That’s how PEPE is born

PEPE – Pre-school Education program, it has its origin in Brazil, in the year of 1992,with the couple Stuart and Georgina Christine, from BMS World Mission – British Baptist Missionary Society.

During a visit of the couple to a poor community in the city of Sao Paulo, a lady, noticing their interest in helping the local children, asked them what they could do to help the community. Before this challenge and noticing the great lack of prepare of the community children to enter to the primary school with the hope of social educational success, Georgina was willing to start a pre-school support work with them. To confirm the need of this type of initiative it was done a research with 100 families of the community which determined the number of children at the age range between 4 to 6 years, that were without access to pre-school preparation. The result of the research showed the existing need and the big interest from the mothers in that type of work.

Thus, in August of 1992 it was born the Pre-School Education Program (PEPE) with 25 little children of 5 and 6 years old that were already assisted through the Brazilian Association of Encouragement and Support to the Man, ABIAH.

The success of the program in that community awake the interest of others and thus the program started to expand to other places of Sao Paulo in informal spaces. During the following years, supported by the educators Katia Medeiros and Irene Arcanjo, she engaged in improving the curriculum contnt of PEPE and establishinf the continued formation principle with the educators – an emphasis that became an essential characteristic of the program.

In 2000, looking forward to expand the project for the poorest states of Brazil’s northeast, PEPE was implemented in Piaui through the work efforts of Iolanda Miranda, Piauiense, that had work for six years with PEPE in the community of Heliópolis, São Paulo. The project easily adapted to the local culture and got a new performance area with the name of “Northeast project Light”.

Extending the borders

In the year 2001, happened the first international expansion. The program was introduced to church leaders and the community of Mozambique, with the support of the Pedagogue Terezinha Candieiro, in a moment that the country was seeking to eradicate the poverty through the education and the work. I was also introduced to other leaders in Latin America through the teachers Lidia Klava and Lucia Martiniano. And thus, PEPE started to expand to several countries from two continents, in less favored of resources communities, with the support of ABIAH.

A next and decisive step in the history of PEPE was given in 2005 when to facilitate the program and to create a cooperation structure, it was seen the need to organize a “network” of PEPE, called PEPE Network, started by Stuart Christine and by the coordinator Terezinha Candieiro.

It was essential in this beginning of international expansion the continuous emphasis in the base curriculum development, the educators formation system, and especially the preparation of coordinators responsible for introducing and supervising PEPE in Brazil and abroad.

The following period was characterized by several and important achievements. The first one was the organizational/administrative development of PEPE through the net that provided strong, but flexible needed structures to continue the international expansion. This process included the formalization and printing in Portuguese, Spanish, French and English the main base curriculum texts and the formation programs of the educators and coordinators. The second one was the launching of the website PEPE Network, with the information about the program for a more diverse public. A third meaningful initiative was the production of modules and complementary material for the base curriculum, approaching topic like the child protection and the environment preservation.

What the children do at PEPE

At PEPE we propose and do activities that will help the children to build their knowledge and at the same time learn through interaction with each other.

PEPE makes the approaching of pre-school education program of each country where it is inserted with the referential curriculum.

In general terms, the following areas o knowledge are worked: Language, Mathematics, Nature and Society, Movement, Music, Visual Arts and Christian Education or Spirituality Values. These areas are developed inside a weekly and daily routine. Normally the daily routine is formed by the following activities:

• Arrival
• Circle Time
• Individual Activities ( Language, Mathematics, Arts, Christian Education)
• Collective Activities ( Movement, Music, Nature and Society)
• Hygiene – washing hands, brushing the teeth
• Dream Corners
• Classroom Set Up
• Departure

Most of the activities are developed in a playful way, because especially in this age range the children learn by playing. Thus, they will grow and develop naturally.

This history is not over yet… each elapsed year, each overcome difficult, each child reached, the history of this ministry continues to be written. That the children be happy and keep glorifying Jesus!