Photography: Beto Padilha

Rio de Janeiro is coping with the worst floods in almost fifty years. At the beginning of April severe rainfall caused land and mud slides. Many of the slums, build on the hills of Rio, were hit the hardest and many ‘houses’ have vanished. Hundreds of dead people are the sad result. Also the area Gringolândia, the place of the first planned 1We-IBISS Football Playground, has been hit hard.

Because the favela Gringolândia is close to our hearts 1We - One World Experience has opened an emergency account number. All proceeds will be used for first emergency aid to Gringolândia and the realisation of the football playground. This will be handled by our partner organization IBISS in Rio which at this moment is assisting with rescue activities and looking after and sheltering the locals.

Children

IBISS-director Nanko van Buuren informed us several days after the drama that already 48 project participants of the projects -mostly children- had been buried. “Truly horrible! At this moment we are still busy with supporting the families, identifying people in the morgue and arranging funerals”, says an emotional Van Buuren.

“All areas are covered with a layer of dirt, many times with dead animals in between. The coming week we will start cleaning everything, also to prevent diseases like leptospirosis and cholera. After that we hope to start with repairs and to find new homes for the people of the favelas who have lost theirs.”

Covered

The dead count of the Brazilian suburbs is already in the hundreds. They fear this number will go up in the next couple of days, considering the amount of people still missing. Van Buuren: “We may assume that the missing people are lying at the bottom of the mountains covered with mud and dirt. There is not much hope for survivors.”

Help us to help the people in need in Gringolândia and to realise the first 1We-IBISS Football Playground. Every small amount of money will make a big difference! Click on the button to donate online.