Children on the streets of São Paulo

Organizations aiding Street Youth of São Paulo: Are stated goals really implemented?

This study examines four governmental and non-governmental organizations in São Paulo, Brazil that aim to prevent youth from living and working on the streets or helping youth already there.  Each organizations utilized a different intervention strategy.  Conducted over seven weeks, information was obtained through interviews with staff and working street youth.  While each organization focused on a particular aspect of youth and their family, it was found that the stated goals did not necessarily coincide with their implementation and administration.  For example, a community center aimed at preventing youth from entering the street, could only offer a limited amount of space for youth to gather, therefore representing an ineffective alternative for many youth. 

Beautiful Brazilian Children

Street Children of Brazil

 I am studying the street children of Brazil and for my research I needed to speak with children who live and/or work on the street. There is a group of kids that sell candy along the street that our school is on that many of us developed relationships with since we have been here because we buy candy from them. In order to compensate them for the time they lost selling candy while I was talking to them, I offered to buy them lunch. On Monday, two of my friends and myself took the kids to a restaurant on the street where they sell candy and we eat lunch everyday. We ask them if they want chicken or a hamburger and all five wanted to eat chicken. We ordered the food for them and told them we would call them when the food was ready. When the chicken sandwiches, rice and French fries were ready we called the kids to the table. One of the boys was very shy to eat but the youngest boy attacked his sandwich with no hesitation. They were all very formal at the table. They ate their sandwiches with a napkin and constantly made sure they did not have any food on their faces. They all wanted different fruit juices to drink and were very excited when large cups came to the table. They all joked around with us and with each other, trying to steal each other’s juice and food. It was very playful. They all laughed at the youngest boy who had to stand up to drink from his juice. The oldest boy told him that it was not proper to stand up at the table.

When we finished eating, a few of the kids did not want to get up from the table. They said they did not want to work. We stayed and talking to the kids for a while. One girl was asking me if I knew how to say words in Portuguese that she knew in English, such as doggy and cat. The kids also tried to guess our ages; they all thought we were older than we really are.  Many of the people walking past the restaurant were staring at the kids and us. They looked confused at what they were watching. The kids didn’t seem to notice because they just continued eating except one girl whose smile turned into a frown when a man walked past her.  It was special to take the kids to lunch because we could see immediately how happy they were. They had constant smiles on their faces. They dropped their guard for the hour they sat at the table and laughed, joked and played with each other and us. It was sad at the same time because even after buying them lunch they still insisted that we buy their candy. Even with a full stomach they still need to sell their candy to get money to survive and bring home to their families.