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Why does Brazil need the Brazilian Children's Charity?
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In Rio de Janeiro, between 80 to 90 percent of homeless people are addicted to crack cocaine, according to estimates of mental health professionals and social workers.1 An increasing majority of children and adolescents receiving municipal services assistance are labeled as being addicted to crack.
This is due to three factors:
1) Crack is a very cheap drug, it costs between 50c to $3 per rock,
2) Crack is a powerful drug that offers a more desirable high than other drugs,
3) Crack is highly addictive, the high wears off after only a few minutes.1
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Crack Cocaine Leads the Sale of all Drugs in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro2
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Crack is increasingly present in the favelas and on the streets. According to the newspaper Globo, in 2009 the seizure of crack cocaine rose 542% in Rio de Janeiro.2
2008-2009 Top Areas for the Sale of Crack in Rio de Janeiro2
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To support their crack addiction, many children and adolescents become involved in drug and arms trafficking, robbery and prostitution. Many of these individuals inherit or develop metal disorders. Still others become infected with diseases including HIV, hepatitis and STD's, by sharing a crack pipe with a person who has open mouth sores and through unprotected sex. As the harsh reality of drug trafficking and urban violence continues, the leading cause of death among Brazilian men aged 15 to 44 is murder.3
According to CNN, as of August, 2009 possesion of all drugs (for personal consumption) was made legal in Brazil. The possesion (on a trafficing level,) selling and buying of drugs continues to be illegal. This law (LEI No 11.343, see more about it on our "Videos and Links" page) was passed due to the overflowing of Brazilian jails by individuals arrested with "personal consumption" quantities of drugs.7
Another important fact is that the police do not have the resources to investigate most crimes that occur in Rio de Janeiro. According to CNN, less than two percent of armed robberies in Rio de Janeiro are investigated and brought to trial and over 90% of homicides go unpunished3. This sad reality leaves the streets of the "Cidade Maravilhosa", Rio de Janeiro, stained daily with blood.
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What sort of future do the children of Brazil have when we abandon them to a life of drugs, crime and prostitution?
What sort of future do they have if we traumatize these children by forcing them to live in violent conditions where bullets are zipping over head?
Is this the life we want to provide to the children of Brazil?
What sort of opportunities are we providing to these children?
Children who can not read, but know how to pull the trigger of a gun?
Children who can not spell, but know how to light a crack pipe?
Children who can not love, because no one is loving them?
When they finally are arrested as teens, there is no motivation to change. The penitentiaries are merely caged boxes created to pass the time of their sentences. There are few job placement or self-help programs, and even fewer mental health services or psychological treatments.
In 2009, research done by the International Global Peace Index, showed New Zealand as the country with the lowest crime rate in the world.4 Also, studies in the New Zealand penitentiary system have shown that after various kinds of psychological treatments, convictions had been reduced from 10 to 40 percent in treated offenders, compared to reconviction of non-treated controls. Psychological treatment has been shown to reduce reconviction rates by 30 percent, compared to non-treated controls, as well as reducing the frequency and seriousness of offences of those who are reconvicted. Also, psychological treatment based on cognitive-behavioral principles can reduce reconvictions by as much as 40 percent.5
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The B.C.C. is an organization that saves these children!
The Brazilian Children’s Charity provides safe mental health services to homeless children and low-income families free of charge.
Is not every human life worth a few dollars?
Do these children not deserve every possible chance to become healthy members of society?
Would it not be better to have another doctor, lifeguard or waitress rather than another corpse in tattered clothing on the sidewalk?
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You can donate any amount and your help is very important.
Donations can be deducted from U.S. taxes!6
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References:
1 "Brazil's Crack Epidemic - Yet another Tough Nut to Crack in War on Drugs," Mario Osava, Inter Press Service, CNN, November 23, 2009,
2 Survey shows that seizures of crack in Rio de Janeiro rose 542%, Earth site on October 28, 2009 - Jornal O Globo - Institute of Criminology Carlos Eboli (ICCE),
3 Lethal Force, Police Violence and Public Security in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo,
4th Global Peace Index 2009
5 Psychological treatment - Cnn, Department of Corrections New Zealand, 2009
6 Deductible from United States taxes as applicable under I.R.S. law for donations to a 503(c)(3) non-profit organization.
7 "Legalisation of drugs in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil" CNN, March 8, 2010.
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