Changing young lives In urban Brazil … the work and people of the Tarrafa Youth Project

This building is home to the Tarrafa Youth Project supported by CAFOD. The project is making a positive difference to young lives in Recife, Brazil. Some parts of the city have murder rates as high as some war zones.

Where drugs and violent crime linger around every street corner, the project provides a safe place to play and learn. Sometimes just a quiet place to read or study is all you need…

Music, dance and art workshops are also popular. Wagner, 17,(white t-shirt), learnt drumming here as a boy and now he teaches others.

Youth workers in Tarrafa teach dancing to the children of the neighbourhood. They put on displays to show the community what they’ve learnt and to get more people involved.

The youth workers talk to the children about the dances they have learnt, and about Brazilian traditional culture.

Youth leaders run an eco- action group. They’re campaigning to clean up the local river. Rubbish gets thrown in the river, which makes it flood, and spreads diseases. The youth leaders collect rubbish for recycling instead.

Here the youth leaders are at their centre, sorting rubbish they have collected for recycling. The eco-action group work hard to encourage people in the community to recycle rubbish instead of polluting the area.

Eco-action group members outside the town hall take part in a protest about the river and collect signatures in support of their river campaign. The group have got some local politicians to take notice!

Photography: Marcella Haddad CAFOD is a member of Caritas International Registered charity no cafod.org.uk