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 son because she herself was malnourished. I was overwhelmed with emotion (I kept saying, “This isn’t right.”) watching the infant trying to get milk from her mother without any success.

Our team was able to find some infant food (Infamil) and some rice for the rest of the family.  It was a very difficult situation, as I knew there were probably many more mothers and children in the same situation.

Villa Feliz is one of three communities (two slums and one primary school) that Seeds of Life believes will be transformed in one generation.  Much of Villa Feliz has been rehabilitated and is moving toward development of further infrastructure.

We want to see the remaining shanties turned into houses within the next 24 months. Then, we will continue working with a local non-profit Um127 to see the development of houses and people so that permanent change occurs.