My Public Speaking Debut

Today was a great opportunity and growing experience for me. Cassia, our Portuguese teacher, invited us to go to church with her today. When we got there, Pastor Rubens welcomed us really warmly, showing us around the church and introducing us to some of the members. After a few minutes, he said that he would like to give us a few minutes of time during the service to share our story of why we are in Brazil and to also share what our experience was in Mozambique. Normally I hate these things, especially when it is spontaneous like this and requires talking in front of a group of strangers. But, it was something that I did not seek out, but was given to me and really was an awesome opportunity. So, Todd and I got up and were able to share through a translator a little of what we had been doing so far. We spoke for about 10 minutes and then the congregation prayed for us and blessed us. We were also able to speak to a few people afterwards. There was also a visiting pastor today from another church in Brazil and who is interested in going to Mozambique!! The church is going to follow us as we go and said they would like to send a youth mission team for two weeks to Mozambique to assist the project there. It's probably best that this first happened unexpectedly or I would likely never have done it. We will refine our presentation though, as we were asked to speak at another church in a few weeks. This is another way God is really stretching me. I feel like a real missionary, especially when we were treated to lunch after the service!

Rescued

For the last two weeks, we have been working with the Rescue House. This is the house that we go out with on Friday nights to talk to the kids on the streets. They act as the first contact for kids to come into one of the other homes long term. Periodically, they also do a Triage of two weeks, where the kids come to stay and do an initial period of detoxing and adjusting to life in a home again. Last week, Rescue House started a new Triage.
So Monday, we went the slum to one of the boy’s house to pick him up for the start of the Triage. Bruno is 13 and has been coming to the program at the Lighthouse. At the house, his mom was there, where she, her partner and the 5 kids live in two rooms- one where they all sleep, and one for eating and living. So, why is Bruno coming to Triage if he has a home?
The favellas are run by drug lords. It has become so dangerous in these areas that the police refuse to enter them. Recently, Bruno began to get involved with the drug traffickers, running drugs and money back and forth to people. He became scared though, and didn’t want to do it anymore. Unfortunately, this is not something you can do. Currently, his life is under a death threat. Murder by drug lords is something that is expected if you decide to leave and so the staff needed to get him out of the area.
So, when at Bruno’s house, he wasn’t there. His mom sent his youngest brother to find him and bring him back. The brother returned saying that Bruno would not come. We waited. After awhile, Bruno did show up. However, after talking to the staff for a few minutes, he had to leave. Incredibly, he was in the middle of a drug deal at the time and had to return some money. We left, feeling heavy because of the uncertainty of the situation.
Wednesday when we went to the house though, Bruno was there! He had decided to come! He has such a gentle face. We spent the afternoon there, playing Uno with the boys and celebrating one of the staff’s birthdays. There are four boys in total, ages 11, 12, 13 and 14! They are a special bunch. While in the kitchen that day, I noticed one of the boys was missing a patch of hair at the back of his head and there were stiches sticking out. The staff told us later that his mom had been beating him. The 11 year old is especially interesting. His mother also lived on the street and three weeks ago, she was struck by a car and killed. We visited the extended family, who hadn’t found out for over two weeks since the death. This young boy is reeling from that, as well as going through withdrawl symptoms from crack cocaine. The staff have been working with him on the streets for some time now and are really hopeful for a change in his life. He is still so young.
If the boys do well over the next week, they will move here, to the house I’m staying with the other boys. Please pray for these boys over the next week, that they will be able to stick it out and start making some good relationships with the staff.

Not All Bad In Belo

Ok, lots of heavy blogs, so here is one not so heavy and some great stuff going on!!!

I have started taking Portuguese lessons! They speak Portuguese is Mozambique too, so once we got over the first basic lesson, it has been really fun to learn! I always wanted to learn a new language, but am not very natural at it! I also got a Portuguese-English Bible, some music, and of course, there are lots of people to practice with. I am now stringing short sentences together!!! Wow, you and me Becca, we got a lot in common! Lots of exclamation marks = excitement!!!!

