STREET GIRLS
By Matt Roper
Paternoster. 174 pages
ISBN 1 85078 403 5
Few of us have any concept of what it means to have no home, no one who cares for us and no stability in our lives. These are all things we cherish and seek to provide for ourselves and others. Therefore the lives of the street girls of Brazil stand out in stark relief. Society has given up on them, but not Matt Roper and Signpost International.
Street Girls is the story of how a rather green, young Englishman was touched by the plight of these rejected members of Brazilian shanty towns. He was unable to look at them and do nothing, but rather he jumped in with both feet, often putting himself in much danger from the drug pushers. Gradually he helped form a project, which used creative dance to stimulate the girls to consider another way of life instead of drugs, theft, violence and prostitution. As the project grew, a home was set up where the girls could find the security and love most of them had never known.
