Print This PageTraining Brazil's Street Children for a Productive Future
Seven million children between the ages of 5 and 18 live in extreme poverty on the streets of Brazil. They struggle to survive in a world filled with crime, drugs, prostitution and violent death. Both girls and boys face the same challenges for survival - begging, finding places to sleep, and using their wits to escape the assaults.
One organization, Hope Unlimited, is trying to make a difference in the lives of these children by providing housing and vocational training to prepare them for the future. The Monsanto Fund is a contributor to Hope Unlimited.
Founded by a father and son team
Hope Unlimited was founded by Jack Smith who had previously established a home for
street children in Ethiopia that today cares for over 5,000 children at many sites.
The plight of the street children of Brazil had been documented in the media, and
so Jack and his son Philip, now president of Hope Unlimited, went to Brazil to find
out first hand what could be done to help. On the flight, a young man whose father
was president of an abandoned orphanage in Campinas, Brazil, sat next to Philip.
Shortly thereafter, they donated the orphanage to Hope Unlimited, and the programs
began in 1991.
Seminis Brazil is located in Campinas, and Monsanto's Brazil offices are located about 65 miles away in Sao Paulo.
The children grow up with Hope Unlimited
At full capacity, Hope Unlimited has 120 boys and 70 girls. Hope Unlimited admits
children as young as 8 years old, and once admitted, they tend to remain in the
program until the age of 18. Most of the kids come from the streets or from dysfunctional
homes where drugs, alcoholism, prostitution, extreme poverty and child abuse are
the norm.
Monsanto Fund supports practical job-skills training
The Monsanto Fund helps support three of Hope Unlimited's vocational education program
courses: baking, food preparation and agricultural environment. The support of the
Monsanto Fund is essential, according to Clovis Selegatto, Hope Unlimited's director.
"The fund provides support and the opportunity to train the kids, which gives them
a chance to re-enter society with a job as responsible, contributing adults."
The baking course teaches the science of baking and provides fresh bread and baked goods daily for the campus cafeteria. In the food preparation course, students learn how a large-scale restaurant kitchen operates and are involved in producing the meals provided by the school's cafeteria.
The promise of a better future
The Monsanto Fund grant has allowed 55 students to attend the baking and food preparation
courses. After finishing the course, students are placed in 6-month internships.
If the student performs successfully during the internship, he or she can become
an employee of the company. According to Selegatto, 60 percent of these students
are now working in the Campinas region in bakeries, restaurants, hotels and company
cafeterias.
"Monsanto is glad to have the opportunity to contribute to the promise of a better future for these kids," said Cristina Rappa, Public Affairs and Social Responsibility manager for Monsanto Brazil. "We were very happy to find one of the youngsters who graduated from the food preparation course working in a hotel where Monsanto held its annual sales meeting some years ago, in Campinas."
New focus: Agricultural environment course
The agricultural environment course is a new focus for the vocational program, training
students in five sectors: forestry, planting, fish farming, compost production and
hydroponics. In 2006, the course was offered to 12 students, said Selegatto. "So
far two students have gotten jobs - one in the hydroponics area and one on a farm."
The agricultural environment course also offsets the cost of feeding the children, noted Selegatto, since the crops harvested are used at the school. The students also have the opportunity to learn horticulture and fruit growing, with vegetables and greens grown according to several agricultural techniques, such as the use of greenhouses.
To learn more about Hope Unlimited, visit its website at www.hopeunlimited.org.
