Grassroot Impact

“I spent the evening of 6 March with five brilliant boys on the streets of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil...We ended that evening having dinner with the kids, and as we were eating, Vagene, one of the kids exclaimed, "This is the kind of Rio I want!" I knew exactly what he meant. He was truly happy and fulfilled. He felt seen, heard, and full, an experience that was rare for him. As a matter of fact, we found him with a deep cut on his foot that he got when someone accused him of theft and cut him with glass.

With all that is being done to curtail the impact of COVID-19, a rather important but ignored group of human beings is being unwittingly kicked out of the safety plan. The children who live on the streets of urban cities around the world. These are children whose living conditions and daily experiences are less than humane. With little to no provision offered to them, neglect, discrimination, bullying, and starvation will intensify, especially at this time.

I wonder what kind of Rio De Janeiro Vagene is currently experiencing at this time, and you should too. Vagene’s access to healthcare and other basic amenities has shrunk from whatever was available to nothing. Long before this pandemic, we had already distanced ourselves socially from these kids, sanitized our hearts of care, and masked our concerns.

We shouldn’t wait for a crisis to ensue before we care but we are here now and these children are twice as vulnerable to ill health, violence, and discrimination, and are always left as collateral damage. Vagene was not in the mainstream conversation then and he is not now...

Yes, COVID-19 does not discriminate, but our systems do: what does “stay at home” mean for children who call the streets home? What does social distancing mean for children who have to rely on nothing but the body heat of each other to survive long, unforgiving nights in the cold?...”

The above excerpt is culled from an article written by our Founder James Okina written for Generation Unlimited on the 8th of May 2020, so it came as no surprise that our choice Organization to donate %100 of all entry fees was dedicated to serving children on the streets.

Street Priests Inc., our partner organization, is dedicated to taking these kids off the streets, transforming their lives, and turning their potentials into assets for society. Domiciled in Calabar Nigeria, Street Priests Inc. continued to serve and support street children at the height of the first lockdown in 2020. street children at the height of the first lockdown this year

You can directly support this remarkable Organization here

Grassroot Impact

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