I'M HERE, SAO PAULO

Right now I'm watching the Youth with a Mission students at the base here in Sao Paulo dance and act out christian skitz.
I'm going to start out though talking about last night. Our third night in Brazil and Sao Paulo. Along with young missionaries here and some adults we took a 10-15 minute bus ride in to the city. As we passed a block of hundreds of people sitting by a cement building, a scary scene, I was informed our stop would be next. Walking past hundreds of crack addicts for the first time in my life the quiet part after the walk was kind of a relief. We were at the cracolandia. Then we walked past a couple of "security guards" through a broken door in to an alleyway with a tin roof. Just past the hundreds of crack addicts on the same street under a tin roof lived many children and homeless people. The kids were happy to see us as we brought them candy. Many people didn't come out to see us, but we all crammed in to this one room where a lady had just had a baby. She was happy to see us as we were with the church. A man prayed over her legs and she was able to walk. God is something that people with little can grasp on to here. God is hope. The baby was cute and the kids couldn't get enough candy. After we walked out of there (all close together) the little boys came out and played on the street. We went to the place next door and stepped under some sketchy wires and over holes in the floor covered by plywood but the people there were asleep. Now we walked in to the cracolandia. The language barrier was probably the scariest part. Since we were with the church we were unharmed but still had to keep our guards up. The things we saw there will forever be in our hearts. We talked to one guy who was skin and bone who said he was there because his wealthy family abandoned him when they found out he had AIDS, his name was Allan and he pulled a bible out of his pocket with one hand and had crack in the other. Life and death. When asked if he wanted us to pray for something specific for him he waited a minute and then shook his head no. A boy about fourteen came up to us dancing and singing, he was happy he was going to go see his mother today (mother's day). Many stories of loneliness and loss hope. It sticks with you. I know it will take a while to digest this and think about this but it is something we can all bring back to Canada with us. People were willing to share their stories and didn't ask a dime of us. One man was telling us his story, he was crying because his heart was stone and he was garbage. He told us money was useless to him because money = drugs and he didn't want to live like this anymore. He tried to be a patient and recover but couldn't.

Of the 11 million people in Sao Paulo 1.1 million are homeless.

After this walking in the main streets to the bus stop felt safe, you could breathe, yet a part of me wanted to go back to hear more stories and give hope. Hope takes time, it's a long process. When we got back to the base one of the guys we have gotten to know over the last couple of days told us his story of addiction over google translator. At 15 he was addicted to coke for 4 years. He has been clean for 7 years. After trying crack once he was done. He was orphaned because his mom didn't care and carried baggage when his aunt adopted him. Now he loves life, has a dream and his aunt is proud of him. I'm not saying God is the all mighty but it's something to believe in, religion can be a saviour. This guy is a genuinely nice guy. Everyone here at the base is.

Now backtracking we arrived at this beautiful place on Thursday. The flight over the city was amazing and I had a window seat. 11 million people live in the city of Sao Paulo alone. Buildings for miles. It looked like someone took handfuls of lego and dumped them on the ground not to be cleaned up. Buildings next to buildings. Lots of colour as well. We went on a tour of the city on Friday and got some good photos from a look out point I will share with you. Our contact here picked us up from the airport in a mini bus and took us to this base in the city with trees, goats, ducks, chickens and lots of friendly people.  It is enclosed by concrete with broken glass on top. We met all the youth and people living here the first day and they have been non-stop teaching us portugese and taking care of us and laughing with us since. It felt like home on the second day. Bonita (beautiful).  As for the weather it is hot and humid during the day wit a bit of a chill (frillo) at night.

There are some beautiful buildings here but many many run down ones. Seems like there is graffiti on everything, mostly writing, some art. Everything is so close together and so different than I'm used to, but I kind of like it. So far we haven't been robbed, but we haven't been taking out money either. One of the guys that took us on the tour had some money taken out of his sock.You have to be careful. Don't worry though mom, we wouldn't go anywhere if it were considered too dangerous.

Tomorrow we will go to Fracisco Morato, it is on the outskirts of Sao Paulo and is the poorest city in the state. Hope all is well with everyone back home and the start of the summer is playing out nicely. Much Love, Happy Mother's day Mom!

Annessa nina :)