So, food wise, Brazilians love beans and rice and eat both with lunch and dinner every single day. Literally, if for some crazy reason one of these is missing from a meal, they complain. Besides this, they also love sugar! They dump so much sugar in the coffee and tea here. There are ice-cream shops on every street. One really good treat they have here is Acai, which is a fruit from the Amazon region blended with ice and topped with banana and granola. It is supposed to be really healthy for you. They also drink Guarana soda which kind of tastes like Canada Dry with a little cherry in it. It's good though!

So, its not all bad in Belo, just intense most of the time.

Friday Nights

I had a really difficult experience on Friday, one of my most difficult personally so far. For our Friday nights on the streets, we went to the Red Light District here. It was horrible. In about a six block radius, there are 4500 prostitutes working day and night, 24/7. They have hotels set up where the women pay a daily fee to use a room.

It is hard to describe the scene. Before we started in the area, we were talking and getting prepared together on the streets. A drunk man was right on the sidewalk in front of us, digging for food and eating it out of a pile of trash bags. There was another man passed out right in the middle of the side walk and people just walked around him. The whole area smelled of urine and filth.

As we stood there I watched hundreds of men walking into just two brothels. I'm not exaggerating. With 4500 prostitutes, hundreds were piling in and out. I could compare it to watching people go to Starbucks on a busy morning to get their coffee, except the men pay less than we do for a coffee. There is a joke in the area, that you can get a woman for a '$1.99 special'- less than $1 Canadian. The women have to pay a daily fee of $20-40 reias for the room, so it is disgusting what she must do to just pay this off.

Prostitution is very common here. Many parents sell their young daughters into sexual slavery in order to make money. This is acceptable by men to the extent that some fathers take their sons to lose their virginity in this way even at young ages. You can imagine the disease, both physical and emotional, that grips this area.

As we walked around, I felt so heavy. I felt like I could barely breath, the feeling of oppression was so great there. On that walk I could feel just darkness and sadness. There are children in the brothels too, though they remain mostly unseen. I was feeling pretty mixed up emotionally, which I talked about in our de-brief when we got back.

As we have been studying, the way women are treated in society is so important to the health of that society. Women still bear the greatest responsibility for raising children and therefore passing on the values and ideals of the world.

At home, during the week I would plan what I would do on the weekends. It was something I always looked forward to. On Friday nights, I would go for dinner with friends, or maybe get together to watch a movie. My Friday nights have totally changed. What a luxury it is to have a choice of what to do to relax on a night off. How many people get that?

House of the Sower

House of the Sower is the program for children that are deaf. In this society, a handicap such as this is often seen as a curse for sins of the parents. Most of these kids are shunned by society and there is very little or no assistance for them. Sower House helps them with homework, learning sign, and most importantly, gives them a great social support system of care and friendship. Most of the kids travel 2 hours by bus each way to attend.

The Sower House had an interesting start. It is run in part by one of the children of the Lukasses, who began the entire YWAM program here almost 25 years ago. Dilmas was adopted by the Lukasses' after being found in a box on the street. Dilma is deaf, and it is believed that her deafness was caused by her mother's attempt to abort Dilma. One common method of abortion in the slums is for the woman to ingest a mixture of herbs/chemicals/other substances meant to abort the fetus. Dilma survived, but doctors believe it was this tragic beginning that caused her deafness. After adopting her, Dilma's parents prayed for her healing from deafness. Instead, God healed her emotional scars, and today, the Sower House exists primarily because of Dilma's life.

While there, we were lucky enough to again visit the house of one of the students, who is 18 and has never learned the alphabet. The staff have been reaching out to his family for 4 years, trying to get him to attend the program. His parents were alcoholics though and were unable to have him attend. Now that they have stopped drinking he is starting to learn how to use sign language and learn the alphabet and write.

