We bang on the tin door, no answer. we shout out a few names from the family, no answer. We bang and we shout... finally the door opens. The smell of damp hits you like a wave. There is water flowing down the steps and out the door - its not coming from their house but the house above theirs... flowing out of a broken pipe, wetting everything they have in the open space where we enter.
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| Doing some school work during a visit (sister Ruth helping) |
They step back, and let us enter the first space, in front of the door to their home, we greet them with a hand shake and a few hugs. The kids (ages 14 to 18) are pleased to see us, its hard to tell whether their mum is as happy - her hand shake to greet us is barely contact skin to skin. She says hello and then makes excuses to disappear back into their home. Where we are standing is in front of 3 doors and between them is one bathroom - shared by all the families living behind the doors and up the two sets of stairs. Behind each door is one room, where a whole families lives, sleeps, eats etc.
The harsh reality of the family we are visiting is that behind their door is a room that I know is smaller than most peoples 'spare bedroom.' It is tiny. Here lives Dorton's family. Dorton: 14 years old has lived on and off the streets for 4 years. His two sisters are aged 16 (Ruth) and 18 (Jessica). Jessica has a 7 month old baby. And their mum lives there too. The family are very closed and so we only ever entered their tiny room when only Dorton was with us, apart from our last visits there when the mum finally invited us in... our entire visit is usually spent standing in that vacant area, that smells, has water pouring out of broken pipes and has dogs running around.
As you walk into their "home" it takes a minute for your eyes to adjust to the dim light of one bulb, it takes a moment for your breathing to adjust to the stuffy air with no windows in the house. Before your eyes adjust you see the devastation that is before you, you can feel your feet sticking to the dirt on the floor. Then you see- by the door is a fridge and a freezer... grimed with dirt. Beyond that is a stove - sitting on top are many dirty pots and pans, with flies flying around and bugs creeping all over them. Then there is a set of shelves piled high with more pots, pans, kitchenware - all dirty. Beyond this there is just mounds of things... everything piled high, mixed with each other, these mounds go right up to the door - the only space in the house is when you close the door there is enough space on the floor for the mattress... single mattress for all 4 and a baby to sleep. Thankfully a few weeks ago the oldest sister moved and piled some things up on the other side of the room and made room for the single bed to sit on the floor.
This is a disaster zone. This is where Dorton's family is living.
Let me tell you a bit more about Dorton that I know.... he is 14 years old, as I already mentioned, but he looks about 8 years old. His family consists of his mum, and two sisters and a little baby nephew. We have no idea where his dad went.
Dorton left school about the age of 9 or 10 because of some bullying and he never returned. He ended up on the streets. So for the last 4 or 5 years he has lived on and off the streets.
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| 2010 - first time in Brazil and on the streets - Dorton (and Gustavo and Bimbinha - all the boys in this picture are still on the streets) |
I found this photo above and it was taken my first time to Brazil in 2010. I didn't know Dorton then, but there he is in one of my pictures. This year getting to know him and his story and his situation has been very sad. The first day I specifically remember him was the day we entered the abandoned house the kids had taken over, and he was there having slept there the night before (if you scroll back to the other blog you will see his picture there). On this day, we took him for a snack and asked if we could visit his family... normally the kids say no. But he said yes. Since then we have been working a lot with this family.
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| Dorton with his two sisters and nephew |
In April, Helen (my room and work mate) had a dream to take a group of street kids to 'New Destiny.' This is an outdoor adventure camp outside the city. The dream happened and for one day 4 street boys went to this camp. They got to play football, swim in the pool, row boats on a lake, go on the zip line etc etc. Dorton was one of the boys who went. They LOVED it!!!
Since this day Dorton has been living more at home than on the streets. Every time we saw him on the streets we encouraged him to go home. Sometimes we took him home. It has been about a month now since we saw him directly on the streets but we found out instead he is hanging out at one of the street boys' homes in the same slum as him. There is a group that are staying there and it is basically 'street life' but with four walls.
So, to encourage Dorton to stay at home and not go even to this guys house we took him again to New Destiny with two other boys. (This will be the next blog.) It's been four days and he hasn't gone to the other house.
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| Dorton wanting to steal the turtles!!!! |
Anyway, as we have been working with this family we have realised a few things that they need: specific prayer requests. They need a new home. Its not human the way they live. They have a bursary from the government to rent somewhere but they and us have had a lot of difficulty to find a house/apartment for them. Pray God will direct us and open the doors.
Dorton needs a distraction from the street life. He wants more for his life, he wants to change, but when he has nothing to do he goes to the other house or he sniffs the thinner. Pray for a space in the school to open for him (and that he will have the strength to go... he will enter in a much lower grade than where he should be because he missed so much) and pray that he will attend the groups we have arranged for him to go to in the community centre in the slum (football, basketball etc).
The mum goes to church, but doesn't seem to 'walk with Jesus,' so pray for a real encounter with Jesus, for each family member! For the mum to meet with Jesus and then see herself and her family through Jesus' eyes.
Pray for wisdom for us as we visit each Tuesday afternoon. For what to do. what to say. where to go with them.
Thank you
Thank you for your patience in reading this long post. Thank you for your faithfulness to conitnue to be interested in what God is doing here in Brazil through me and around me. Thank you, in faith for the prayers that you will give to God for Dorton and his family.