Street Children in Brazil

Ministering to the Children at Risk

São Paulo

The city of São Paulo, named after Saint Paul, is the third largest city in the world with a population of around 21 million people.  It is a complex city filled with many contrasts and extremes.

Brazil is a wealthy country with many natural resources.  The city of São Paulo is the financial and industrial center of Brazil, producing 60% of all the manufactured goods in all of South America.  There are many modern facilities, including a subway system, shopping malls, huge supermarkets, all which demonstrate the wealth of this city.  One of the principal problems of this beautiful nation is the inequality in the distribution of the wealth.  Only five percent of the population owns 90% of the wealth.  The small upper class is very wealthy, and the vast majority of the population is very poor, making less than U$ 200.00 a month.  The middle class is very small and shrinking with the economic difficulties.

In the midst of great wealth there is also extreme poverty.  Eight million people in the city of São Paulo live in the favelas, which are squatter settlements where poor people invade a vacant piece of land and build make-shift shacks.  Three million children in São Paulo go to bed hungry every night.  Around 250,000 people make their living going through the trash and recycling products.  The challenges of ministry in this context are tremendous.

Street Children

There are approximately 700,000 children that spend the majority of their time on streets of São Paulo, Brazil.  It is estimated that there are around eight million total street children, or more properly called “children at risk”, in all of Brazil.  This phenomenon is not isolated in the cities of Brazil, but is a problem in most Latin American cities and even around the world.

Not all of these children are abandoned or parent-less, but most of them are gradually forced out on the streets due to complex situations.  Some have homes where they go at night, but they choose to spend their days on the streets instead of going to school or staying home.  After experiencing the “freedom” on the streets with the absence of any authority figure, and in an effort to flee severe problems in the home, the children gradually become more and more accustomed to the streets and eventually end up living there full-time.

The term “children at risk” or “street children” also includes adolescents.  The ages of these children living on the streets range from newborn infants to 18 year old adolescents.

Where do they come from? 

The street children come from all over Brazil.  Many of them are  runaways, children at risk, rebellious, abused, and suffering from various other traumas.  The children who originally are from the city of São Paulo generally come from the favelas.  These areas of squatter settlements scattered throughout the city are breeding grounds for drugs, crime, and violence.  Poor people migrating to São Paulo from other parts of Brazil come to seek better jobs and a better economic situation.  Most of them are migrants from agricultural areas without the job skills needed in an urban area.  They tend to have large families and very little education.  Over 100 families a day migrate to the city of São Paulo.  When they arrive in the city, they find that the jobs are not as easy to find as they expected.  Large groups of poor people will invade a vacant piece of land and build overnight a large settlement of wooden and cardboard shacks.  The water and electricity is stolen from the city lines, and there are no sewer facilities.  Open sewers descend through ditches on the streets of the community, bringing sickness and infant mortality.  These areas are ruled by the drug lords, and it is very difficult for the police to penetrate these areas guarded by men and boys welding machine guns at the entrances.

            In this environment, the young girls are forced into prostitution by the drug lords beginning as early as the age of twelve to thirteen under the threat of harming her family.  The girls suffer all manner of abuse, and are nearly always forced to become drug and crack addicts.  The drug lords and drug gangs are ruthless.  For most young girls in this situation, there is no way out.

            The young boys are first used as guards to watch out for police entering the neighborhood.  By flying a white kite near the entrances to the favela, the drug gangs are warned that a squadron of police are entering to search for guns, criminals and drugs.  When the young boys prove that they can be trusted, they are given guns.  The young boys are nearly always armed and dangerous, carrying either a gun or a knife hidden under their belts.  The boys are used to deal drugs and to assassinate people because they will receive a lesser jail sentence if caught by the police.  They nearly always become drug users.  Glue sniffing and addiction to crack is especially popular.  It is common to see 7 to 8 year old boys and girls on the street sniffing shoe glue out of a plastic sack.  At first, it is done to kill the hunger pains, but it later becomes a destroying addiction.  The young men are also forced into homosexuality and sexual abuse by the older boys and those involved in the drug ring.

What is their home life like?

The children in the favelas tend to become children at risk.  In many cases, the parents are drug addicts and alcoholics who force their children onto the streets to beg for money to support their addictions.  At times they even “rent” the neighborhood children to beg for money.  The money given to the children begging on the street corners and at the traffic lights never goes directly to the children.  The money is taken away by the parents to support their addictions, or older children beat them up and steal the money.  When the children do not bring home the money that the parent was expecting, the children are beaten.  The pattern grows until physical and sexual abuse becomes commonplace in the home.  The abused and mistreated children observe other children living on the streets with relative freedom from constant beatings.  They begin considering the possibility of living out on the streets.  To avoid the constant crisis in the home, the children stay out longer and longer on the streets until they eventually do not go home and end up living on streets with others.

What about abandoned children?

Extremely poor parents with large families struggle to survive and to provide for their families.  The crisis becomes overwhelming, especially when the parents are alcoholics or drug users and become unemployed at the same time.  Because of their poverty and ignorance, they sometimes decide to let others take care of their children.  They assume that the children are better off on the streets, or with some government agency or some compassionate family.  They will take their small children to the city streets during a busy day, lose them in crowd and abandon them.  I have personally seen one year-old infants, even three year old children that have been abandoned by their parents on the streets.  Most often, the other kids on the street pick them up and “adopt” them.

Another problem of growing concern is that the street kids are now having their own children and raising their own infants on the streets.  It is not uncommon to see twelve and thirteen year old girls either pregnant or carrying their infants on the streets.  Even more shocking is to hear eye-witness accounts of the mothers holding up the plastic bags filled with glue to their baby’s face so that they will stop crying.

