. Every year, more people join willing to change lives for the better. These people are welcomed into the volunteer training activity in Porto, where they receive information about the Organization’s socio-educational programs, its objectives, mission and vision.

About the Legion of Good Will of Portugal:

The Legion of Good Will of Portugal started its work in Porto in 1989. Thanks to the help of the Portuguese people, the LBV’s work has expanded and, as a result, more and more people are benefiting from its solidary actions. In addition to Porto—where it started working out of a bigger building in 2010, promoting the expansion of services offered locally—, the LBV is active in Lisbon, Coimbra and Braga, and also has campaigns that extend nationally. The highlights are the Happy Smile, One Step Forward, Good Will Seed and Sport is Life programs. Further information at www.lbv.pt.

Playing tag, hide-and-seek, playing with dolls or educational games, riding a bicycle and playing ball provide children with a happy and healthy childhood. Many people do not know this, but playing is a right that every child can exercise and one that is protected by law. Article 31 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, promulgated by the United Nations (UN), advocates playing as a basic right. Therefore, like so many other rights, it needs to be guaranteed worldwide.

Vivian R. Ferreira

Children can develop their physical, motor, and social abilities and skills, their reasoning and creativity through games. Playing is the means that children have of communicating with the world. This is when they strengthen their process of socialization with people from different ethnic, religious, and social backgrounds. Therefore, playing must be combined with the guarantee of other important elements in childhood, like education, food, security, housing, and family.

“promoting play for children means investing. When we invest in this we can be sure that we shall have more balanced and less violent citizens, because playing promotes a culture of peace. Children who play learn how to work in groups, to negotiate, to respect rules, and to strive and win on their own merit,” says Marilena Flores Martins, social worker, socio-cultural animator, and President of the Associação Brasileira pelo Direito de Brincar [Brazilian Association for the Right to Play] (IPA Brasil).

Vivian R. Ferreira

These are also activities that favor the health of the body and the mind. When children play they are benefiting their body by avoiding a sedentary lifestyle, for example, while mentally they are strengthening feelings of confidence, self-esteem, balance, and tranquility. Emotionally, they find more joy in living. In fact, depending on the game, many children end up already identifying the profession they will tend to practice later in life.

PLAYING WITH GOODWILL

For this reason children are taken seriously at the Legion of Good Will (LBV), because it recognizes their importance in building a better future for everybody, as the President of the Organization, José de Paiva Netto, states: “World stability begins in the hearts of children. That is why at the LBV we have been applying for so many years now the Pedagogy of Affection*.”

The LBV invests heavily in education. It guarantees the right to full development to children by means of its schools and educational and social assistance programs, which are also aimed at families. With the motto of ‘Forming Brain and Heart’, it provides leisure facilities, sports, music, and art workshops in its teaching establishments in after-school hours. These quality services are also offered to children from the public education system. Learn more about the LBV’s Pedagogy.

With all their fundamental rights guaranteed, the Legion of Good Will applies its own educational methodology in all its actions in order to encourage the autonomy of these citizens that transform society into a fairer and more egalitarian one. In an article forwarded to the United Nations during an event that occurred in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2011, Paiva Netto, creator of the Organization’s Pedagogy, writes: “This is our most main function: to instruct, educate, and re-educate ourselves so we can efficiently instruct, educate and re-educate others. Teaching for me is not just transmitting the ABC of earthly science, even if it is the most advanced Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Astronomy, etc. If there is no good food for the Soul, this instructional learning will lead the Human Being without this good nutrition to direct their thoughts to actions that are increasingly destructive. That is why Education, when it is done right, sets free. And with Ecumenical Spirituality it sublimes.”

Visit the Organization in one of the seven countries where it has autonomous bases (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Portugal, United States, and Uruguay) and/or access www.legionofgoodwill.org to make your online donation. For more information write to english@boavontade.com. 

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*Pedagogy of Affection — Educational proposal of the Legion of Good Will, advocated by educator Paiva Netto, aimed at children up to 10 years old. It is part of the Good Will Pedagogy, along with the Ecumenical Citizen Pedagogy for children from the age of 11 and up. 

What would you do if you discovered that someone in your family had the HIV/AIDS virus? Would you distance yourself from them or help them? Would you react with prejudice? The team from the Good Will Portal went to the José de Paiva Netto Educational Institute in São Paulo (Brazil) to ask middle school students what they think about the subject. 

