An experience not unique: Naira's story.

Naira was 13 when her father quit their home in the poor coastal city of Olinda, in Brazil's Pernambuco State. He was unemployed and said he was going south to Rio de Janeiro to make some money. He never came back. never telephoned or wrote.

Naira is now 15 years old. She is hurt, angry and, like the other 24 girls listening to her story, old beyond her years. "When my father left, my mother was alone, but after a while she found another man", says Naira. "He used to be with the police, but now he's retired and doesn't do anything, just some odd jobs once in a while. When my mother goes to work, he follows me around and wants to do things to me. When he drinks, he tries to grab me and drag me to the bed."

Fortunately for Naira, her grandmother lives in the same house. "When he starts up like that I run to her and stick close to her", she says. "I don't tell her what's going on, but I think she knows."

Francisca, a serious and very adult-looking 16-year-old, sits crosslegged and pensive, absorbing the details of Naira's story - a story much like her own.

Olinda is a historic city with 360,000 inhabitants - 60 per cent of whom live in shanty towns and poor neighbourhoods. Like many cities. oppressed by poverty, Olinda has witnessed the widespread disintegration of families, along with a marked increase in the number of women heading households alone. Many of these women search for new partners who might also fill the financial gap left by deserting spouses. As a result, countless thousands of teenage girls like Naira and Francisca are exposed to sexual abuse at the hands of strangers.

Naira's mother does not want to hear about her boyfriend's behaviour. "Once I tried to tell my mother, but she didn't believe me. She said the shorts I wear are too tight. She said I was leading him on." Naira's mother became jealous and struck her. "She thinks I want to steal her man away from her. She started to beat me and called me a whore."

Francisca is also angry, but timid. She wonders if she will have the courage to tell about her stepfather, who won't leave her alone. But she draws strength from the knowledge that her experience is not unique. Almost every girl in the room has a similar story to tell.

The girls were brought together by a United Nations Children's Fund-assisted project, begun in January 1993 by the non-governmental organization Coletivo Mulher Vida (Woman/Life Collective) to prevent further sexual abuse and reduce the risk of these children being commercially sexually exploited. In a nation where almost one third of the households are headed by women aged 35 or older, the project founders understood the social cauldron into which so many children have been pitched by poverty and broken families. Researchers had found that half of girls making their living on the streets as prostitutes had suffered sexual abuse in their own homes or had run away to escape constant sexual harassment by stepfathers. It was this finding that led to the establishment of the Woman/Life Collective.

To identify girls at risk of sexual abuse or other violence in the home, the project circulates a discreet questionnaire through schools to girls aged between 12 and 16. After the responses are analysed, girls who appear to be living in a high-risk environment are invited, without mention of the motivation, to join in cultural and study groups. In most cases, the girls feel privileged to have been selected, as did Naira and Francisca.

Group activities provide opportunities for the girls to speak openly about their lives and share ideas with others who might have similar problems. The groups also help girls realize that they have the right to protection from abuse. This protection, along with prevention measures, treatment and follow-up, is promised in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by Brazil in 1990.

In various educational activities, the girls also learn about sexual and reproductive health, including the risks of contracting sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS. In 1995, the project had 20 groups working in eight neighbourhoods of Olinda, with a total of 160 adolescent girls.

The record of the project so far has been overwhelmingly positive. Of the 600 girls associated with the project since 1993, only 3 ran away from home, 6 became pregnant, 7 had abortions and 1 fell victim to prostitution. The others found ways to improve their home situation and are either still in school or working.

Based on these results, the Woman/Life Collective in 1996 will double the number of groups working with girls in Olinda and will begin to share its experience and methodology with other Brazilian towns and cities in the hope that similar projects will take root.