March 31, 2008
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I read a
book about street kids in Recife.
If you want to understand more about the culture and things in general in
northeast Brasil, I would totally recommend the book “At Home in the Street” by
Tobias Hecht. I got his book through weird connections…while he was in Recife, he went out with
my friend’s sister. So she recommended it. Good stuff. It feels really…personal.
I guess because I am here. Now. Seeing this in front of me.Most of the
street kids are not really that young—many are in their 20s. And all those
numbers you see on television are totally overrated. In his study, there were
offically about 300 street kids in Recife.
If you apply that to all major cities in Brasil, at most you would have closer
to 5000 kids, rather than the 7 million or so that UNICEF and many people
broadcast.But what is
true is all the children you see. Every time I ride around Recife, I see children my brother’s age,
stick their hands in the windows, asking for money. Or washing your windshild. Or
putting a little flower under your windshild wiper. That one got me. Most of
these children are not street children—they are children of the favelas
(ghettos).The book
puts children in three groups—Nurtured childhood children (where they are
nurtured and cared for and valued for nothing they do, but simply being the
child), nuturing childhood child (where they are needed and go out and work. They
bring home money or take care of other children and are valued for how they
help the family. They don’t have a childhood as we westerners see it—they are
busy nurturing others), and street children.Most poor
families could not survive without the added income their children bring in
from begging, selling things on the street, or petty theft. And so…they are
present everywhere.Street
children are mostly the nutureing childhood children who have left home because
they were kicked out, there was no room, or it was just easier. Consider—spending
all day begging to then have to catch a bus, come home hungry, and give the
money to your mother who tries to provide for you and seven others, but you are
still hungry. If they sleep on the street, they don’t have to catch the bus,
and normally, they have enough to feed themselves. Street children are
characterized by their lack of bond to their mother (or mother figure…grandmother,
neighbor…basically, their roots).Nuturing
childhood children look down on street kids. If a street kid tries to go back
home, often they are shoved back out for “abandoning” and choosing the bad
life. And on the street, there is no one to tell them what to do. It is hard to
go back to getting put down after you’ve been your own boss. So they get used
to the street.Those on
the street normally feel sorry for themselves, but at the same time, they feel
guilty. They know they don’t deserve the police brutality and constant violence—so
they get angry. But then they feel guilty for choosing “this life” (as they
call it) and look at themselves as less than human (I saw this when the child
from Living Stones cried and said “I cannot believe you would want to be seen
with me in public!”). so they push down their guilt until they explode in anger
which makes more guilt.I don´t
know if you have heard of the death squads, but it has made Brasilian
headlines. Tobias studies this and found that while there is a lot of talk
about people being paid to kill street kids, most all the violence happens from
the kids to each other…like gangs and retaliation. But police brutality is a
reality…hanging the children upside down and dripping water…or worse…down their
noses.So what do
we do about it? There are a lot of agencies and people trying to help street
children. they are photographed and used to raise money by MANY organizations. but for the kids, they see these people as people who get them what
they want. They come, take what they want from the institutions, and go. And what about the children who do go home–they are looked over. And
what is the goal of these places? To make them normal citizens? To give them a
proper childhood? To get them off the street? To “cure” the problem?They are
not a problem to be solved.The numbers
and statistics in the end are rather depressing. Very few are lastingly ‘reformed’
or whatever the goal is…I guess…removed from the street into a middle class
lifestyle? And about 90% do not live into adulthood. The author says what the
children need is that motherhood connection. Something that drives them to go
home at night and work together instead of taking the easy way of being on
their own and living for the moment. I know what they need…a connection with
God.Amar e
viver, viver e ser real
realidade e ser infeliz
e felizidade e querer morrer
a morte e fim de tudo
mas a vida e tao bonita e bela pra quem sabe viver
e uma coisa que eu nao sei fazer
por isso devo sofrer ate morrer
acabar com tudo
esquecer o mundo e nunca mais chorarto love is to live, to live is to be real
reality is to be unhappy
and happiness is to want to die
death is the end of everything
but life is beauitful
for those who know how to live
something i know not how to do
so i suffer and then i’ll die
forget the world and never again cry–writen
by a street child in Recife
