Irish legend Moya Brennan recently returned from a visit to South and Central America during which she performed fund raising concerts as part of her role as Goodwill Ambassador for Christian Blind Mission (CBM).
Together with football player Pelé's wife, Assiria Nascemento, Brennan travelled with CBM-backed workers into the slums of Recife, Brazil.
The nation has recently seen a huge escalation of violent street crime and kidnapping has become almost a regular form of income for some. The country also has a murder rate four times higher than the USA.
"When a large portion of the urban population lives in slums and there are 12 million children living homeless on the streets of Brazil we don't know the meaning of the word poverty," says Brennan. "I visited rat infested one room homes built from scrap wood and cardboard with whole families living on top of each other. I hope that sharing a few light-hearted moments with them brought a glimmer of hope into their hard lives."
"Blindness is an obvious handicap which sets people apart in these places", Brennan adds, "but I am thrilled to be representing an organisation which actively seeks out and treats people who are desperately marginalised by other disabilities as well."
Brennan travelled from Brazil to Belize for the opening of a new school for abused children, run by the UK-based Liberty Foundation and backed by CBM. During the evening she brought together the Belizean Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Leader of the Opposition and UK Conservative party Deputy Chairman, Lord Ashcroft, who has extensive business and charitable interests in Belize.
In 2004 Brennan fled civil unrest in the Congo, returning last year with CBM workers to airlift three children from isolated jungle villages in the north of the country for crucial eye operations in the capital, Kinshasa.
She has also visited CBM's community based work and field eye hospitals in Rwanda.
Brennan's new studio album, Signature will release on 9 October, prior to flying to the USA in December to promote her seasonal album, An Irish Christmas.
