Kate Saurman

CARNIVAL

Sources:
1. Shores of Grace documentary
2. http://export.gov/brazil/build/groups/public/@eg_br/documents/
webcontent/eg_br_034878.pdf
3. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-10764371
4. http://www.tourism-watch.de/files/Broschuere_Booking_
helps_2007_05.pdf
5. http://pangaea.org/street_children/latin/trap.htm
6. http://www.ageofconsent.com/brazil.htm
7. http://www.caseact.org/learn/humantrafficking/
8. http://www.libertadlatina.org/LA_Child_Sex_Auctions_Fortaleza_Brazil.htm
9. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/death-to-undesirables-brazils-murder-capital-1685214.html
10. http://www.brazzil.com/info/188-february-2008/10042.html
11. http://womensenews.org/story/prostitution-and-trafficking/050619/brazil-tries-stem-tide-sex-slavery#.UhPIlhY8jS8
12. SOG street interview, 2010
13. http://exoduscry.com/prayer/city-in-focus/recife/
14. http://www.unicef.org/protection/57929_57972.html
15. Outtake from Shores Documentary
16. The Bible - Isaiah 58: 6-9
17. Online Dictionary.
18. http://exoduscry.com/blog/general/liberdade-a-field-guide-to-brazil/

BLUE

The fifth largest country in the world, Brazil is home to a population of approximately 197 million (2). Each year millions of foreign tourists flock to Brazil to experience the country's rich offerings of natural resources, exotic rainforests, beaches, architecture, history, dance, music, and culinary arts. Foreigners are less familiar with the plight of the country's impoverished children and the serious dangers they face in their own communities. Many people live in favelas where there is a lack of basic sanitation, education and infrastructures, as well as wars between gangs over drug power. Those who are sold or forced into prostitution suffer horrible injustices to survive from day to day. Even so, thousands of foreigners visit Brazil annually for purposes of sex tourism, where they purchase these very children for commercial exploitation. With the arrival of the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016 tourism numbers (specifically in the northeast) are set to skyrocket (3).

Digital Photograph. Porto de Galinhas, resort beach and tourist destination in the state of Pernambuco about an hr south of the capitol city, Recife (2012).

TRANSFORMATIONS

There is growing international concern that Brazil is on course to overtake Thailand as the worst country in the world for child sex trafficking and sex tourism (3). This may be partially due to the tsunami in 2004 that devastated Thailand and re-routed its sex tourists (4). Though the legal age for prostitution in Brazil is 18; official estimates say that between 250,000 (United Nations) and 500,000 (The Brazilian Centre for Children and Adolescents) Brazilian minors have been trafficked for purposes of commercial sexual exploitation. The average entry age of prostitution in America at large is documented at twelve to fourteen yrs old (7). However in Brazil, we have found girls to be trapped much younger (already at eight years old), since the legal age of consent is only fourteen (6). The conditions that lead to so many children being sold in Brazil are still widely overlooked by the larger Brazilian and global community because of the strength of the countries economy.

Digital Photograph. Skyline of Sao Paulo Brazil, the largest city in the America’s and the seventh largest city in the world by population (2009).

BROTHER

Lacking resources to protect themselves, many children in poverty do whatever they must in order to survive. This includes labor, as well as drug and sex trafficking. Fire blowing is a spectacle performed at many stoplights and street corners. Labor traffickers have been known to rent children from their families to work as street entertainers. The children are taught to blow fire in the highways and at stoplights. This however, is a staff member, performing for a block party, where we fed close to 300 people in a fevela in southern Brazil.

Digital Photograph. A staff member entertains children in a fevela. Fire blowing is common at celebrations and among street performers (2011).

RUA B

Recruiters and abusers thrive on exploiting vulnerability. The very term vulnerability walks hand and in hand with the need for protection. According to Dr. Analia Belisa Ribeiro, Former Coordinator for the Office to Prevent and Combat Trafficking, São Paulo, Brazil, “80% or more of the commercially sexually exploited victims that we listen to share life stories marked by violence in the home, abuse, and sexual exploitation. These kind of environments are normally developed inside of family units. They serve as a stimulus, [these formative environments] work like a lever on the people who accept proposals from recruiters. These recruiters, curiously, they work for international organized crime rings, but they are also the people that create emotional connections with these victims. [The recruiters] are the people inside the cycle of their daily life; sometimes they are in their own homes (1).

Digital Photograph. Dividing road of a slum in Southern Brazil. Fevela land begins on the right, the town land to the left (2011).

