11 year old Håkon and Sunniva from Norway represent CARF’s youngest supporters and even though they had been well prepared for their journey to an unknown world in the middle of São Paulo's cement jungle, they never expected to see children living under such difficult circumstances as the street kids do.

Photo I. - Håkon and Sunniva on the streets of São Paulo. An encounter between two worlds far apart.

Eleven year olds, Håkon and Sunniva, are just two among thousands of school children in Norway who recognize the efforts of our organization in Brazil. As a matter of fact the many school children from the "privileged" world are such an important asset to us today that the entire solidarity process behind their actions, in exchange, has also played a significant role in their own education and development as future responsible citizens in our global village.

Photo IV. - Building bridges between children from different realities is an important consideration when thinking global. Here Sunniva and Håkon seem rather tense on their first ever reality check with the street kid's underworld.

These two typical youngsters from the far north suddenly found themselves in an entirely different world, one as contrasting as the radiant colours of their hair and eyes compared with the darker, ebonite equivalent in most Brazilian underprivileged children. They were selected among many like-minded kids in Norway, eager to gain such first-hand knowledge about the problems facing street children. Now they were suddenly face-to-face with the problems that their entire school had sought to understand and diminish during the 10 years that they have supported The Hummingbird Project in Brazil.

Photo III. - The inquisitive look on their faces was mutual. Many questions needed answering,...from both sides.

Up until now our youngest supporters have been able to follow the development of CARF’s programmes at a distance, through the educational activities offered to them by our grass-roots foundation in Norway. Several schools, where commitment has been long-term, have gained special honours of becoming so-called "Hummingbird" Schools and whose actions have helped us prevent many more children from facing such a tragic destiny of a life on the streets.

Photo VI. - Facing children in such high-risk situations raises many questions. Here CARF’s founder takes the opportunity to explain to our young observers, how drugs affect street children.

This field experience provided Håkon, Sunniva and their two accompanying teachers with a unique learning opportunity, a lesson which they will certainly be able to translate into practical actions once back on home territory. Their own school will be realizing a major annual event in support of CARF the week following their return to a country that offers equal opportunities for all children, which far too often are taken for granted by those lucky enough to be on the receiving end. Hopefully, this on-site experience, seeing and feeling a quite different reality, will help put things into perspective, which is also an important objective of CARF’s educational work in Norway.

Photo V. - Hilde, their teacher, soon found out that life can be so very cruel for some children, more so than she had ever imagined.

Hilde and Magne, the two teachers with Håkon and Sunniva on their more than unusual travel experience, soon realized that if nothing was done to alleviate the situation, the street children would keep on experiencing things that would most certainly damage their own development, marking them for life and hindering their possibilities to become healthy, functioning and productive citizens. No doubt that a childhood spent on the streets can offer nothing less than the best training needed towards a criminal future.

Photos II., VII. & VIII. - STREET CHILDREN: Finding their way back to dignity demands great efforts by people willing to take on the long-term task it is to recuperate children away from the streets. We need your help in doing so. Where there’s a will, there’s a way, ...and where there are ways, there is also a great need for funding.

Gregory J.Smith, Children At Risk Foundation – CARF, São Paulo - Brazil