Mission Direct - Volunteers helping the world's poor
What you'll be doing
Giving favela kids their childhoods back
Brazil’s ‘favela’ slums are no place to grow up; they are full of wretched poverty, disease and violence. Life in a
favela can steal a young person’s childhood. But the Christians of Curitiba want to give some of the region’s most troubled favela kids their childhoods back.
You will be helping to build two new homes for these children. They will be places of safety; places to play, feel secure and learn how to be healthy, happy children again.
Lar Feliz
Lar Feliz is Portuguese for ‘happy home’. The Christian organisation
opened its first home in 1958. Their purpose is to provide a place to
live for groups of children from the favelas who are at risk, giving them quality food, education and all the nurture they need to be part of a happy family. The original Curitiba home is no longer fit for purpose. The children need a new ‘happy home’, one even better suited to the job of taking broken lives and putting them back together again.
How you will help
The Open Hands project (our long-term partner in Brazil) is co-ordinating the construction of two new buildings for the children and staff to move into.
You will be helping to build and decorate these. They will house, educate and care for up to twenty children. A suitable plot of land has been located and the plan is to complete the entire project in 2012.
You will meet the current crop of children in the old building and witness the amazing transformation that Lar Feliz can bring. You will also visit a number of other outreach projects in the area, including the Project Open Hands village, which resettles favela dwellers and with which Mission Direct will continue to work in the future.
Meet the vibrant people
You also visit families living in the favelas - maybe the one that will move into the house you are building. You will also visit a number of outreach projects run by local churches; prepare to meet the elderly and prisoners, but also lots of children from the favelas. Get ready for lots of games, craft activities and new friends.
Breathtaking Brazil
You can make a trip to the breathtaking Iguazu Falls and walk in a protected rainforest. Also, you can visit Itaipu Dam, one of the greatest feats of engineering in the modern world.
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All About Mission Direct
Mission Direct gives ordinary people the chance to do extraordinary things around the world. In two weeks you will change the lives of some of the world’s poorest people. You can help to build a house, classroom or clinic. We discover people and groups doing remarkable things in their own countries. Then we provide them the people and resources that they need. We do this by enabling people like you, with two or more weeks to join our life-altering trips.
Choose a country and find the trip that is right for you by clicking below to see all the options :
Become a voice for the outcast
Crime and disease are rife – it can be a frightening, hopeless existence. This is a
Contribution: £1,495
Call Jackie Johnston in the Luton office
8am - 5.30pm
Mon - Fri
to apply or find out more.
t: 01582 72 00 56