Brazil 's Face

Fernando lives in the Brazilian northeast's country side where life can be a bit more difficult than in the major cities

I am going to say a few things about this place, the one that covers nearly half of South America and is the continent's largest nation. We are that one country in Latin America that speaks Portuguese. Brazil was made Portugal's territory in 1500. But we are more than that. A lot more.

Today, we have almost 200 million people here and we are the largest catholic country in the world. We are the land of the differences, extremities, inequalities.

For those who were born here, it is easy to perceive everything. Devoted catholics and the famous naughty Carnival live on the same soil. It's the nation of every skin color and race, all mixed.

And, at the same time, we make sure to keep separate the ones with money and the ones with nothing in a such large gab between them. The ones with no money can't be born with hope or expectations. They are born in a family that can't give them education and the government doesn't do it either. It isn't easy to understand but it is, at least, comprehensive. Those kids have no choice. They will steal, rob, kill if they have to.

Back in 2005 the government reported that one fifth of the Amazon forests had been cleared by deforestation. A third of our population lives in favelas, or slums. The level of violence in some large urban centers is comparable to a war zone. Brazil has the most unequal distribution of wealth in the world. According to UNESCO, Brazil's education still shows very low levels of efficiency. And, yes, growing social security debts, inefficient public services, and the low value of the minimum wage are all here, very clear and quite obvious.

Martin Luther King once said: "We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope". And he's probably right. In Brazil we can complain, discuss what can be done, cry for those in difficult situation, help the ones we can and even ignore what's happening. But we shouldn't give up.

What about the next generation, the Brazilian kids of the future? If these kids don't start imagining a better future for them, there is no way they will fight. Let's give them hope, let's give them good examples, let's give them love and all the things this nation's Statute said they have the right to have: identity, family, security, health and education.

After all, we are self-sufficient in oil, our Aids programme has become a model for other developing countries, we sustain some of the world's greatest biodiversity, Brazil has been regarded as one of the group of four emerging economies called BRIC, we are the world's largest ethanol producer, our football team is the only one in the world to have qualified for every single World Cup and to have won the cup five times and 6 million Brazilians had left the misery line in 2006.

It's enough reason to smile. And some people say it all starts with that. Our kids just need enough reason to believe now. I am sure they will make this their own country, then.