The Father and the favela
When a mission team from Ingatestone Elim visited a charity ministering in a Brazilian shanty town or ‘favela’ they saw God’s love in action. Sophie Rickett told Chris Rolfe about the trip.
In the favelas of Fortaleza, poverty is rife. Haphazard, overcrowded houses sit stacked on top of each other along potholed dirt streets.
Drug lords rule in this high-crime area and behind closed doors, poorly educated children are often neglected or abandoned.
But amid these slums, there is an oasis for local children.
In its compound, UK charity Univida partners with the Brazilian organisation Children of Brazil for Christ (CBC) to offer Christian education and life skills in a bid to break the poverty cycle.
“In Brazil, the government only provides half a day’s education for school-aged children. So kids in the slums only go to school for four hours a day and aren’t getting the best of educations,” explains Sophie Rickett, who recently went on a short-term mission trip with a team from Ingatestone Elim to support Univida.
In an area where up to 90 per cent of children and young people live in poverty – with poor sanitation, gang violence, unemployment and abuse – many drop out of school early with no qualifications for work and unable to provide for their families.
“Univida is trying to stop this by providing the other half day of education,” says Sophie.
“Children go to school in the morning and to CBC in the afternoon, or vice versa, which massively supports them through the education system.”
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