ABSTRACT
The major difficulty for all community educators in Latin America, and particularly for those who work in the streets of Brazil, is to determine how best to proceed in order to obtain better and sustained results in the struggle for social transformation. Young people are indoctrinated, through routines, punishments and even by being terrorised, into becoming model workers who obey orders, fulfil commands and do not discuss labour relations. The streets and plazas of the biggest city in Latin America are the setting for the tragic drama of untold numbers of children and adolescents. Their history mirrors that of a people without a proper road to tread, without destiny, without a future, with no alternative to resistance, revolution or mere passivity in the face of tomorrow. The social communities of the young street people reveal, a common feature: the search for a lost affection, For them the disintegration of the family bond is a commonplace reality.
