A student from Southwark is travelling to Brazil next week to see first-hand the poverty that has fuelled recent riots in the country.

Rebecca Bradley, (22), from Roehampton, will be visiting programmes funded by the Catholic aid agency CAFOD that support homeless families in Sao Paulo, as well as helping to improve the living conditions of families who live in the poorest 'favelas' of the city through legal education and organisational support. She will also join millions of young people in Rio de Janeiro to take part in World Youth Day, where Pope Francis will celebrate Mass.

Rebecca who will be studying for a PGCE in primary school teaching, has been volunteering and raising funds for CAFOD whilst at the University of Roehampton through her chaplaincy. She will see for herself how this money is helping to change the lives of the most vulnerable. The projects she will visit include the Movement for the Defence of People Living In Favelas, which leads campaigns to lobby the city government for greater investment in basic services: housing, electricity, clean water, sanitation and childcare centres.

Rebecca said: “I’m very excited to be going to Brazil. It will be very challenging to find out about another culture. I know the favelas will be very different to what I have experienced in my life. I want to learn more about other people’s challenges so that I can better support them. I want to be a good teacher in the future and hopefully this experience will educate me about the work CAFOD does through its projects so that I can let people know all about them when I get home and inspire them to work for social justice.”

Rebecca will be meeting families and young people in Brazil: a country where 16 million people live in extreme poverty and 17.8% of young people are unemployed.