CONTINUE...TROPICAL TOURISM

With the death of APROCE´s President, the NGO is deactivated today. The voice of poor young  women of color -- the target of international sex industry -- has been silenced in recent years.  A 2005 state-sponsored  educational campaign in tourist hotels--with posters and hotline to denounce sexual exploitation of minors-- has largely been dis-activated in the post-COVID economy.  Yet, the challenges of  illegal sex with minors, sexual violence and sexual trafficking persist.--if not increased.           

Culture & Medicine Foundation purposes to reactive our longstanding partnership with ex-members of APROCE.  In the first project phase, we (jointly) will critically evaluate the economy of  post-COVID sexual tourism in Fortaleza, Ceará.  Next, we will tackle a critical analysis of the Sexual Violence Service at the Barra do Ceará Public (SUS) Maternity Hospital Gonzaga Mota.  Thirdly, we will critically review the Ceará State´s Women´s Police Force, Secretary of Public Safety´s protocol´s and procedures for denouncing violations of victims´ rights.  Finally, based on these findings, C & M Foundation researchers and APROCE partners will create interventions to curb sexual violence, illegal sexual exploitation of minors and international sex trafficking in Ceará. 

 --Nations M, Magalhaes ML, Almeida MR. Illustrations:  Brandão, JN.  Lift-up Life: Re-capturing Vital Energy of Children-of-the Gods Touched by HIV/AIDS. [trans]. Fortaleza, Brazil: Editora Celigrafica Fotolite Ltda, 2001.   Our creative team at C & M Foundation strategically envisions the distribution of our empowering educational materials to MAXIMIZE  their reach.  AIDS prevention manuals, for instance, are distributed at the annual Festival of Iemanjá,  held every August 15th,  at the  Future Beach in Fortaleza; the celebration is attended by thousands of Umbanda devotees and curious onlookers.   
And our award-winning Love Cards--designed with  ethnographically-informed AIDS prevention messages--are distributed by scores of fortunetellers during their customary card reading sessions of anxious lovers seeking spiritual advice  about their wandering soulmates.  

C & M Foundation´s researcher, Dr. Nations, and popular artist, José Neves Brandão, were invited by the Brazilian  Ministry of Health, National STDs/AIDS Prevention Program to present the workshop:  Anthropology & Creation of STDs/AIDS Educational Material for Low-Literacy Populations at the I National Conference on STDs/AIDS in  Bahia, Salvador, Brazil in 1996;  the Ministry of Health awarded C & M Foundation the First Place  for "The Most Creative AIDS Educational Material" for our fortuneteller´s Love Cards.