Embau is a small village located halfway between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, each city being about 200 miles away. The village is very poor with simple housing and little or no employment. The local people tend to have large families that lead to overcrowded housing and poor living conditions. Many families are unable to cope and the children are sometimes undernourished and abused.

The village has a children's home that offers facilities for boys.

Past President Geoff Tutt and his wife, Christine, a Past President of Leominster Inner Wheel, lived and worked at this home for six months in 1993 and have visited Embau several times and supported the home over the years. However, until about three years ago there were no facilities for girls in Embau. A very dedicated lady called Vanda started a project for girls, Casa das Meninas das Nossa Senora Auxiliadora, in a rented house where she lives and she now has over 70 girls attending the project aged between 3 and 18 years. The object of the project is firstly to give a friendly and caring centre for girls where they are able to come and talk over their problems and can receive advice. There is an open-house policy operated all week. There is a meeting night on Thursdays and activities between 9 and 5 at weekends. Another important aspect of the project is that when the girls attend at the weekends they are given a meal. Many of the poorer families in Brazil live on a staple diet of rice and beans, so a meal is important to the girls. The girls are taught life skills and are encouraged to think beyond getting pregnant at the age of 12 or 13 years and/or married by 16. Classes in cooking and crafts e.g. sewing, knitting, music, dance and parenthood are available for the girls to attend. The older girls help supervise and assist the younger girls, which helps them to learn about childcare. Leominster Rotary and Inner Wheel have helped the Embau project in the past by supplying craft materials, knitting wool, cottons etc. and Inner Wheel gave a donation that enabled the project to build a kitchen. The previous kitchen was a dilapidated wooden shack and was unsafe for teaching the girls cookery. Money from Rotary has enabled the purchase of a cooker, saucepans and equipment for the kitchen, a television, DVD player and a computer. The new kitchen now enables the helpers to conduct some cookery classes and the girls are able to help with the day-to-day cooking.

As can be seen in the photograph there is an urgent need for tables and chairs. Leominster Rotary has raised funds from friends and through the sale of hedging plants, grown and donated by Past President Bill Sneary, and hopefully together with a matching grant from Rotary District 1100 they will be able to send funds to Brazil for the purchase of 20 tables and 80 chairs. Geoff and Christine will be visiting the project in January.