Not fit for animals!!!

I guess you could call it... 'The Devils Playground' or 'The Dump.' There aren't many positive words that would describe where I was today. We recently found out that the kids on the streets have found and are kipping down in an abondoned house in Savassi. Savassi is a very upper class area... so the irony is huge.

Often when we go to their usual hang out space in the mornings, we have been finding hardly anyone. We hold an 'Open House' for the kids on a Tuesday morning in a room in a church building close to their usual hang out space (a time where they can come for breakfast, play some games, colour in etc). But when we arrive to call them to come, there hasn't been very many around. When we ask; where is everyone? The response lately has been: 'They are up in the shack!'

On Saturday evening Helen and I found this 'shack' with the help of one of the boys. The house was behind metal gates and all locked up. All the windows in the house were broken and it smelled of urine. But if it was not abandoned it would be a very nice house. We did not enter...

...until today. We were on the streets today looking for a boy to do a family visit (Peterson). Not finding him on the streets we went to this house. As we arrived at the front we were hit with the smell of urine. again We called some names of the kids but noone repsonded. So Gilberto (our Brazilian volunteer) climbed over the locked gate and slowly made his way inside the house  He found 4 of the smaller kids sleeping there in a room upstairs.

Helen and I entered aswell - yes, by climbing over the gate! As we walked down the side of the house the smell of urine only got stronger. On entering the house the smell was nauseating (urine, excrement and dirt) and the mess was disgusting. As we walked around the house it was shocking to see. The floor was covered in grit, glass, rubbish and grime. This place is "NOT FIT FOR ANIMALS!!!" And there among this disaster, sleeping peacefully 3 kids (one had woke up to greet us). To me, this place was worse than the streets; more dirt, more grime, more urine and more excrement. There are no positive words to describe this 'shack' in fact there are no words to describe it.





        As you enter the house, the first thing you see is this 'entrance hall.' The floor is covered in glass, from the once glass doors, among rubbish and dirt.

 

                      

  Opposite this is the stairs - you

                          can see the 'rubbish tip!

I guess this is the Kitchen!!







Judging by the smell and the dirt on the floor and the walls, this room has become the Bathroom.





 Bedroom number one... 

... and bedroom number two, where we found the four kids sleeping. There were other bedrooms too that they were using but without mattresses.

 I don't know if the pictures tell even half the story.  But this is the way these kids are living, To me, I think they are craving normality - living in a house and not on the streets and it is so so sad that this is what the choose rather than their own homes. It breaks my heart to see them this way.

Please pray for these kids and this situation. Pray for wisdom that we can use this situation for good - pointing out that they have other options, living like this is not the way God ever intended. God didn't even expect animals to live in this way. Pray for good to come out of the bad.