Recife, Olinda and The Captains of the Sands

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This article is part of a series I am writing in consequence of my recent trip to the Brazilian cities of Recife and Olinda .

On 1937 the Brazilian writer Jorge Amado published a novel called Captains of the Sands, the ``captains'' of the title are a gang of abandoned children who live in a waterfront warehouse in Bahia State and survive by robbing the rich, Amado and his strong social conscience dramatized the problem of abandoned and delinquent children that worried almost no one in the whole city and his moving characterizations carry the reader along to the inevitable denouement which, despite its predictability, is both inspiring and touching. If you visit Recife today and read this book, you may think that was just written last week.

Seventy two years later very little was made and the problem perseveres. Brazilian cities are packed with abandoned children, out of school, organized in small gangs, robbing, selling and consuming drugs and no one is even caring about that.

But why Brazil has such a persistent lack of care on their children and why that problem has least so long? When I moved to Recife 30 years ago to reside in a military village located south of Recife, very close to Olinda, I have witnessed for the first time in my life the problem of the abandoned children. The military base where I lived was neighboring a huge favela  (slum) and as a kid, I did not understand any social barrier, on my clean heart, at that time, kids were just kids, I want to be their friends, and I was.

Recife is located in the delta of the Capibaribe River and one of the obvious greatest activities for children is fishing and crabbing. I learn early how to pick the right bait, first time I went to fishing with my slum friends my mom gave me some beef left over from the dinner to be used as a bait, but my friends eat all the beef and I could not even start the fishing. I learned that the right thing to do was to use worms instead any kind of food. Those were hungry kids and that was disturbing to me. I also started to get some fruits from my backyard every time I meet my friends, so they could eat before we start to play. I started to refuse any manufactured toy, my friends did not have that, alternatively they build their own toys with empty cans, wood pieces and old tires, and so did I.

But what happen to me? Why I grew up with favela kids and I did not became a criminal, why I’ve got my degree, start to work and had a good life and why they didn’t? Education is the first huge barrier that breaks the Brazilian society in two, and the way how that is structured persistently digs more and more the cliff of the social apartheid, dividing the Brazilian population between a small portion of rich people, like everywhere in the world, a squeezed middle class, and a humongous unbelievable majority of excluded.

My parents could afford private schools for me and my siblings, as a direct result, we all were accepted in great public free Universities, we all graduated, and we all have now stable lives, but my friends of the favela went to public very low standards schools, they probably dropped before graduating because they need to bring some money home to help their parents, and few who graduated had no chance to be approved to free public colleges and had no money to go to private universities, as an obvious result, they have a much harder start in life than me. 

My friends from the slum who went to crime have not survived, they died early as I would expect, and those who had not, are selling things on the streets, working hard to live to tell the tale.   A poor kid in Brazil with parents to care are the fortunate ones, many are like that, they have nothing but they have parents, and that can be acceptable, but where the abandoned kids come from?

As a Catholic country abortion and anti-conception methods are not welcome for the Roma Church, due to religious lobbies the Brazilian government could not ever make a change on the abortion laws; actually, even if the embryos are sick or are resultant of a raping, abortion in Brazil will be considered a big deal and questionable by law, that means no public healthcare system will do an abortion, and again the apartheid is established, because the rich can pay, but the poor don’t. The lack of education is a cyclic component on the abandoned children problem, kids abandoned have little education and they will be abandoning their kids too, the problem just became insoluble. 

Brazil has very protective laws for children, they cannot be arrested, and all crimes committed before 18 years old are just erased when they became officially adults. Wonderful laws for the wrong social structure. Drug dealers know that kids cannot be arrested and they use them on their daily operation, hidden themselves on a legal shield, and again nobody is doing nothing to change that reality. The problems are enduring.

The left wing in power in Brazil aligned with the Catholic Church believe that the children problem in Brazil is consequence of the capitalism system and its inequalities, because of this belief , they only work on palliative measures, they are waiting for the revolution, and the class struggle to put an end on all Brazilian disparities, they ignore the educational problem, the abortion, the right of a family to have access to anti contraceptive methods and to learn how to decide how many children they want to have.

Middle class and the rich in Brazil are planning themselves for four decades now; the poor are just a mass of maneuver, used by the church and the politicians to remain in power. The results of this mess are in the Brazilian corners, and I saw that again in Recife, you stop at the red light sign, in any corner at the city, and kids come to sell you something, beg for money and God knows what else. How this panorama can be reverted? Yes, there are some answers:

1.       By law, States and Municipalities are in charge for the abandoned children in Brazil and they are very dependent on Federal funds to survive and manage their daily activities, if a law preventing Federal funds to be transferred to States and Cities if kids are living in the street and/or out of the school is created, I am sure the majority of the cities will take care of their kids first. Do not make sense to build new bridges or recreational parks in any city if kids are living at the streets and there is no school for everyone.

2.       As a consequence of the proposed change, the municipalities should apply considerable efforts to help families and single parents to have education on anti conception methods and learn how make the appropriated decisions on their family sizes. That will cut their costs on schools and housing for abandoned children in the long term.

3.       Allow the public health system to provide adequate care of the woman and permitting the individuals to make their own decisions, no government intromission between doctors and women relationship if the subject is abortion.

4.       Massive investments on education and enforcement on laws prohibiting minors to work. Children are not allowed to work in Brazil if they have less than 14, change that limit to 16 and make sure that the law is respected. Nowadays this law has been ignored. Brazil has invested billions of dollars in foreign countries, that money would be better used if applied on education.

5.       Making parents responsible for their children or making them to lose their parental rights if not. Nowadays in Brazil parental rights are above any possibility and there are very few potential of losing that.

6.       Downgrading the age for accountability in case of crime for 16 years old and changing laws previewing severe punishment to that using children as a shield to commit crimes.

I am aware that some of that proposed measures would cause a stress on the Brazilian society, but nothing can be worst than reading a 72 years old book about abandoned children and have the feeling that the book was wrote last week.

One of the biggest problems in Brazil is the inertia, Brazil is a violent country, with abandoned children, with deep social gaps and we are all waiting for the class struggle to solve the problems. We are in a vicious cycle with problems creating bigger problems and everyone is so used to the tribulations that few people will be really seen that as a problem.

Living abroad and knowing different social structures made me aware that the problems I saw last week in Recife, with kids on the corner begging for money and involved in crimes cannot be accepted as normal, going back to Recife after 30 years and seeing kids out of school is outrageous. How long Brazilians will be waiting for changes?

See also:

Historic Olinda, Modern Recife