Days are rolling by and each day that goes by, means a closer day to one of the most awaited sporting events in the world, the World Cup. When the domestic leagues are over, the players of each squad won’t be heading to their homes for the usual rest-period, instead they will be heading to the training-camps of their national team with the hopes of reaching the grass of the Maracana on July 13th.
When hearing the word "Brazil’, most of us think of football legends such as Zico, Romario and Ronaldo, but those are only a few lucky individuals. Media will portray images of Pitbull singing this year’s World Cup Anthem and top-players celebrating after top-goals, in darker areas in the same country, too far away from floodlights and the cheering of passionate supporters, children as young as nine are being sold and abused.
In February, reports surfaced that in Brazil children are selling their bodies for a miserable price. One of the children which were interviewed by the Sky reporters confessed that her "career’ as a prostitute started when she was still thirteen. She explained that she had to run away from home and she easily ended up by herself in the streets, sometimes even selling herself for as little as three Reais (About €1).
Millions of people from all over the world, next June will be boarding towards Brazil, but seriously, does anybody care about teenagers who spend most of the night searching for someone who is interested in buying their bodies at a miserably low-price? The number of children in Brazil that are used in the sex trafficking is estimated to reach the staggering amount of 250,000. Did you know that the Brazilian government has a site which is specifically aimed to those who are seeking a career in prostitution?
There are people who are looking at the World Cup as an opportunity to improve the situation of Brazil, but the chances are that it will have the opposite effect. In a country where millions of people are unable to make ends meet, the government decided to spend billions on the buildings and refurbishment of stadiums. Yes, instead of school and hospitals, the government wasted money on stadiums, instead of catering to the staggering needs of the Brazilian citizens.
Undoubtedly, it’s going to be a spectacular World Cup with most of the top football players featuring in it, however when the stadiums are switched off and each contingent of players leaves the country on a luxurious plane, poverty won’t be boarding any plane, as children will be left on the streets in hunger hoping that someone passing by would be eager to pay money in order to victimize them.
