Task Brasil – supporting
street children's individual needs
Task Brasil Trust is a UK-registered charity running five
residential projects and one day centre for at-risk street
children and young people in Rio de Janeiro.
It aims to provide high quality care and support, to enable
children to develop their independence and self-esteem.
Projects are attuned to particular needs, for example
family reintegration for young children and income generation
for older teenagers.
ABC provided substantial support for Task Brasil for
many years, ending in 2007.
| Region: |
Rio de Janeiro |
| Type of Work: |
Provision of basic needs; shelter; education;
outreach |
| No of children: |
100 |
| Other beneficiaries: |
Families through mediation |
| Age range: |
0-22 years |
| Founded: |
1992 |
| Pamela, aged 5, lived at Casa Jimmy for three
years. She is intelligent and has blossomed since
being fitted with her new prosthetic leg; she now
enjoys running and playing with the other children.
After the authorities decided Pamela's parents
were not able to care for her, Task Brasil recently
found her an adoptive family. She is now living
happily with them nearby and still attends the local
crèche with her friends from Casa Jimmy. |
Activities provide education and training; health services
and health and sex education; food; drug rehabilitation;
accommodation; income generation opportunities; counselling
and personal support:
Casa Jimmy
Task Brasil's first residential home was
set up in 1998 with a donation from ABC founding patron,
Jimmy Page. It can accommodate 25 children, with the
ultimate aim of reuniting them with their families,
or, alternatively, finding them adoptive families.
Casa Charlotte
Task Brasil, with the help of ABC, recently purchased
a new house for this project, which provides a home for pregnant
teenagers, mothers and their babies.
Girls stay at the house until they feel confident enough
to return to their families or able to start their lives
outside of the shelter.
Epsom College Farm
Located 90km north east of Rio, this is an ambitious
project, still to be fully realised. The organic farm
was bought in 2002, and Task Brasil plans to build five
houses for teenage boys on the site. The first, funded by ABC, opened in 2005, for boys aged 10-14 years.
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