WEST Devon musicians have grouped together to raise funds for a volunteer centre which cares for street children in Brazil. So far, eight talented acts with an indie/folk vibe have agreed to play in a charity concert at the Ordulph Arms, Tavistock ? including local folk heroes Hannah and the Madding Crowd, Johnny Mac and Pippa Williams. ?Music with a Mission? has been put together by Yelverton resident Jenny Keegan ? a volunteer at the Acedevida Rescue Mission in Goiania ? who will return to the mission later this year with funds raised from the local community. Jubilee Action, a charity which works with street children worldwide, says there are estimated to be as many as eight million children living rough on the streets of Brazil for whom prostitution, drugs and violent crime are a way of life. Rooted in severe rural poverty, neglect, and the forced, often violent, displacement of people from the land, the problem of street children is compounded by corrupt officials who siphon off vast sums from funds intended for rehabilitation initiatives. The charity claims death squads, manned by off duty policemen and vigilantes backed by citizen groups and commercial establishments, deal violently with street children, for whom crime is often the only means of survival. Court statistics show that 3,000 street children were murdered in Rio alone between 1993-96 ? but according to Jubilee Action, government initiatives are slow in coming and have so far been hindered by rampant corruption among high ranking officials. The Acedevida Rescue Mission, to which all proceeds from the Tavistock concert will go, provides shelter, schooling, food and care for seventeen street kids aged between twelve and eighteen. The concert takes place at the Ordulph Arms on Friday July 1. Doors open at 8.30pm, entry is £4.
