March 2010
1 post
Momentum, Influence, and Critical Mass
Life in the northeast of Brazil is one of varying extremes. For example many of the teams we have taken have stayed in nice hotels on the beach fronts of Fortaleza and Joao Pessoa, while working everyday with people living in extreme poverty. I believe this serves to drive the point home in the hearts of team members that awareness of injustice associated with poverty, like: lack of clean...
January 2010
8 posts
Josie
Josie was just 12 years old when she got married the first time. She bore two children during her 7 year marriage to her abusive husband. Her husband prevented her from coming outside for four years.
Josie was 19 years old when her husband died, leaving her to raise the children on her own. This task would be difficult for anyone, but was made even more dire because Josie could not read or...
Michele
Michele is 19 years old and lives on the outskirts of the Villa Feliz slum community in Joao Pessoa, Brazil. Michele has lived in the slum for 5 years. She has two children, ages 1 and 3. Her husband spends most of the day looking for plastic, aluminum, and paper for recycle.
When we were speaking with Michele, she became very upset because she was unable to provide breast milk for her infant...
Francisco
Francisco is a 57 year old husband and father who has lived in the Villa Feliz slum for 12 years. He spends his days looking for paper, plastic, and aluminum that he can recycle. He has seen much transformation in the last 2 years. His shanty was converted into a house with cement walls and floors. He told me the biggest problems in Villa Feliz are poverty and drug use.
Francisco said he has...
ZeZe
“ZeZe” is a seeker of justice for the people living in the thousands of “favelas” throughout Brazil. ZeZe grew up in a slum in central Fortaleza (pop. 1.5 million) called the Quadrente or Square. ZeZe had a difficult life and soon found himself using and selling crack cocaine. ZeZe became one of the most influential people in the Square through the power he had as a drug dealer. ZeZe believes...
Francesca
“Francesca” is a 65 year old woman who has lived in the Community for the past 40 years. She is the matriarch of a family of around 20 people. ”Francesca” lives in a humble little home with her kids, grand-kids, and great-grand-kids.
“Francesca” told us that the greatest challenge of living in the Community is the violence. We have seen the precursor to the violence and its after effects...
Dokr and Jarena
Dokr and Jarena are sisters who live in “the Community,” a slum in Fortaleza, Brazil. Both women are in their early forties, and both are addicted to crack cocaine. Crack cocaine abuse in the slums (favelas) of northeast Brazil is rampant.
Jarena spends much of her day looking for things to sale to support her daily crack use. Her husband is addicted to crack as are her teenage...
Who We Are
Seeds of Life International is a non-profit organization comprised of common people from the U.S. and abroad who share a single vision - to see the world changed for people who live in extreme injustice. Over 1 billion people live on less than $10 per day. By the time you finish reading this blog entry about 8 children, aged 1 day to 5 years, will have died of poverty related issues (this is...