READ MORE ABOUT IT:
- Article by journalist Paiva Netto: "AIDS – Don’t give up on the fight"
- Living with AIDS is “a challenge overcome each day," says HIV-positive woman 

João Nery

While for many people it may seem to be a taboo subject, talking about AIDS is not a problem for these young people. That is because in all the Legion of Good Will (LBV) schools, its own teaching methodology includes the subject known as Convivência [Living Together]*, in which students research and debate the disease (what it is, how it is transmitted, how it is treated, and, of course, how to prevent it) without shame or fear of receiving information, and they arrive at interesting conclusions.

People often exclude those who are HIV positive due to lack of knowledge, and that is where the prejudice comes from. “There are myths concerning infection that need to be laid to rest. Many people discriminate against people with AIDS precisely because they don’t know about the disease fully,” comments Sabrina Caetano, 17 years old. 

In the opinion of Priscila Mendes, 17 years old, the prejudice suffered by those with AIDS is serious and “may start in the family itself, which, like society, may often judge them instead of welcoming them and trying to understand them.” This attitude results in “abandonment, which affects those with the virus even more. It’s at this moment that they need more support and solidarity,” adds Rene Clemente, 17 years old.  

Even when they are under treatment, people with AIDS can and should live normally, without abandoning their affective and social lives. They have the same rights as anyone else to work, to date, to have fun, and to make friends. This is what Amy de Souza, 17 years old, says: “The person living with AIDS can live alongside other people and in society. They’ll not transmit the disease if they touch or simply communicate with other people.”

Student Matheus Araújo, 18 years old, remembers that there are diseases that kill more people than AIDS, like diabetes, for example, which in Brazil kills four times more people, according to the Ministry of Health. There are others that can be more contagious and transmitted through the air, as is the case with the flu. However, the prejudice against those who have HIV has become very aggressive. “During class the teacher showed a video that pretended that one of the seats in the subway was reserved exclusively for those with AIDS. Several people passed by and didn’t sit in it. This shows how ignorant people are, because a person with the flu is more dangerous to others in this situation than someone with AIDS,” the student exemplifies.

According to a report by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), HIV-positive people are living longer and the number of deaths related to the disease are reducing due to the effectiveness of the antiretroviral therapy. We have to celebrate the progress being made in access to treatment, but we cannot forget that more than 35 million people in the world still live with HIV. New generations need this knowledge: “The Living Together classes are a time for reflection on our attitudes and the formation of a better future for us and for the generations to come. Young people may even go down the wrong path that could be avoided if they only had a space like this; a place for warning them [about the issue] and for dialogue without prejudice,” argues Priscila Mendes.

Carolina Santos, 18 years old, believes that “classes of this type should be by law included in schools, because there’s still lack of information, interest, and empathy. If not, ignorance and prejudice will increase more and more each day.” Marcus Vinicius Scolari, 17 years old, adds: “Discrimination shouldn’t exist, not only against those who have HIV, but against anything, whether it’s religion, sexual orientation, race, or the social and economic situation, because we’re all human beings, and we all have our qualities and faults. We should respect all these differences.”

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*Convivência [Living Together] classes — The Living Together subject, which was created by educator Paiva Netto, invites students to take part in research activities and discuss the important subjects of daily life. It is included in the teaching network of the Legion of Good Will throughout Brazil and abroad.

Gender violence reflects throughout the whole of society. In the United States—where, on average, a woman is beaten by her husband or partner every 15 seconds, according to the Amnesty International Report “It’s in our hands: Stop violence against women”, 2004—gender violence costs the country immensely: 5 to 10 billion dollars a year.

According to figures disclosed by the World Bank (IBRD) and by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), domestic violence is responsible for one in every five absences of women from work. It is also among the main causes of disability and death of women in their productive years.

Transforming for the better

Since 1986, the Legion of Good Will of the USA has been developing its humanitarian work in the States of New York, where it has a representative office to the United Nations, and New Jersey, through a community center in Newark. Its solidary actions are carried out by means of its socio-assistance programs, including projects that prioritize health care and in the area of education. The work has contributed to improving significantly the quality of life of low-income families and individuals.

The pedagogical proposal of the LBV, formed by the Pedagogy of Affection (for children up to the age 10) and the Ecumenical Citizen Pedagogy (for children 11 years and older) is widely spread in the country. It is applied in classrooms thanks to the teachers who use the Organization’s innovative educational line, created by educator Paiva Netto, which combines the transmission of universal values to intellectual development. Thus, students learn to be the protagonists of a social model in which respect and love towards fellow beings are the basis of human relations.