“It is my job to nurture these little seeds so they produce good fruit in the future!”

Ana Paula

Meet Ana Paula Ana Paula lives in Vila Prudente favela in São Paulo with her husband and son. “I was born here and I choose to live here today,” she says. Ana works with CAFOD partner MDF, running a club for primary school children. Having grown up in the favela, Ana Paula knows that the choices you make here can make the difference between life or death. “Which road are you going to choose? The road of work and study which will take longer, and be more demanding - or will you steal a radio and run from the police?” Ana knows that growing up in this difficult neighbourhood brings many challenges. But she believes the children have the power to make a real difference in their community.

Update from Connect2: Brazil March 2018 By supporting Connect 2, you are reaching some of Brazil’s most vulnerable people. In this update we meet three narrators helping homeless people in São Paulo – Ana Paula and André who work with CAFOD partner MDF, and Eliete who works with APOIO. The right to decent housing is enshrined in the Brazilian constitution, yet in reality the urban poor are often denied this right and are left to live in precarious conditions or on the street. These are people living on the very edge of survival.

Meet André

André is a community worker with CAFOD partner MDF. He is a local resident who has learned to help people fight for their right to decent living conditions. It has changed his life. “It had never entered my head that I could coordinate meetings, go to the council offices, get people together, organise a march! I didn’t realise I was capable of doing it. I discovered it wasn’t some giant who did all these things, but poor people themselves.” André remembers growing up in Vila Prudente, and seeing how things

changed around him, as the residents worked hard to put in drains and set up a creche where he could play. “What a beautiful story! It’s never going to be told on the big screen, it’s not going to be like Homer’s Odyssey, but it is the odyssey of people here.

“It’s a marvellous feeling, knowing that you belong to this beautiful collective effort.”

Reachingouttothehomeless Around 2 million people in São Paulo are homeless or poorly housed, living in favelas, tenements or on the street. They often have little or no sanitation, clean water or electricity. There are high levels of health problems and disability. These people’s life chances are precarious at best. Jobs are few, and low paid, and people lack basic services like education and healthcare. Through CAFOD’s Connect2 Brazil parish scheme, you are helping neighbourhood groups to press for their rights to basic social welfare, by giving them training and support. You are helping them find work and secure a home where they can live with dignity.

Thank you

cafod.org.uk/connect2brazil

A place to call home Eliete is a tireless outreach worker helping struggling families to improve their living conditions in São Paulo, Brazil. Here CAFOD’s Emily Mulville sees the love and care Eliete puts into her work. It’s Saturday after lunchtime in Jardim Ipanema, east of São Paulo, and the community room is packed full of families, mostly headed by women who are taking an active part in the housing movement. Everyone is here for a good reason - to access decent housing. Most are living in extremely vulnerable conditions. Eliete, who works for CAFOD’s partner APOIO, is already telling the group the latest news about a housing project many of them are hoping to move into. Families ask questions and share stories. “It gives me a lot of satisfaction to help the families here and be a little part

“We are part of one big universal family.” Eliete, (below)

of their journey towards achieving their goals,” says Eliete. “It is about understanding others and making a real effort to change - which comes from within us.” Eliete understands the stresses people are facing because she is a beneficiary of APOIO herself. “I grew up in great poverty,” she told me. “When I met APOIO, I was unemployed. It has brought a huge change to my life.” She started as a volunteer and is now a staff member, helping hundreds of people obtain their right to a roof over their head. She has a special message for CAFOD supporters in the UK:

“It gives me great joy to know my salary comes from the efforts of CAFOD supporters, from parishes who fundraise, sell cakes, donate. It’s about solidarity with the work we do.”

cafod.org.uk/connect2brazil

With love from Brazil! Back here in the UK, some Connect2 Brazil parishes received beautiful Christmas cards prepared by children from CAFOD’s APOIO project (above). CAFOD’s Ged Edwards delivered a number of the cards to Pat Boyle and Monica Allen of St Aidan’s, Winstanley.

Some days I have to walk to work for over an hour as I can’t afford the fare. My daughter loves football. She played for Corinthians for a few months. However, I couldn’t pay the monthly fee, so she had to stop going. Her dream is to continue playing. I have faith that I’ll be able to achieve my own home one day. And when I do, I will help others who are in need. I would like not to have to kill myself to pay the bills. I want to have a little something left to support my children.”

Dreaming of home

Maria Lúzia has faith that the work of APOIO can impact her life and that of her children: I am a single parent with two children. I work as a cleaner. Most of what I earn goes to pay rent.

cafod.org.uk/connect2brazil

Photos by Joelle Hernandez and Emily Mulville. Charity no. 1160384 and a company limited by guarantee no 09387398

cafod.org.uk/connect2brazil