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| Street children |
| Satomi Shimogo, a freelance journalist from Japan,
gave us a very interesting lecture on issue of street children in
Brazil. Interested in environmental issues, Ms Shimogo spent two years
in Brazil working on different environmental projects in Monte Azul,
San Paulo involving street children. Being a cultural and financial
centre of Brazil and the largest city in Latin America, Sao Paulo
has very wide gaps between reach and poor and this brings with it
significant social problems. One of the major issues that it is currently
facing is the large numbers of street children. There are 700 slums
in the city and most of the street children are concentrated there.
The official figure of street children in Sao Paulo today is 1000.
This, however, is considered to be an artificially conservative estimate
and the actual number is thought to be considerably higher. Due to
lack of educational facilities and high college fees, many children
are denied access to schooling beyond the first eight compulsory years.
Consequently they have to start looking after themselves at the age
of 15-16. Most of the children end up doing odd jobs in order to survive
while resisting the advances of drug dealers who find children as
easy target for their drug trafficking activities. |
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| Cape Town-Rio de
Janeiro / Peace Boat's 36th Voyage |
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PEACE BOAT is an NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. |
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