...that is, if you have a house, shower, and a comfortable bed. But for the children, and adults who live on the streets of Recife, it was a normal Friday night.
Last Friday night was my first time going with the street team for ministry into the center of the city of Recife. We didn't take cameras, so instead I'll try a feeble attempt to paint a mental picture of what I encountered that night.
There were nine of us, all sporting the "Search and Rescue" JOCUM (YWAM) urban missions t-shirts. When we got out of the van we saw some people that the staff know, a little 3 year old girl, her mom, and another lady-who had her bottle of glue close to her nose. After talking with them a bit we headed down the street to their home. When I say home I mean a dirty mattress laying up against a closed up shop. We spent some time there, sitting on the street with them and painting nails, playing dominoes, and painting with the little girl. After awhile we got up, said our good-byes, and headed off down the street to another area of town. After walking a few blocks we arrived at a bustling park area. There were alot of people sitting around, despite the late hour, and we quickly found three children who were selling candy. Our team split up into two groups and one group went with some older youth and I went with some others to sit down and spend some time with the three children that we met. We sat on the bench and they colored pictures that we brought along with us. They were intrigued by English so we practiced a few words in English, and in our broken Portuguese, or rather "portenol" (a mix of Spanish and Portuguese...what I usually end up speaking) talked with them about their life, and spoke words of life into their lives. It turns out that these particular children don't actually live on the streets, but I believe they spend much of their time on the streets. After awhile it was time to go, so we packed up, said good-bye to these precious children and headed back to the area where our van was parked. On our way back to the van I saw a scene that was very impactful to me. As one of the leaders stopped to say hi to someone he knew, right in front of me was a lady with two small children, very small children, laying down on the street, with a blanket covering them...under the porch of a business.
I've read about children living on the streets, I've heard statistics, I've prayed for these children. But to actually walk the streets and see these little children literally living on the street left a deep impression on my heart. The dirty, busy, streets are what they are learning to know as home. I left that place and returned to the base where I could take a shower and sleep under a roof. But it was with a heavy heart that I did so, thinking about what I'd seen that night, and praying for these children.
In light of Friday night I feel there is not much more to say for this post. School is going well, I'm learning and growing, and learning through living in community. God is good. I'll try to update more frequently!
