The Project: New Gymnasium for Casa Nossa
Casa Nossa Senhora do Bom Conselho (House of Our Lady of the Good Counsel) is a mission located in the city of Miracatu in the state of Sao Paolo, devoted to helping girls from low-income families. The mission provides psychological and social family support, including classes, counseling and meals for 70 girls ages 6 to 15 from low-income families in the surrounding areas.
The goal is to keep the girls off the streets, where prostitution, drugs and crime are major threats, and to help them develop productive skills.
Consists of a staff of 13, including a psychologist, an education coordinator, and computer and PE instructors. The General Coordinator is Ines Silvia Rodrigues.
Operates under the auspices of The Religious Teachers Filippini (www.FilippiniUSA.org), which runs schools and missions in ten countries and is organized in the US as a 501(c)3.
The mission currently operates out of three buildings: an office building, a classroom for computer instruction, and a building for manufacturing candles. The proposed gymnasium building will provide a venue for indoor sports, such as basketball and soccer, as well as extra space for educational activities.
Size: 180 ft. x 120 ft.
Materials: Wood floor, steel/cement walls, aluminum ceiling
Estimated cost: $200,000
Current funding available: $50,000
"Miracatu is a good two-hour drive from Sao Paulo. It is a very poor town that survives by the cultivation of bananas on large plantations. The only structure of significance is the bus depot. Anyone traveling to Sao Paulo or Rio by bus must stop at this depot. It is here that many little girls 6-9 years of age are sold to men for illicit sexual pleasure.
In 1992 the Vice Province decided to take a stand on this. With the help of benefactors the Sisters were able to restore their old school building and convent so it could accommodate the girls. The Sisters would go each day and watch at the station. When a little girl would be sold they would buy the girl back from the man that purchased her. Some families sell their daughters for an hour; some for the day and some, outright.
The Sisters presently have 78 little girls with them. Since 1992 hundreds of girls have been rescued by the Sisters. All have received a good education, learned marketable skills, and the opportunity to go to the University. Today the local government provides food for the girls and is slowly working to change conditions at the station."
– Religious Teachers Filippini