SUASE - That's what is written on the uniform of the boys in the Teenage Detention Centres where we work. When we asked the boys what it stands for they told us this: SUASE - Sou Um Adolescente Sem Esperança (I am a teenage without any hope)... we are sure this is not the real meaning for these letters, but it was so interesting how the boys interpreted it.
As we work weekly with these boys we see this attitude in everything they do. They have no dreams, no ambitions, no future. They each desire freedom.... from the bars that holds them in the prison, but when we ask them for what, what will they do with their freedom, they have no answer. Or they give the answer they know we want to hear, "to work, to study, to see my family." The reality is that many of these boys even when they complete their sentence they leave the prison and walk straight back into their old life, living the old ways, which of course only leads them to crime, sex, drugs, etc. This is the story of two boys who left just two months ago, one of which died just four days ago from a drug overdose.
Our goal in these detention centres with each precious teenager that we have the opportunity to come into contact with is to bring to them the Love of our Saviour, and to show them that in Him we have hope, peace, joy etc. These are things these boys have not experienced.
In the last English lesson we did we taught them some English words from the song: God of this City. The words were: God, love, peace, joy, creator, King and hope.
You're the hope to the hopeless
You're the joy in the sadness
You're the love to the broken
You're the peace to the restless
These boys are really searching. They are so open when we talk to them about God, its interesting to see how they are more open to talk about God than to learn English. A few weeks ago we spent time praying for each of the boys individually to hear words from God for each of them. We wrote the words on paper and gave them out in the class. Jhony wasn't in the class so we kept his for the next week. We planned to give it to him at the end after we dismissed the other boys, but as we were about the pray to end the class, he called my name and asked, super shy and embarrassed, "Rachel, the boys were telling me that last week, you... eh... gave them... hmm some paper..." I smiled and told him we had his and after the prayer we would give it to him. He smiled.
My heart was super happy, first because the boys were talking about what they had received to one another in their cells and second that Jhony was interested in what we had received for him. After reading his, he was asked if it made sense, he said yes!
It is amazing how God works, and we believe that our presence in these prisons will bring hope, hope that there is a God, that their lives have a plan, God made a plan for them. Hope that it's not too late. Hope that there is still people who care and love them and want to see them succeed in this life! Hope.
