I spent two days at Todo Mundo Feliz (Everyone’s Happy) in late August. This top-notch child development center was started by the Mirandopolis Free Methodist Church in São Paulo, Brazil. It was deliberately established right on the edge of a slum area where drug traffickers are the law. Todo Mundo Feliz (TMF) was begun in 2002. It later gained funding through the local municipality of Santo André and now also has a partnership with ICCM as a Connected Community with Cape Coral Community Church (FL). At the time of my visit, 151 children were enrolled, not a few of whose parents are involved with drugs. Younger children spend the whole day at TMF. Older children spend half a day, and the other half attending public school.
While visiting the classrooms, I talked with the children and answered their questions. One afternoon I put puzzles together with 3-year-olds for maybe 15 minutes. A teacher of one little boy who talked with me remarked, “He hardly ever talks to anyone!” The meals are wonderfully nutritious. I ate my lunch right along with the children. (I love the way rice and beans are seasoned in Brazil.) The good health and mental development the children enjoy can, in many cases, be directly attributed to the healthy meals and loving care they receive at Todo Mundo Feliz.