BELOVED

A large number of girls initially see prostitution as an avenue to freedom. Many of them are fleeing the oppression of a home life marked by conflict and abuse. In some cases the girls are trying to escape poorly paying jobs, which are their only options growing up in rural villages or favelas. Some are lured into prostitution by recruiters who come to the communities promising jobs as nannies, waitresses, or models in the cities. Seduced by the dream of having a room of their own and earning more money, they enter a trafficking network that traps them in fictitious debt. When the girls arrive for work they are told they have debts for transportation, housing, food, that must be paid off through prostitution (5). One girl, now 17 and living in a rescue home in Fortaleza explains, "I come from a very small town. And it doesn’t have much to offer. So, prostitution in my town is considered very common, with much less than 9 thousand inhabitants, there are no jobs, not much structure, there are no schools, practically there is nothing there. So girls of 13 to 16 years old, they look for an easier way of living, even to be accepted among their peers" (1).

Digital Photograph. A staff member in our kombi one evening before heading to the streets. Curitiba, Brazil (2011).

CHUVA

In the northern coastal cities of Salvador, Recife, Natal, and Fortaleza, the trafficking network includes luxury hotels, restaurants, and massage parlors which act as mediators for foreigners in the "sex tourism" industry. Reporters from Zero Hora (A Brazilian publication) who posed as nightclub owners seeking child prostitutes, found they could buy the services of 33 minors from taxi drivers, street pimps, and bar owners for a total of $300 (USD). "It was as easy as entering a toy store and buying a doll," said Carlos Wagner, one of the journalists (5). There are some Brazilian leaders now fighting back against the influx of sex tourists. According to a 2010 article from the BBC, in anticipation of the 2014 World Cup, the city of Ceara began sending a clear message to sex tourists that they were not welcome. A dozen armed cars and federal police armed with AK-47s were sent to patrol the streets of the red-light district weekly. Officers in the city who found offenders would break down the doors of motels and brothels, arresting the johns (3).

Digital Photograph. Streets of Recife Brazil (2012).

STEPPING STONES

Many Brazilian women and children are first put to work in Brazil as prostitutes before being sent off to work overseas, mainly Europe, in more organized trafficking rings (11). Often they begin prostituting in crisis with no intentions of continuing once the issue is resolved. Unfortunately escape from prostitution, international or domestic, is not easy without help. One transvestite who has been prostituting since age 15 explains his situation. “I had to leave my house when I was really young. I didn’t have money and I was really young so I had to work. I never met my father, he died before I was born and my mother was worse than having no father. If I could go back I wouldn’t do this. I would have my own family. God is everything…I know God doesn’t have this life for me and I always pray and talk to God. I am still here but as soon as I can, I will leave this life (12).”

Digital Photograph. Street photograph shot in passing of middle class area (2011).

FILHAS

SWANS

IGOR

FEVELA FOUR

The first steps to prostitution are often tied to drug trafficking. According to the Brazilian Federal Police, the girls are used as formiguinhas (little ants). They are often forced to carry drugs, (specifically a type of crack cocaine called “mela”) to protect the adult drug dealers. The girls start becoming addicted and then prostitute themselves to feed their habit while attempting to wipe out an ever-growing debt (8). One girl explains her addiction, “My mother has been arrested for dealing drugs, as far as I know she has never had a job. [A mother should] never say this to a child, 7 or 8 years old,‘If you don't make money I will punch you.’ We would stop taxis, then the guy would touch us, he'd ask to have sex with us. Sometimes even beating us, sometimes bashing us. When it is over I have a desire to do more and more and more and more and more. I get desperate, I would think, how can I smoke more? I do not steal, I do not have a way to ask, the only way is prostituting. If I was not high I could not do it. Going to the streets, getting in risky car rides at night, after midnight, 4 am, 5 am, anytime (1).”

Digital Photograph. Scene from Fevela – residents wait in line for food (2011).

FELICITY

HORSE PARADE

LISCENSE

In Brazil, prostitution is legal as long as you are at least 18 years old, sells him/herself of his or her own free will and pays taxes on the income produced (11). However, most prostitutes are younger and by the age of 18 many of them are already struggling with disease and illness. Children engaged in prostitution at a young age are largely unaware of their bodies, lacking basic health and reproduction education. Few use contraceptive methods or are aware of sexually transmitted diseases. Many perform their own abortions by very rudimentary and dangerous procedures (8). In some cities certain blocks will be lined with people prostituting both day and night. They are accompanied by years of abuse, judgment, and the mocking of passing cars. They tell us they will take between 7 and 30 clients a night. Clients include pastors, teachers, and government officials; often married men.

Digital Photograph. A main street in Curitiba at night. In some areas prostitutes rent portions of the street from pimps – higher rent strips get more traffic (2011).

