Associação Saúde Criança

Saúde Criança 20th Anniversary Celebration at Parque Lage

Vera’s Speech

Dear friends,

Advisers, staff, sponsors, volunteers, health professionals at Hospital da Lagoa, partner institutions, franchises, and families –the motivation behind our work.

First and foremost, thank you for presence!

We are all gathered here today to celebrate, together, with much joy, the twentieth anniversary of Saúde Criança. We are indeed, a very close group. It is thanks to the energy, commitment, and love of each one of you –and many others who are not among us today, but who helped us very much –that we succeeded in transforming the fragile, undignified, and tough lives of thousands of families. I see us all as a single “social tissue,” completely interconnected, like neurons and their synapses, as medicine would say. Every time we activate an area, we reach all other areas.

Today, I want to celebrate your courage. You believed in a small gesture, in a small action, in a small tree that we planted 20 years ago without knowing that, in fact, we were planting an entire forest.

The power of our belief and efforts in what is small, as well as in the challenges of today, gave us the strength to face paramount challenges and keep on working towards our goals, always as a team, dreaming with transforming Brazil –and why not the world. Oh…and many major challenges did come along. But fear never overtook us, and so we remained certain that we could count on each other.

We count on the competency of a wide range of talents. We are a magnet for extremely creative and committed people, like you, and others that have come to us from the most diverse corners of this planet.

The courage of every one of us allowed us to be bold. Moreover, humbleness and unity allowed us to break the status quo and take part in the “quixotesque” enterprise that planted the seed for this project.

We did not know where we were going, as our King Solomon, Dr. Luiz Carlos Teixeira, says. We learned by listening to those whom we served, as my daughter Laura taught me. Since day one, the quest for social inclusion brought the wealthiest end of our social spectrum closer to the least privileged end –economically speaking.

Our cause united us in a definitive and irreversible way. The results have been fantastic for both sides –us and the families. As Maria Emília says, “I searched for God and I did not find him, I searched for myself and I did not find myself, I searched inside my neighbor and I found both!” It is very simple…and this is why it works.

I believe we exist to remember ourselves, and remember others, that technology itself will not save the lives of the people in this planet. Attitudes and objects as simple as empathy, water filters, adequate nutrition, decent housing, and basic training that significantly increase families’ income are also necessary.

In the context of today’s world, oriented towards science and technology –of great importance to human development in all areas, - we have been trying, for the last 20 years, to convey the message that these advances are in fact necessary, but that they are insufficient unless accompanied by a change in the way we interact with society. Often times, these transformations are the hardest to accomplish!!! For instance, how can one change the behavior of people? How can one motivate people? How to profoundly and attentively listen to those whose life is at risk? These were some of the lessons we all learned at this association, and that we have boldly shared –even with the public sector.

I want to end with the words of Margaret Mead, a famous American anthropologist: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

“The following poem is by a Buddhist monk: If you want to solve a problem, why worry? If you cannot solve a problem, what is the use of fear and worrying? In a long journey, we want to be able to see our final destination, but it is good to give ourselves some time to rest along the way.  With each step that you climb, even the smallest one of them, the most important thing to do…is to celebrate!

Thus, without you noticing, they become powerful.”

Thank you all!

Vera

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Me and Albina Ruiz, from Ciudad Saludable NGO

Last week I was at Oxford participating in Skoll World Forum.  The subject was “Large Scale Change – ecosystems, networks and collaborative action.”

I had the honor to participate in the “Holistic Solutions or Mission Creep: Is the Risk Worth the Reward?” session, along with Sébastien Marot, from Friends-International, and Amithaba Sadangi, from International Development Enterprises (India),  whose mediator was the canadian journalist David Bornstein. At this session we talked about innovative processes, the dificulties that we face and the decisions that we need to make, in order to increase, in large scale, our impact and the relevant risks.

The archbishop Desmond Tutu, who was the great name of the event, spoke with brilliance and much faith.

With much joy, I saw Rebecca Onie, from Health Leads, being elected Skoll Foundation’s social entrepreneur. Rebecca, a young lawyer, former Harvard student, and working at Boston, came to the same conclusion of Saúde Criança – that the medical act does not make sense if there is no complementation of what is done at the hospital, and that the major cause of illness in the whole world is poverty.  Reinforcing our work, which was a pioneer in the world, she confirmed that it is necessary an integrated vision of health, for this to be effective.

It was rewarding to participate in this Forum,  a real exchange of experiences.

Vera