Economy
Because the air and land are so dry, it has always been hard to maintain and grow crops. Serra Preta has a very small income from family-based farms and local artisans. The government of Bahia provides very little to the poor, not only in terms of financial support, but also with lack of health care, schools and public services.
Many children get only a minimal education in reading, writing and arithmetic before having to quit school and immediately find work to help support their families. Very few children make it to a high school level. Young teenage children often travel into bigger cities and regions populated with more farmland in order to get work. These young children send money back to their families while they work jobs that pay very little for their manual labor.
Lack of money is not the only problem for the people of Serra Preta. In many South American countries, being a mixed race or having former slaves in a bloodline puts many families at a horrible disadvantage socially, and opportunities are scarce. Hunger is a growing epidemic and the dry land does not provide a plentiful bounty.
In our advancing technological and digital world, Serra Preta falls more and more behind. Providing the children of today with the means to provide for their families and themselves tomorrow will bring new hope to the region and the people of Serra Preta.
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Coordinates: 12°09′36″S 39°19′55″W / 12.16000001°S 39.3319444544°W / -12.16000001; -39.3319444544
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Famous quotes containing the word economy:
“Wise men read very sharply all your private history in your look and gait and behavior. The whole economy of nature is bent on expression. The tell-tale body is all tongues. Men are like Geneva watches with crystal faces which expose the whole movement.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Quidquid luce fuit tenebris agit: but also the other way around. What we experience in dreams, so long as we experience it frequently, is in the end just as much a part of the total economy of our soul as anything we “really” experience: because of it we are richer or poorer, are sensitive to one need more or less, and are eventually guided a little by our dream-habits in broad daylight and even in the most cheerful moments occupying our waking spirit.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Everyone is always in favour of general economy and particular expenditure.”
—Anthony, Sir Eden (1897–1977)