NIGHT

To ease their hunger pains, many children huff glue. Glue is an appetite suppressor and has become a normal extension of the children’s hands - caking the bottom of an empty water bottle. One boy asks us between huffs to promise we wont forget him, “if even one person believed in me enough to give me a home, I would change”. Children trying to survive on the streets of Brazil depend on their own wits, whatever bonds of loyalty they can find in banding together with other kids, trading risk for protection in a gang, and the kindness of strangers. Even so, death and starvation are commonplace to even the youngest on the street. There are children who have already taken a life by age seven, but the violence goes both ways. The largest threat to many children comes from “death squads” of local police officers, who feel it’s their duty to clean up the city by getting rid of the kids (9).

Digital Photograph -overlay of 2 images with distortion. Alleyway in Recife, Brazil around 12am. A group of street boys grab up some plastics from the surrounding trash piles before the trucks take it away (2012).

CORNER

Set to host the World Cup in 2014, Recife is currently one of the worst cities in the world for sex tourism (3). Recife, known as the “Venice of Brazil” is renown for its substantial infrastructure, golden beaches, and 17th-18th century European architecture. At night fall the beaches are lined with girls and transgendered of all ages who sell sexual services. Often times children are sent to these high tourist areas as young as 5 years to sell candy or gum. There they are easily pinpointed by traffickers who coerce them into prostitution, teaching them what they must do to make money for their families, to eat, and to avoid beatings. The children are enslaved into lifestyles of systematic abuse (13).

Digital photograph with blurring, and duplicate portions. Street corner in Recife Brazil. Girls often stand in groups for protection while negotiating prices (2012).

YES

These photos were shot for the wedding album of Victor and Victoria who got married several months after making the decision to leave prostitution. We met the couple around 1 am. Victoria was working on the main road and Victor was keeping an eye on her from across the street - making sure she was paid and brought back. We stopped to talk with her and see how her night was going. Victoria cried as we explained that we were there because she hadn’t been forgotten and that same night she made a choice to leave the streets. Over the next few months out team remained in close contact with the couple as they took steps to walk out the reality of that decision. When they told us they wanted to get married, we were honored to witness, cook, photograph, and celebrate with them. We visited the family a few weeks following their wedding. Victoria had papers in her hand and explained their plan to open a re-modeling business. She asked us with this humbling victory in their eyes to tell their story. The restoration process just begins when someone gets off the street. There are ups and downs but in a world where rehabilitation from the sex industry is considered one of the most profound traumas to walk through – their faith is writing a new story.

*Names Changed. Digital Photograph. Exchanging vows (2011).

ZEBRA

Cover (verb):
To place something upon or over, so as to protect or conceal.
To wrap up; clothe.
To extend over.
To hide or screen from view or knowledge.
To protect or shield from harm, loss, or danger.
To make provision for; take into account.
To protect, as from enemy attack, by occupying a strategic position.
To guard (an opponent playing offense).
To defend (a position or area).
To match (an opponent's stake) in a wager.
To purchase (stock that one has shorted).
To pardon or remit.
To act as a substitute or replacement during someone's absence (17).

Digital Photograph. Wedding Ceremony (2011).

VICTORIA

THE INTERIOR

PORTRAITS

Julia (now sixteen) was eleven years old when she and her sister Silva (now eight) moved into the safe house. Because their parents were drug addicts, Julia, the oldest of seven siblings, had to work the streets food and money to support the family. She was a child raising children and quickly came to reject anything feminine or maternal. Julia resented her sister specifically because of the responsibility she had in providing for Silvia’s needs. Today Julia loves her sister deeply and is uninhibited in expressing her affection. Julia has dreams of one day becoming a police officer. In her heart there is a desire to see justice impact the thousands of children who grow up in her same circumstances. These photos were shot in the safe house where the sisters have now lived for six years – a home to fifteen girls with similar stories.

*Names changed. Digital Photographs (2012)

"THERE IS JUSTICE UNDER MY FEET BECAUSE GOD HAD JUSTICE ON ME."

BICICLETA

“A lot of wrong things happened on the journey, but here at the safe house you have a reference. To be different. I had the opportunity to start dreaming, to see the world in a different way. Not that perverted world, where I saw men wanting only to take advantage of me. But I started to see life on the other side. I started to dream, and see that inside of me there is something really strong, and that I am able, and I can overcome (1). I can say my life changed completely. I can say my life changed completely, because I have received a good family. A new mom, a new dad. If I could summarize what we have learned it would be that love will never fail, it always overcomes all the obstacles, and that regardless of how you see the person today, you have the ability to see the person tomorrow transformed. There is always hope for people (15)”

Digital photograph. Street photograph from Curitiba (2011).