SOS Children in Brazil
With an estimated 170 million inhabitants, Brazil has the largest population in Latin America and ranks sixth in the world. Poverty and destitution are widespread with 54 million people living below the poverty line, particularly in the huge slum areas in the major cities and industrial areas. Although the child mortality rate has fallen, it remains disproportional to national production capacity and available technology.
SOS Children began working in Brazil over thirty years ago when the charity opened its Porto Alegre site in 1969. Since then fourteen more communities have been built. The SOS Children Brasilia and Sao Bernardo do Campo (near Sao Paulo) were built in 1971. They were followed by Poa, Goioere, Santa Maria, Bahia near Salvador, Rio Bonito near Sao Paulo, Juiz de Fora and Paraiba outside Joao Pessoa as well as the SOS Children's Village Rio Grande do Norte in Caico, in north-eastern Brazil and SOS Children Manaus in the north-west province of Amazonas. There are two communities just outside Rio de Janerio, Jacarepagua and Pedra Bonita. The most recent village, which opened in 1999, is in Laura de Freitas, a small town near Salvador de Bahia.
As well as the fifteen communities in which the charity gives a home to over 1500 children and young people, there are associated facilities and projects to help the wider community. These include kindergartens, schools, vocational training centres and social and day care centres. There are SOS primary schools at Juiz de Fora, Rio Bonito (Sao Paulo), Rio Grande do Norte and Paraiba (Joao Pessoa) which also has a secondary school. All the schools are attended by pupils from the neighbourhood as well as children living in the communities. Children from the other SOS communities attend local schools.
Vocational training centres and workshops at Brasilia, Jacarepagua, Paraiba, Rio Bonito and Santa Maria provide young people from SOS Children and the local communities with the opportunity to acquire skills and trades which will help them lead independent lives.
Alongside some of the villages - Bahia, Porto Alegre, Rio Bonito, Rio Grande do Norte and Santa Maria - day care centres and transit homes provide respite and temporary accommodation and care for maltreated and destitute minors including street children.
SOS Children in Brazil Aldeia SOS do Amazonas (Manaus) Aldeia SOS de Pedra Bonita (Rio de Janeiro) Aldeia SOS da Bahia Aldeia SOS de Poá (São Paulo) Aldeia SOS de Brasília Aldeia SOS de Porto Alegre Aldeia SOS de Goioerê Aldeia SOS do Rio Grande do Norte (Caicó) Aldeia SOS de Jacarepaguá (Rio de Janeiro) Aldeia SOS de Rio Bonito (São Paulo) Aldeia SOS de Juiz de Fora Aldeia SOS de São Bernardo do Campo (São Paulo) Aldeia SOS da Paraíba (João Pessoa) Aldeia SOS de Santa Maria Aldeia SOS de Lauro de Freitas (Salvador du Bahia).
Local Contacts
SOS Children in Brazil:
Aldeias Infantis SOS Brasil
Rua Antonio Coelho
400-Vila Mariana
P.O. Box 14322
CEP: 04011-061 Sao Paulo
SP
Brazil
Tel: +55/11/55 74 81 99, +55/21/25 37 13 41
Fax: +55/11/55 79 95 51
e-mail: luisa.marinheiro@aldeiasinfantis.org.br
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