At the end of the first day with them, we all sat in a circle and the children at the center gave me a sign language name. It is the letter A made with your hand in sign, and moving behind your ear as if pushing your hair back. It was fun to learn with them and help them. The center is such a blessing!

Any One Day

Have you ever experienced the spirit of love? Have you ever been a part of or been witness to something that was so powerful that you were overcome just with the depth of the emotions you had inside? Many times in my life this has happened- usually when I’m with family and especially with my nieces and nephews. On Wednesday, for our weekly service, the different houses all came together and did a talent show, where the kids and staffs performed. It was held at the Lighthouse, the community center on a hill in the middle of the slum. This spirit of love was incredibly strong that night. The Lighthouse performance was done by the girls aged 6-9 group. One of the opportunities they have been exposed to at the Lighthouse is a weekly ballet class. I know in my blog about Thanksgiving I talked a little about life in the slums and the reality that children there face. Ballet is not something that is available to girls from the slum. So, when the girls came out, wearing the tutu’s the staff had purchased for them, their faces were beaming. They were so excited!! They did a very formal ballet number- it was awesome! I was crying before they began. In my life at home, this would be a special event but probably not the most significant one in a child’s life. For this group of small girls though, this was an opportunity that they definitely would not have had without the Lighthouse and probably one that will be one of those moments they remember clearly as an adult. For me, there’s a lot of things that went into the emotion of that night. There are so many ugly things here. Not just ugly- detestable, evil. Garbage, drugs, homelessness, prostitution. Then in one moment, when a little girl comes out in a tutu, it is all redeemed. Any one day in this place would be enough to know reality...Any one day in this place could ruin your emotions...Any one day is enough for the spirit of love to take a hold of you...

Thanksgiving

A quick break down of the super seven (girls I room with) and where they are from:

Lydia & Kirsten: Holland

Kate: England

Michelle: Brazil

Zanda: Latvia

Heidi and I: Canada

So, the vast majority of those I'm amongst do not have a holiday called Thanksgiving.

Right now in Belo Horizonte, it is spring. The flowers were out in full bloom, the temperature has fluctuated in three days from 38 degrees down to 20, and everything is becoming green.

Back home though, it is turning colder, and the air is getting that awesome crispness, and the leaves are changing. Trish and Grady flew in this week for a two week visit at Mom's and Sean, Ellen and Daya are coming next weekend. This is what I miss: sitting with Trish and Ellen and Mim in front of the fireplace with tea and cookies, watching the babes play together. I really miss going outside in the morning with a hot coffee and seeing my mom in her plaid coat, rake in hand, burning the fall leaves. I miss my brothers cooking up a storm in the kitchen and carving the turkey, looking so much like Dad. I miss Dad's stuffing. We still have the stuffing, but I miss Dad.

In Brazil though today, it is Children’s Day, a big holiday here. So, instead of having Thanksgiving, our class went to the slums. This is a big slum of 70 000 people. During the week, we had prepared a 90 minute presentation for the kids. We decorated the area with balloons and had puppets, bubbles and candy bags. The main part of the presentation was a modern day version of the Prodigal Son, where the main character leaves his home to go live on the streets. We also had short mimes by a clown, and an activity afterward. I was part of the team that dressed up with face paint and went into the slums to get the kids. Our team walked around with noisemakers and blowing bubbles. It was an incredible experience, going to the doors of the homes and along the alleys to invite the kids. One little girl that was in my group had open sores on her face. Altogether, 135 children attended. The thing that continues to strike me during my time here is that no matter the ‘Child At Risk’ Category we are working with (teen mom, deaf, ex-street child, living in slums), children are children. Most of these kids live in families where their father (if they know who they are), are drug traffickers, and the women in their lives are prostitutes. Gang violence is a regular part of life and for many of them, this is what they see as a reality for their future too. You would think that they would be beyond our activities. I mean, it even made me a little nervous going into the slums. I thought, ‘What are these kids going to be like?’ We get such a picture of hardened kids, which is part of the truth. Yet unbelievably, they were still are in awe of clusters of bright balloons and clowns with funny faces, maybe even more so because its such a rare thing for them. These are pure characteristics of children; awe, faith, zeal, the ones that God intended for every child to experience every day, not just on a holiday once a year.

