About Task Brasil
There are many terrifying realities that force countless children onto the streets: domestic violence, being orphaned or abandoned, or simply belonging to dysfunctional families.
For most, there is no way back.
Task Brasil Trust was established in the UK in 1992 in response to the situation of the street children of Brazil. Its projects improve the lives and support the needs of children and pregnant girls living on the streets.
Since its establishment as a charity in the UK in 1993, Task Brasil Trust has come a long way in helping the street children of Rio de Janeiro. In the early days, Ligia Da Silva (Founding Trustee) and her supporters began by trying to make contact with children on the streets, assisting poor families who were not able to provide for their children and helping young people, against all the odds, to receive a reasonable education.
Task Brasil was given an enormous boost in 1997 with a very generous donation by Jimmy Page, the Led Zeppelin rock icon, who witnessed first hand the deprivation of the children and troubles in the favelas whilst playing in Rio de Janeiro. The money donated was used to buy a plot of land in Santa Teresa with a house, Casa Jimmy.
Over 500 children, teenage mothers and their babies and their families have benefited from the facilities and services were funded partly by the Prefeitura of Rio de Janeiro and largely by private donations.
Donations funded the purchase of land neighbouring Casa Jimmy providing housing for volunteers and land for the project.
Task Brasil Trust depends on the help of the good hearted who are willing to invest their time and/or money in the future of these young victims of Brazilian society.
Task Brasil Inc opened its office in the US in the summer of 2002. It is committed to using all of its resources to improve the independence and self-esteem of those supported by Task Brasil
Who runs Task Brasil Trust?
Trustees
Ligia Ferreira da Silva
Richard Fine
James Rorrison
Dr. Monica Pereira dos Santos
Amarilis Santiago
Founders
Kim Massey, BA
Ligia Ferreira da Silva, Bsc
Dr Mônica Pereira dos Santos, PhD
Norma Hudson, BEd
IN USA
President
Lady Charlotte Petsopoulos
Directors
Ligia Ferreira da Silva, Bsc
Treasurer
Robert Weldie
Aims and Objectives
The charity’s main aims in helping Brazilian children and adolescents at risk and from the streets are to:
- Train and educate the children and adolescents in useful and beneficial skills through its own programmes and follow through with state run education.
- Promote the importance of family planning, the dangers of drug use and sexually transmitted diseases, especially AIDS.
- Encourage the reintegration of the children with their own families whenever possible.
- Help increase awareness and change the attitudes of the Brazilian and British public towards street children and in doing so raise the funds necessary to continue with this work.
Task Brasil’s purpose is to use all its resources to improve the independence and self-esteem of children and young people allowing them to enter mainstream society and learn the value of life. In order to carry out this work, Task Brasil has the following objectives:
- To work in close co-operation with Rio’s City Council, social services and health and education authorities to ensure that children and teenagers have access to education, health facilities and vocational training.
- To be actively involved in informal networks responding to the needs of street children. To ensure that future planning builds on existing knowledge and experience and that Task Brasil maintains a quality of care that sets a standard for other organisations.
- To establish links with the child/children’s families.
- To strengthen bonds between family and child and the family unit .
- To achieve this by offering emotional support and by enabling the family to gain access to social services.
- To empower teenagers by consulting and involving them in decision-making and by making them aware of their rights (including their right of access to education, health care and welfare provision)
- To develop fund-raising and communication strategies for Task Brasil in the US, in Brazil and the UK, and advise partner organisations on similar strategies
- To establish with partner organisations a five-year plan and systems for monitoring and evaluating the charity’s work. To advise on people and organisational management.
Get Involved
Task Brasil, being a small charity, depends greatly on the help of individuals like yourself, companies, in the US, UK and wherever you are in the world.
Getting involved in our work will allow you to learn more about the situation, develop new skills and make a real difference to the lives of the children living on the streets.