Matt Roper-Street Girls

One of the highlights of the school for me ( Laura) was hearing from Matt Roper who runs a charity called Meninadanca (dancing girls) which aims to promote the welfare of girls here in Brazil. He has written a couple of books. His first is about his work in Belo Horizonte, in the south of Brazil, working with girls form the slums and giving them opportunities to have a safe place with activities to affirm them, especially focusing on dance.

I read this book about 10 years ago, before I knew Tony, before I felt I knew I was going to be a missionary, and even though it was not a grand, well known book, it was pivotal in my life and so it was a priveledge to hear his stories first hand and meet him. Matt is British and it was great fun getting to know him and Charlotte, the UK Co-ordinator for Meninadanca, during their time with us.

His second book is about the problem of child prostitution on one of Brazil's busiest motorways, the BR116 and the work that he is starting in Medina. It was incredible and saddening to hear about the huge problem of child prostitution here in Brazil, but also inspired us to keep working with the kids we work with. Check out the video explaining about some of his work and his website http://www.meninadanca.org

 Matt teaching 

Tony and Matt on the Streets in Recife