SOS Children's Village Brasília

There is also an SOS Hermann Gmeiner primary school here, which is now under the administration of the local municipality. Children from the local community also attend the school, thus ensuring that children from the SOS Children’s Village are integrated into the local community from a young age.

When young people from the village feel ready to move out of the family home in order to pursue further education or vocational training, the SOS Youth Programme makes shared accommodation available to them. With the support of qualified counsellors, the young people live together and learn to take responsibility, plan their future and prepare for independent adult life.

To this day, inequality in Brasilia remains extremely pronounced

The central area of the city is impressive due to its unique architecture and grand government buildings, but life in the Brasilia metropolitan area is a completely different story. In the satellite towns living conditions are often very poor. Houses are built from inadequate materials, are often illegally occupied and, to make matters worse, they are small and overcrowded, leading to conflict within the family.

In many households, it is the norm that the father goes out to work while the mother stays at home and cares for the children. This single income is often not sufficient, but due to the limited availability of early childhood care in the area, it is impossible for mothers to contribute to the family’s income, even by working part-time.

Rates of alcoholism or drug abuse amongst parents are high, as are incidents of domestic violence, which often creates a vicious cycle where children and young people fall into substance abuse too, as a way of dealing with their difficult family situation. This, in turn, makes them incredibly vulnerable to sexual exploitation or child labour. In the worst cases, these children may be abandoned by their parents entirely, or may even flee their home and choose a life on the streets instead.