Andy Roberts working with street children in Brazil
This Sunday Andy Roberts, from G2, gave a short presentation about working with street children in the city of Olinda in the North East of Brazil.
Andy has work with these projects before and in a few weeks will be flying out to take on a more permanent role. Below are some of the photos and notes from Andy’s presentation.
G2 wants to keep an ongoing link with Andy so that we can support him and the work he is doing.
Brazil is a huge country – the same size as the whole of Europe! There are 25 million children who live in extremely deprived conditions, most in poverty. 8 million of these children live rough on the streets, most are forced out of their own families by abuse, both physical and sexual, or because their families do not want to have them or are incapable of looking after them due to alcohol or drug abuse. Nearly all of the children will form gangs, steal and sometimes kill to survive. They become addicted to glue and crack cocaine (cheaply available on the slums) to escape their awful reality. 35% of the 8 million children living on the streets will be killed before they reach the age of 18.
The Bible says that the Devil ‘comes like a thief to steal and destroy’ … and that’s exactly what he’s doing to the lives of these children. He has taken their childhood away from them and they in turn steal, kill and be killed. But Jesus said in John’s gospel ‘I have come so that they might have life – and life in abundance’. Jesus and his life transforming power is the only answer and saviour for these kids.. And the project exists to do exactly that.The project has 2 main aims - to physically save from the dangers of the streets and to spiritually save through faith in Jesus Christ.‘My Father’s House’ is the street kid project run by the church. This is a house by the beach in the city. It serves as a safe refuge for boys from the street and shanty town.
There are 12 boys currently at the house. Many of these are wanted dead by local gangs.. They live in relative safety away from the attractions of the street and gang life. They go to school to catch up on lost time and hear about the gospel from the workers. They go to church and love to sing and to pray!The project aims to save the boys in two ways: Physically and Spiritually. Or in other words: For now and eternity. You cannot meet one without meeting the other. But it’s not all easy going …
For some of the boys their biological Father has abandoned them or physically/sexually abused them, this causes difficulty when we try to teach them of a loving eternal Father! The boys arrive at the project scared and scarred from their situation. They have very little discipline and some are suffering from the effects of prolonged glue abuse. But, it’s truly amazing to see the transformation that takes place as the boys hear the gospel and let the Lord into their lives. It’s a hard process, the Lord continues to heal their scars from the past and the workers encourage the boys to grow into the men that the Lord wants them to be. The boys now have the chance to catch up on their education, play a lot of football and hear more about the God who loves them. The boys pass the night times singing and praying very loudly!
The family is not forgotten!! It’s clear that the family unit is God’s ideal method for raising children. Some of the boys still have some kind of family and so the project works closely with the family with the aim of being able to reunite the family. The church runs ‘Family Camps’ where the boys from the project and other kids from the shanty town are taken away for the weekend and are taught how to be a Christ centered family and how to raise their children as Christ taught. Many of the parents have their own problems – alcoholics, drug addicts etc.. But the church believes that Christ can transform lives leading to transformed families and ultimately transformed communities. The writing on the wall behind the family says ‘United through the love of Jesus’.
That is the city rubbish tip. The shanty town surrounds the garbage dump and many of it’s residents work up on the dump searching through the rubbish for things they can eat or use. The church is there to help and to witness to these people. The church set up a recycling plant to help these people. They now search through the rubbish for things that can be recycled and are paid for how much they find.
The community see the church at it’s centre and the church witnesses to them through their practical ministries and showing them that there is a God who loves this unloved and forgotten community.
Before the church was there people would live amongst the rubbish and pick through the garbage looking for things to eat etc.. The Church has successfully campaigned to the government to provide housing for these people and the church also set up the ‘AUTO’ which is a recycling centre on the dump. These people are now recognised professionals and are paid for the amount of recyclable objects that they collect from the rubbish. Even so, there are still very poor people who depend on the garbage to provide their housing and food.
‘Living Waters’ is a church on the shanty town. For 12 years the church has spread the gospel amongst this community. It has outgrown 2 previous buildings and has a current congregation of over 300!
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Tags: Andy Roberts, Brazil, Missionary
Blessings on you and on the children. Is there a way to give to G2?
Judy
Hi Judy - Thanks-you, yes there is - G2 giving is usually directed to St Michael le belfrey church. If you wanted to give directly to the Olinda project that Andy is involved with or indeed to Andy (unpaid volunteer), please email me (his mum!) and I can put you in touch…