ABOUT US
Comunidade Rural Casa do Caminho (CRCC) is a nonprofit association from Brazil, operating in the State of Rio de Janeiro. Between 1982 and March 2014, its main mission was housing children and teenagers at social risk. However, today Casa do Caminho NO LONGER WORKS AS AN ORPHANAGE. Due to great difficulties imposed upon us by Brazilian governmental agencies, we decided to change our line of work and strategy.
Casa do Caminho is located approximately 50 km away from the center of the city of Rio de Janeiro, next to a town called Xerém (belonging to the Municipality of Duque de Caxias, RJ), in a rural area of great natural beauty, in the surroundings of the Biological Reserve of Tinguá- which was declared an environmental preservation area by the UNESCO. In this place, there are many families living in conditions of extreme poverty, and primary and secondary education are of a very low quality- because of a lack of resources, lack of teachers, transport problems, substandard infrastructure, cultural problems, and the fact that parents are often illiterate. Facing this situation, our organization is determined to make a change, and give a hand to our neighbors, for which we are working day to day to improve their situation, bringing joy and hope. Apart from the surroundings of Xerém, we also help people living on the streets of places like the center of Rio de Janeiro and Duque de Caxias, mainly through our project “Lanche com os Irmãos Menores”.
Casa do Caminho works on several different projects: 1.- With children, teenagers and adults of the region, receiving them at the headquarters of our organization where many activities are performed. 2.-With homeless people, bringing food to them on the streets of Rio de Janeiro and Duque de Caxias. 3.- With low income families of the region, through community building and cleaning works, and through campaigns to provide materials and domestic utensils. 4.- Temporarily housing teenagers and families of people who lived in the past in the orphanage. 5.-Growing natural products and raising farm animals for own use and selling the excess. 6.- Teaching at the public rural schools in our surroundings, in a partnership with the Department of Education of our Municipality. We believe that poverty is a multidimensional problem, which can only be solved by attacking at many fronts at the same time. In this site, you will find detailed information on all these projects. Our organization is based on Christian principles, and is greatly inspired in the life and message of St. Francis of Assisi, although we aren’t linked to any particular church. In addition, CRCC is a completely private institution, which doesn’t receive any money from the government, and is nonprofit.
We welcome you to learn more about this beautiful social work, to support us, and to volunteer with us.