Called to be faithful

Mission among the urban poor of Brazil, supporting strggling families and street youth

By Beverley Trach
March/April 2008

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For as long as I can remember, when I thought of mission, my thoughts always rested on Brazil. There was a Brazilian mission team in our diocese in Saskatchewan and they often came to my primary school and told us interesting and exciting stories about their work. Ever since those early years, Brazil has held a strong sense of call for me.

Scarboro missioner Beverley Trach talking with Larisa at the Satuday morning lunch and activity centre set up behind Dona Nilda’s home. Fortaleza, Brazil

In February 2002, I was reading a book by Missionary Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser and was challenged by something he wrote—that we are living what we are called to live. At the time I was working as a buyer for a large company and knew in my heart that for me it was not enough. Again I felt the call to go to Brazil. I did an Internet search of mission communities including Scarboro Missions. From what I learned, it seemed that Scarboro was the place for me.

Having completed the four-month formation program, I began my journey in Brazil as a Scarboro missioner in June 2003. After language school, I moved to the city of Fortaleza to work with Our Lady’s Missionaries. Sister Lucia Lee was very supportive and helped me get started in pastoral work assisting her in the children’s library/literacy project and in the cancer hospice.

Sister Mona Kelly was also a great support and invited me into her area of ministry working with the diocesan children’s pastoral. We work with homeless youth and with high-risk children whose parents are struggling to provide for the family. We accompany about 30 families and our connection with the children is the first step to helping.

Saturday mornings, my kitchen is a whirlwind of activity as we prepare a lunch of vegetables, rice or pasta, with chicken or ground beef for 35 to 50 children and a few parents. For many this may be their only meal of the day. We carry the food by bus and set up in an open space behind the home of Dona Nilda who is committed to helping her neighbours in need. The children range in age from one to 18 years. Some are cranky when they arrive because they are hungry, so we have cookies or biscuits at the ready to tide them over until lunchtime.

We colour, sing and play games with the children and do craft activities. Many love to play with Mega Bloks, creating cars, houses, and guns, which sadly are part of their urban reality. Sometimes the little ones just want to be held and cuddled, which is hard to do when there are so few of us. While they are involved in these activities they begin to share a little of the sadness in their lives. All come from families with little or no income. Drugs and alcohol are an issue and the children are the ones who suffer the most.

Erika and Elane are two little girls who take part in our Saturday activities. Although only three and six years old, they are often left home alone. Their father has abandoned the family and their mother is dependent on drugs and alcohol and can be gone from Friday night to Sunday. Their 15-year-old brother isn’t ready for the responsibility of caring for his sisters and often spends nights on the streets. Crack cocaine and sniffing glue are readily available there and he is now involved in drugs.

In their backyard, Dona Nilda and her husband Francisco chat with Our Lady’s Missionary Sr. Mona Kelly, Fortaleza, Brazil.

The neighbours keep an eye on the two little girls and feed them when they are left alone. There is a strong sense of community here.

In another family, the mother has a mental illness and we have had to encourage and assist her to get hospital care. Her five children are now home alone and the oldest is 15 years of age. A few weeks ago the children’s aunt was laid off from work and is able to stay with them, but without any income this family is in crisis.

Fifteen years ago, Sr. Mona and another community member, Conceicão, began visiting street kids who were sleeping, begging or hanging out at the bus terminal across the street from Dona Nilda’s house. Security officials were constantly harassing the youth to leave. Dona Nilda saw this harassment and often invited the children in for a meal or a snack. She was very good to them, so they began hanging out at her place. Some of these kids and their parents eventually came to live on the street across from the bus terminal. They built small homes for themselves with the help of Dona Nilda, her husband Francisco, Sr. Mona, and Conceição.

Sr. Mona and I are two of eight volunteers with the diocesan children’s pastoral team. We go to parks and parking lots, abandoned buildings and bus terminals—wherever youth are hanging out, sleeping or begging.

Many street kids have touched me in a very special way but one that will stay in my heart is Janiena. She is 21 years old and has five siblings very close in age. When Janiena was seven years old, her mother sent all six children to the streets. She told them to go and fend for themselves because if they stayed at home their father would kill them. When he drank, he became violent with the children. So off they went. Each of these children ended up in homes for street kids but found it very difficult, so most went back to the streets.

Janiena is used to doing whatever she wants without rules. Being confined to four walls is really tough for her. There is a lot of disease on the streets and we expect that she is HIV positive and very possibly has TB. Taking her to the hospital to get her checked out was a battle because she felt closed in and there were too many rules and schedules, so she checked herself out and went back to the streets. That’s where her friends are and that’s where she knows how to live.

Tuesday afternoons we visit the bus terminal near Dona Nilda’s house. Most of the children we see there are under 12 years of age. A four-year-old girl whom we all love dearly goes around asking for money. Her mother and aunt are also there but watching from a distance, knowing that the child is more likely to get money on her own. This little girl has learned to be very independent, but my hope is that one day she will be free to be a child, happy and enjoying life, colouring and playing with dolls, two activities she loves.

Another little girl, eight years old, knows when she sees us that we have pictures to colour, blocks to play with or some craft activity to do, and playing is what she prefers. But she has to sell candies or beg for money so she will have something to eat when she gets home. She is not willing to tell us where she lives. We can only hope that as we develop a friendship with her, trust will come and she’ll allow us to visit her and her mother at home to see how we can be of more help.

I believe that the work of our pastoral team is one of many steps to helping these young people and their families. At times frustration and discouragement creep in and I question myself: Why am I doing this? But I know that our work does make a difference. A few weeks ago, Caio, eight years old, told me that Saturday is the only day of the week he likes. Erica and Elane’s Mom who struggles with drugs and alcohol stopped us the other day to thank us. She said that her daughters begin asking her from Monday of each week, “How many more days till Saturday when our friends come?” So, on behalf of the Saturday morning children and their families, as well as the many other high-risk children and youth, I offer a sincere thank you for all your prayers and financial support.

Scarboro missioner Magda Van Zyl once said that we are not called to be successful; we are called to be faithful. It is this faithfulness that I am called to as I continue my work with the people of Fortaleza, Brazil.

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