Existing in a life without hope- the mothers of the next generation.

The community of Oitão Preto has always had a large number of pregnant girls and women. Due to the harsh reality of the community, their reality is far from simple. These women are very much on God’s heart!

Melanie, who works with pregnant girls in Aquiraz, also as part of YWAM Fortaleza, came to see the reality of Oitão Preto. Her aim being to get to see for herself the desperate reality there, and see how God wants to use her experience to reach the girls who live (if you can call it living) in this community, be it working directly with them, or helping give valuable information to the staff who faithfully go into the community week after week.

Here she shares a bit of what she experienced:

“Last week I went along with the team from YWAM that visits a big favela [Oitão Preto] every week. I had been asked to come along to see how I could help them with the pregnant teens they see there. The favela is close to the tourist area, and so there are many prostitutes and street children/ teens that live in this favela. The situation here is really difficult. In the short time I was there I met at least 3 pregnant girls, often still doing their ´programs´ (prostitution) in spite of their big bellies; they’re still on drugs (glue, solvents/crack), and they’re not doing any prenatal care (which is for free). The girl I spoke to was already 23, and pregnant with her 4th child. She was obviously on some kind of substance and didn’t care a bit about her pregnant belly and what was inside it (her own words). She has no idea how long she had been pregnant, but she already decided to simply leave her child at the maternity of the hospital. It is obvious that there is a lot of work to be done here, and I am thinking and praying about how I can help the team that works in this area almost daily. Unfortunately we had to leave early as they started fighting (physically). This is a totally different world, and you can’t imagine it if you haven’t seen it with your own eyes. The situation here is very different from that of the community in Aquiraz where I am used to working, so it is a really big challenge.”

Pray for the work with these girls. They are giving birth to the next generation and we are able to impact how these children will grow up!

Pray for Melanie as she seeks God for the way forward with regards to this.

And pray that God would raise up a strong team of people to minister to these girls who don’t really live, they just exist, trapped in a life that is so dark they have lost all hope!