Street Life

Casa Elohim

Once again, yesterday was a busier day than I had anticipated. Fabio from Casa Elohim called and I arranged to go over for a couple of hours to meet the team, arrange my working hours for next week and to see Hedi on her birthday. (Hedi is the lovely lady who looked after our team during our stay last year). It was an eventful day for Elohim as three new boys - all brothers - had arrived at the shelter to stay. They have been abandoned by both their mother and their father. The Elohim staff seem doubtful that there is much hope of reconciliation with their family. They are just the most beautiful little boys and the youngest is only five. I helped him put on some new clothes, provided by Elohim, and the smile on his little face simply broke my heart. It both angers and saddens me because I just can´t imagine how anyone could abandon them without a care. However, there is no doubt that the parents have their problems as well and if they can be helped then the ABBA team will do what they can. For these three little boys the future is now uncertain. Much of their hope lies in either building bridges with their family or being integrated in to a foster family found by ABBA. However, foster families are scarce and it might be almost impossible to find a family who would take all three brothers together. Still, the team will work, hope and pray for their future. 

 

Central Sao Paulo

Later in the evening I went out with Luke to the streets of the city centre.  His mission was to meet a couple of the street boys who had previously lived at Elohim for varying periods but had chosen to return to life on the streets. Driving in to Sao Paulo it´s a beautiful city - bright lights, flashy buildings, modern architecture. It is deceptively beautiful. However, it didn´t take us long to find a small band of kids who were settling down in the street for the night. From as young as about eight to the older teens there were around a dozen kids living together. I find it an indication of our human nature that even on the streets, family units of some kind are formed. I spoke to some of the girls, most of whom were around 12-15 years old. Beautiful girls on the surface but they had a pain in their eyes. One young girl was seven or eight months pregnant. What kind of life will her baby have? Almost all the kids were high on glue or marijuana. Each carried a little plastic bottle with their substance of choice. I will never forget the face of the little boy, about eight years old, slumped under a blanket on the ground, bottle in hand, barely in touch with reality. But of course - this is what they want. Reality is painful and the temporary peace that comes with substance abuse is part of the warped reality in which they live. Luke managed to find the boys he had been searching for. He gave them some small gifts including photos - a reminder not only of their time at Elohim but of the love and hope that is still available should they choose to take it. After some time spent in meaningful conversation, Luke invited us over and together, on the pavement in the middle of a busy street, we sat down with a couple of boys and played Uno. For ten or fifteen minutes the inner-child emerged as they got caught up in the fun of playing and interacting with adults who cared instead of cursed them. It was a surreal and challenging experience but for that short time I  didn´t want to be anywhere else. I suspect that, sooner rather than later, I will be back there again.