|
The House of Passage (Casa de
Passagem) was founded in 1990 by Ana Vasconcelos. It came
about right after the creation of the Statute of the Rights
of the Child was passed into national law in Brazil,
protecting the rights of all children in Brazil. A few years
before that, she went to the streets to speak to street
girls in order to gather information for the mayor’s office.
She ended up writing a book about the kids – Girls on the
Street – How Love Can Overcome All. It was then that she
knew she needed to start an organization to help these girls
who lived on the streets facing death every day. In just
over 10 years the organization has grown and helps close to
a thousand people a year.
They currently run three programs:
Passage for Life
- which helps the poor girls who are at risk of turning to
the street and former street girls they've rescued from the
streets.
Initiation to Work
- which give job training to adolescents, both boys and
girls, so that they can have a fighting chance in the tough
job market.
Community and Citizenship
– which works within groups of girls between 14-22 in the
communities to teach active political participation so that
they can both know and claim their rights. So that they can
be leaders of their future.
They also have some outreaching programs to women in the
communities and teach basic health care practices and why
they are important. |
