But if the mighty sword of justice is drawn forth, you will perceive your children, who adore you, neither fear to fight, nor flee from death itself.

These pictures are also from my time spent in Brazil. They're a little bit more dear to my heart than the other ones. I was in Brazil on a mission trip. We had a lot of fun, as seen in the previous pictures, but, we also spent a lot of time in the Brazilian slums, flavellas.

The flavellas are host to disease, heartache and sub-standard housing. The "houses" were lined up, right next to each other, usually, a typical flavella was approximately 10-12 feet wide, one room, and no bathroom. There was a hole in the front wall for a door, and sometimes right next to that was a smaller hole to serve as a window. There was no glass, or wood for doors and windows. The "windows" typically just existed as they were, a hole. Blankets were used as doors. Out back from the shanties, was a ditch, dug to traverse the entire length of the street, running behind all the houses on the street. This was the bathroom. The malodorus stench was often overwhelming.

I was in Brazil with around 25 other Americans, mostly college students, with some adult leaders. When our bus would pull into the areas where we would spend our evenings, children would crowd around the bus, clamoring to see "the rich Americans". We would play soccer in the streets with the kids for a bit before we started serving food, or delivering blankets, or whatever was on our agenda for the evening.

One evening, instead of talking to people, and listening to them, which was something we often did, (many of the children and elderly in the flavellas were starved for attention and more than anything just wanted someone to listen), we showed a movie in the street. We set up a projector on one side of the street and a large screen on the other side and showed a free film in the middle of the street. I still remember the delight on the children's faces. This picture (below) is my favorite picture I have ever taken. I don't think that scanning it in from a scrapbook really does it justice.
This little boy is the reason I want to go into public service/non-profit rather than the money focused world of business. I've always loved this picture, but a few years after I returned from Brazil, I was looking through my pictures and came across this one. I will always remember this little boy, and the joy he showed in everything, despite his surroundings. I wanted to make life better for this little guy. It pains me to think where, statistically, he probably is now, seven years later. Illiterate, likely addicted to drugs, and living in the same place he was when this photo was taken. I can only hope that some idealist was able to step in and change the course of his life.

**again, the title is the Brazilian national anthem translated to English. I found it wholly appropriate here.