So, this year, I am extra thankful for my family. Family is the most basic, intimate unit on earth. Really, if every family was able to take care of its own members, the vast majority of ministries would not exist. They simply wouldn’t have enough work. So, while I miss my family today, I know I’m only here simply because I am lucky enough to have them as a family, and because God wants me to stand in the gap for all of the children that are not able to be thankful for theirs today. I love you Fam! Your love continues on here through me, reaching out to these children...

Reborn

The first house we have done outreach in is the Reborn House, which takes care of teen mothers with young babies. Currently, there are two moms there with their little ones, both boys under two years old. While there, one of our jobs was to paint a small house on the back of the property that one of the moms is staying in now as she begins to transition to living on her own. This girl has an incredibly painful past. She began living on the streets when she was 7 years old, after already suffering much abuse at home. When first going to the streets, she began dating a boy who was 9 years old that was in a gang and dealt drugs. Although this may seem impossible, girls must have a 'boyfriend' in order to be somewhat protected from being raped and abused by multiple men. By the age of 14, she had already had three pregnancies and miscarriages. When she became pregnant with her little boy now, she moved off the streets into the Reborn House. She continued to see the father though, who was actually the same boy. They had remained together through this time, although he continued to live on the streets. Then, during this time, he had paint thinner poured on him and ignited. After being in the hospital, he died. This girl has seen more tragedy in her 16 years than I will likely ever see. Although she is doing well, she has emotional hardships that will never completely leave her. Unfortnately, this is a very common story. Please pray for her as she and her son build a life together. Also, thank God that the Reborn House ministry exists. Without it, she and her son would be on the streets. It is so hard to imagine, looking at the boys crawling around, that they would be living on the streets here. The Reborn House has provided them with not only food and shelter, but also trusting relationships with adults and healthy role models for both of them.(Setting people on fire is a common form of revenge among the gangs in Belo).

Reconstruction

Life here continues to be busy. We have classes and/or outreach six days a week. There is a heavy workload on top of that. While I'm not really too worried about the work getting finished or the grade I get, having such a full schedule does add a level of stress. It's not really one thing here, but just the experiences doing outreach here and the topics in classes that can be intense. It is a very intense program, designed I think to spur growth intellectually but also personally. I definitely notice in my life that a lot of new intense experiences with not a lot of processing time brings me to a place of meekness and tearing down a lot within me. I also notice though that in these times of seeming weakness, that a lot of growth can happen when old prejudices and ideas are torn out and replaced with better ones.

For example, this week all lectures were on the topic of HIV/AIDS around the world and with children. Carla, a woman who began the Refuge House for children suffering from HIV in Brazil, discussed statistics, health, and bereavement. Interestingly, today was also my day to work at the Refuge House. Everyone holds some prejudice against people with this virus. The first thing everyone wants to know is: "How did you get it?" for then we can assign a judgement of responsibility, and from there, to what level of compassion we will offer. For myself, I had to realize that I have a higher level of compassion for prostitutes in this country than in North America, because I view their ability to choose that lifestyle differently. While prostitutes in NA may indeed have more choice or options in which lifestyle they choose, this should not influence MY response to them. I do not know, and cannot know, the infinite factors that have contributed to someone's life or their current situation. I can't even guess. But, what I can know is that despite what choices/influences/factors carried them to this point, it is at this point now that they require my compassion. Every person is broken. My response should be as Jesus' response was- grace, help, acceptance. It is difficult, especially around topics like this, to separate the Sin from the Sinner. To hate the sin and love the sinner, no matter the context. So, the school not only informs when giving these teachings, but is also trying to have us really dig into what Truths we hold and which of these need to be uprooted and replaced if we want to go further and deeper into meaningful ministry and truly connecting with people.