History of Casa do Caminho

In 1982 Carlos Alberto Nogueira established Casa do Caminho with the help of five friends.  They distributed aid to homeless people in the area of Xerém, RJ. Their vision was to create a shelter for homeless people in a green natural setting far from the urban center.

In the first five years of the project, the original group lived among destitute men, women, and children and they formed a unique community that resided in primitive buildings without electricity.

It wasn’t until the 1990s that the objectives of Casa do Caminho changed to prioritizing projects for children solely.

Nowadays, Casa do Caminho still focuses on children, so the core product did not change but throughout the years many side products have been added to the portfolio.

In 2003, Bart Bijen, the director of Casa do Caminho, designed the volunteer program.  After the implementation of the volunteer program there has been a continuous flow of volunteers that provide Casa do Caminho with the flexibility to expand its facilities.  Ever since, this program is evolving rapidly.

Since 2003, Casa do Caminho has added an adolescents´ center to house the older children to make the project itself more sustainable and give the orphanage program a longer range.  Various social enterprises have been added to the portfolio, i.e. the Language Centre, in order to create incoming cash flow and support the orphanage with continuous funds.  The ICT project (Information, Communication, Technology), a Sport and Community Centre, and a Sexual Education project have been added too, in order to augment education as a supporting pillar of the Casa do Caminho program.  Also, Casa do Caminho is sells Doces de Verônica, which are homemade preserves made from the Orphanage organic farm.

In the last five years close to 300 volunteers from all over the world continually shaped, developed and updated the program to make it more effective and more professional; this provides more help and more care to the children of Xerém.