The Problem

One out of every eight children in Brazil lives on its streets. In the city of Rio de Janeiro alone, there are over 350,000 street kids. Ranging from ages 6 to 18 years old, these street kids are malnourished, uneducated and often abandoned by their families. Deprived of basic needs, these children forge an existence from the money they make begging, watching parked cars or shining shoes. Others embrace theft, prostitution, and drug trafficking as a means of survival.

This problem is compounded by the fact that Brazil is a developing country with limited financial resources. The country simply cannot afford to subsidize programs that would aggressively assist these youth and steer them in a positive life direction. Under such circumstances, survival is the chief concern for these youth. Those who live past age 18 do so unequipped without a formal education, job training and basic life skills.

Our Efforts include serving, funding and advising two primary programs:

Reame – Children’s shelter/orphanage

Sombra Road was created to support and enhance Brazilian organizations that are giving street kids, ages 5 to 17 years-old, a hope for the future. We have secured a formal partnership with REAME, an orphanage located in Santa Luzia, a town located outside of Rio de Janeiro. Santa Luzia is an impoverished community where drug trafficking is prominent. REAME meets the immediate needs of its children by providing food, housing and clothing while ensuring the future development of its youth through proactive mentoring and a compassionate staff. Sombra Road’s mission is to enhance REAME’s model by providing additional financial and human resources.

REAME possesses the relationships, the communication skills and the cultural knowledge necessary for Sombra Road to thrive. After carefully interviewing over 20 organizations, we were impressed with Gislaine Freitas, REAME’s founder and director of eight years. Compared to the other organizations, we found Gislaine to be uniquely compassionate and disciplined as a leader. Her faithfulness and amazing accomplishments with the kids of REAME are well known in the social service industry in Rio de Janeiro. Based upon the complementary visions of our two organizations, Sombra Road’s commitment to REAME efficiently utilizes American funds and personnel to uniquely address the needs of Brazil’s street children.

Sombra Road House

Sombra Road opened the Sombra Road House in 2007, and staffs this home with Sombra Road missionaries. This home was created to help young men answer the question “What next?” in their transition into adulthood. Youth learn personal responsibility and necessary life skills, as house programming focuses on four areas: 1) spiritual formation, 2) education, 3) professional training and 4) relational development. The goal of the SR House is to create community with direction, that direction being to love and serve others to the glory of God.

In an effort to recruit residents for house, we have developed relationships, through Bible studies, educational programs and athletics in various favellas. Our goal is to create a network of relationships that could surface future candidates for the SR House.