The kids leave home for varying reasons- poverty, abuse, lack of structure, peer pressure…the list is long. Once they are on the streets they are quickly absorbed into the ”gang” where usually a ”chief” is responsible for the well being of them all. At first they resist the drugs, but it doesn’t take long before they are tempted to ”sniff” glue from a bottle or dip the corner of their shirt in a ”dab” of thinner, solvent, nail polish remover or some such liquid based inhalant. They usually have to pay the owner of the solvent small change for their ”dab”, and of course the shirt or piece of cloth only stays damp for a short period of time. And so the drugs’ controlling power begins to act.
They have to start begging for loose change to ”buy” their ”dab”, and then they are absorbed into the gangs schemes. Usually, once they are involved in drugs, they form ”partnerships”- two kids who join together and unite forces to raise money through begging, stealing or other means to buy their drugs of choice.
As a natural progression inhaling solvents through the nose turns into inhaling them through the mouth, and then the nature of the drugs has to change to produce a similar, better, longer, higher result; the drug of choice here in Fortaleza is ”crack” (”pedra” or ”mesclado” as it is known as here). ”Crack” is a combination of cocaine and other drugs in a potent and highly addictive combination easily found and easily bought on any street corner from dealers who have more control then any parent could ever imagine!
The ”crack” eliminates hunger, rots the teeth, sends the kids into wild spirals, and takes them to places we cannot go. Places where we do not want to go, but where they want to go, even deeper.
This week we went to pick up some kids to take to our ”drop in centre”. At the bus station, where dozens of kids hang out, they had all been so keen as we invited them the week before. But Friday they had no desire to come. Minutes before we arrived to seek them out in their hidaways they had climbed a wall into an abandoned lot because someone had turned up with some ”crack”. They looked at us with blank faces as if our offer of lunch, a change of clothes, a shower, and some genuine love as an absurd offer. Why of course! They have ”crack”!Three kids came and what a fantastic time we had as we were able to show them the love that Christ has first shown us. At one point during lunch I got up and wandered a few metres from the table. As I looked back I saw a happy family: four boys who have lived with us for a few years on the farm, a number of local volunteers, and our team eating lunch, laughing, telling stories, and sharing in a real moment of family.
The three, 14 year old Jefferson who looks like he’s 12, John-Paul aged 16, and Angela a girl of 15 (not their real names) were there too. They were unsure of how to fit in, but were part of a restoring of family values. Paulo, Hemerson, Claudio and Mardônio then told their testimonies, led worship, and treated the three the same way they were treated 3 years ago.
God restores you know! Paulinho will tell you that as he studies music for one year on a full scholarship at a school called Hedmarktoppen in Norway (http://www.hedmarktoppen.no/). Four years ago he was in their position and now he is where God has put him.
” He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; He sits them with princes, with the princes of their people.' Psalm 113:7,8
People ask if there are still death squads called upon to ”remove” street kids from the streets. I can’t say yes or no to that, but I can tell you that the kids on the streets experience violence on a daily basis. Some tell of being shot at, kids we have know for years have been reported dead with rumours of how that came to be…Is it death squads? Does it matter? We watch our world turning itself upside down, ignoring God’s principles in favour of a worldly ”if it works, do it”. THIS I can say categorically- we live in an age where ”integrity” is the make of a car and where ”honesty” is the name of a clothing store.
As a believer in Christ Jesus I state boldly that ”love your neighbour as yourself” is a command created to promote love between all men by a God who loved us so much that He gave his only son to die for us because of our sins and His great mercy! Pray, give, rise up and practise this gospel of love that Christ preached and LIVED!
”Death has climbed in through our windows and has entered our fortresses, it has cut off the children from our streets and the young men from the public squares . . . this is what the Lord says ' Let not the wise man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight''. Jeremiah 9: 21,23,24
We who call Christ ”Saviour” can make a difference by living according to His principles and obeying His voice!
Pray for us!
Peter and the Urban Missions team at ”My Father’s House” in Fortaleza, Brazil.
