“Children freely sell themselves for rice and beans, or for whatever they are able to. This is so different than anything I’ve ever seen in Thailand or Myanmar, where children are forced to sell their bodies. But in Brazil, I saw girls 9 to 12-years-old freely sell their bodies. It was right there, in front of our faces,” stated Lana Vasquez, Life Impact Founder.
I asked some of the Brazilians that were there with me, “Why isn’t anyone crying or moved by this situation that we are witnessing? Did I misunderstand something?” and they answered, “No ma’am, here in Brazil, this is normal.”
Instantly, I was filled with rage and I answered, “No, this is not normal! What hope is there for these children?”
This is the giant we are fighting to take down in Brazil!
“Along the Amazon, you can hear the screams of the children that are being sold to the tourist yachts on the water because it is too vast to patrol.” – one Brazillian missionary told us
One of the reasons that the Amazon is such a high risk area for human trafficking in Brazil, is because of the vast river system throughout this region. The Amazon has few highways, but its rivers reach millions of people, and this makes it easy for children to be trafficked because there isn’t an easy way for police to patrol the activity on the water.
Life Impact has been working in Brazil for the past two years and just last month, we launched in our third targeted area – the AMAZON! We are now able to give HOPE to these hopeless children in the Amazon. There are so many children who are at-risk and vulnerable to being trafficked and exploited. This third location is so important for Life Impact because children are being trafficked, rampant drugs are used, and many children become slaves in the streets of the Amazon.
Our Prevention Project will be located in Autazes, which is known as one of the worst cities in the Amazon for drug trafficking and exploitation of children and adolescents. Click here to learn more about the launch and our Prevention Projects in the Amazon!
