Cristina Cortes and John Doddrell, members of the board of directors of Happy Child International, recently visited the charity’s supported projects in and around Recife in, north-east Brazil.
Here are a few impressions from Cristina
My first impression of Recife and of the beach front called Boa Viagem was of a modern and prosperous city, far more modern and richer than I had anticipated. But you don’t have to stray far from the promenade to discover pockets of deprivation and grinding poverty that are truly Dickensian.
In the midst of all this, I had the chance to see real examples of how the projects supported by Happy Child and its partners offer real support and opportunities to vulnerable children to get a better education, to be fed properly each day, and for their families, especially their mothers, to have a better chance of getting work.
I saw how these efforts are improving people’s lives, one by one, reducing their vulnerability and helping a few escape from extreme poverty and helplessness. But they are a drop in the ocean of misery! And these efforts need to be replicated on a much grander scale if the Recife of the slums is to come to share some of the prosperity and hope of their better off neighbours in Boa Viagem.
Cristina Cortes and John Doddrell, Happy Child board members, in recent visit to Projeto Ammar Transforma.
Children come to receive after-school support.
Cristina Cortes with Tamandaré' team.
Cristina Cortes took this photo when she visited John's English class at Instituto Solidare.