Wednesday was a very busy and interesting day, so I thought I would just share a little of it with you! This week we have been working at taking the boys to visit their family. We really believe that the boys should keep links with their family and we hope that in each situation when the boy is ready they will be able to live back with someone they are related to.
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| looking for family |
We left early Wednesday morning to avoid the traffic into the city, to find Bens brother. Ben is one of 9 children, but he is closet to his 15 year old brother Gus who still lives on the street and his 18 year old brother Carl who is in prison. It was Gus we were looking for but after asking several of the people Ben used to live on the streets with, if they had seen him, we were no closer. Several said he had gone to live in a government home, others said they had seen him in a plaza across the city and one said that he had been killed. This isn't the first time someone told us the person we were asking after had been killed so we didn't really believe it but it was hard for Ben not to worry. In the end Ben decided he wanted to see his mum, who he hadn't seen for several years. We called her and she said she would like to see Ben too. The visit lasted about 15 minutes and Ben was ready to leave. He is still upset about Carl but we are in contact with the authorities to see if they know anything about where he is.
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| Pedro's Cake |
I got home from the city and made Pedro's Cake as we were celebrating his birthday that evening. It turned out well and after a bit of last minute decorating we took it down to the house to share with the boys and his family that had come to visit. Pedro was over the moon with the presents the visits and all the cake! Once we had cleared up the mess it was time to leave for the street.
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| one of our team playing Dominoes with the Boys |
We drove back into the city and spent time with some of the kids in the plazas of Recife. We met a man whose leg was so infected from a dog bite that if he didn't get to a hospital he would probably die before the year was up. We told him how serious it was and we offered to take him, but he told us he wanted to go in the morning. We spent time with Alexandro (13) who is desperate to leave the street and wants to come live at the Hope House. We explained the process of only taking in new boys every 6 months but he didn't seem to understand. Its hard to see a kid want to leave the street and know that there is nothing you can do right now. We are hoping that when the time is right for Hope House to take in new boys he will be ready and want to leave the street.
(Some of the names in this post are pseudonyms to protect the privacy of the boys and their families)
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