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Dear Fellow Dreamers,
I was walking down the street in Rio de Janeiro one afternoon and came across an infant crawling on the sidewalk, alone, filthy with nothing on but a dirty diaper. I watched as people passed by, walking around the child and continuing on. A well dressed mother and son and their well dressed nanny passed by noticing the child and looking at me with the same helpless look on their faces as mine ‐ they then turned and walked away. I looked around to find three adults asleep on the sidewalk ahead. Not knowing what to do, I called Child Services, sat and waited, staring at the child afraid to pick him/her up and afraid to wake the sleepers. When the social workers arrived, the sleeping man awoke, grabbed the baby and ran away.
This past month has seen an outbreak of ‘war’ in the nearby favela (slum) of Rocinha (est. pop 200,000). The favelas are run by drug traffickers, when I say run I mean run ‐ nothing goes on in their community that they do not know about or approve of ‐ even our work and presence in the communities - although we have had no contact with them and will not ‐ they certainly know who we are and what we are doing on their turf. The “chefe” or head trafficker is usually no more than 25 or 26 years old ‐ they never make it into their 30’s. During April the former chefe of Rocinha decided to return and try to take the business back from the current chefe. When the police got word of this they decided to get involved
and then the problems began
shootings - often all night long. Who is doing what
who is shooting who
with whose guns, and why? No one really knows, but every day people are being killed, schools and business are closed and danger dominates the air.
Our child sponsorship program is in Rocinha ‐ we suspended our activities for the first week worrying about the security of our volunteers and staff. The kids called the office asking why we were not having activities ‐ for them this is their reality, they have lived through this before and are used to it. By the way, the cops killed the 26 year-old chefe and proudly paraded around with his dead body and live pit bull for the press and public to see. Rocinha was shut down completely the next day in mourning and by that night a new 20+ year-old chefe was in charge. Nothing has been solved and 12 people were killed in the process. We have resumed our activities in Rocinha as the police have moved on to another slum looking for the ex-chefe.
I tell these stories not to shock you, but to give you some idea of why we are here doing what we are doing in Brazil. Thank you for your support. Thank you for helping us save lives and thank you for giving Brazil’s poorest children an option to crime and a chance for their futures.
Lisa Urgo
Founder and President
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