Brazil: "Messengers of Memory"

"The first memory is of the disappeared, but the second memory is of our search for them." A loved one gone missing will remain with family members for the rest of their lives, and their search creates a story its own that is often forgotten.

Some of these stories were remembered during a gathering of relatioves of people who disappeared during the military regime in Brazil (1964-1985) on 14 and 15 October in Sao Paulo. The meeting was organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and was attended by four generations of family members involved in the so-called "Vala dos Perus case".

Clarisse Mantuano brought her seven-month-old daughter Beatriz to the meeting: "In my family we've always included the children. My grandmother took my mother and they both took me to events related to the memory of my uncle. This is how we preserve our memories - by taking the children along."

"Meetings like this are important as they provide opportunities for families to gather to break the isolation of some relatives and help them to get to know one another and develop bonds," said Marianne Pecassou, Protection coordinator for the ICRC Regional Delegation in Brasilia. "In addition, these events are important occasions to explore ways of raising the profile of this issue since it is often invisible," she added.