It is important to know that only a small percentage of the children living on the streets are actually abandoned.  Most of them are there because of the other factors that we have mentioned.  The vast majority of the children at risk do have families, but they spend only their sleeping hours at home and the rest of the time on the streets to avoid the problems at home.

Life on the streets: 

Survival Tactics

Once on the streets, the children and adolescents will sleep on the subway vents or other semi-heated areas to keep warm at night.  They wrap themselves in blankets donated by the city government or by churches.  A blanket-covered mass of children can often be seen in the early mornings, gathered together for warmth and for protection.  Throughout the days and nights, the children tend to group together, often with older men as protectors.  Unfortunately, these older men also use them for sexual and other favors.  During the day, the children spread out throughout the community, stealing from stores, picking pockets, robbing from homes, and searching for food out of trash cans.

Crime: 

In this context, the children suffer tremendous consequences and traumas.  The children left to themselves on the street suffer rape and rape each other.  They are used for drug dealing, and become users themselves with glue, crack, and cocaine.  Child prostitution is rampant in Brazil, Brazil being infamously being ranked as the 1st in the world in child prostitution.  The prostitution rings include both girls and boys as early as 7 to 10 years old.  Most of the girls are pregnant by age 12 or 13, thus multiplying the number of infants and children on the streets.

Revolt and rebellion: 

Rejection by their parents and society brings revolt and trauma to the lives of these children.  The constant abuse brings anger and resentment which only increases out on the streets.  The children do not feel protected or respect for authorities because it is most often the police and other authorities that abuse them.  In fact, the police beat them constantly and treat them badly to try to force them to go back to their homes.  Because of their revolt and anger, the young boys will kill and murder without any conscience once they are armed.  They are full of hate and distrusting of everyone. They repeat the cycle of abuse and violence.  Their innocence is gone, and they become malicious.

Death squads: 

News reports have informed the world concerning deaths of around 50 to 60 street children and adolescents each month in São Paulo, and around 1,000 throughout Brazil.  Some of these deaths are caused by other street children and adolescents.  At times, business people hire assassins or death squads (some of which were ex-policemen) to rid the streets of the children who were stealing from their stores and driving away the customers.  However, the reason for this drastic action was not just because of the stealing.  Rather, the greater reason is the fear in all of the community concerning what these young men will become as they get older.  After living on the streets for three months or more, they become dangerous criminals.  By the time they are from 15 to 17 years old, they are the most violent and dangerous criminals because they do not have a conscience.  There does not seem to be any justice for punishing these violent criminals since the jails are filled beyond capacity and the criminals are often set free.

  It is important to note that the reason that the street children and adolescents are being killed is not because Brazilians do not love children.  It is because of the fear of what the young men will become in the future. 

Ministry to Children at Risk:

What can be done?

The government agencies that serve to house and control the delinquents are many times worse than the streets.  There are constant reports of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse by workers and the older children.  The young children are placed with the older adolescents that are already violent criminals, and the younger children are taught all the wrong things.  These agencies are called “schools for criminals” since the delinquents usually emerge from the program worse than when they entered.  Rebellions at these facilities are common, are often result in the loss of lives.

Some religious groups are working with the children at risk.  The largest group is  the Spiritists, which only leads to further spiritual bondage and demonic possession.  There are Evangelical ministries and churches reaching out to the street children, but there are not enough workers and ministries to provide for the ever-increasing number of street children.

Ministry with the street children is very difficult and complex.  It can even be frustrating and discouraging.  The children cannot be taken off of the streets and directly into your home.  You will almost certainly return home after a few days to find yourself robbed of everything you own!  Because of the survival tactics they develop on the streets, they learn to be malicious, deceitful, and advantage seekers.  They are distrusting of everyone, especially any authority figure or adult.  They will not tell you their true name, where they came from, where they lived, or any other personal information because they do not want to be turned into the police and sent home.  They have difficulty expressing what they have been through and what they feel.  In order to minister to them, it takes a great deal of time and patience to develop trust.  Workers have to go out on the streets and spend time with them to develop a type of friendship.

The children at risk suffer various types of severe trauma.  They can often erupt in anger, frustration, bitterness, resentment, and violent behavior.  They may even repeat the abusive behavior that they once suffered.  They are very difficult cases and the treatment is difficult.  The children go through many regressions and setbacks.  It is very hard to break the bondage of the streets and to return to any type of disciplined, family life.  The children need spiritual, emotional, and physical healing.  They often need spiritual deliverance from demonic powers.  Christ can change lives!

There are a variety of ministries in Brazil that work with the children at risk using a variety of methods.  The basic steps to this type of outreach are as follows.   The first step is to establish a contact and developing trust with the street children.  Through this relationship, the workers can discover children that really desire to leave the streets.  It is a fact that not all the children desire a change or are ready for the change.  If they do not want to leave the streets, they cannot be forced to.  One group that we networked with in the past also takes the children to a youthmed the world concerning deaths of around 50 to 60 street children and adolescents each month in São Paulo, and around 1,000 throughout Brazil.  Some of these deaths are caused by other street children and adolescents.  At times, business people hire assassins or death squads (some of which were ex-policemen) to rid the streets of the children who were stealing from their stores and driving away the customers.  However, the reason for this drastic action was not just because of the stealing.  Rather, the greater reason is the fear in all of the community concerning what these young men will become as they get older.  After living on the streets for three months or more, they become dangerous criminals.  By the time they are from 15 to 17 years old, they are the most violent and dangerous criminals because they do not have a conscience.  There does not seem to be any justice for punishing these violent criminals since the jails are filled beyond capacity and the criminals are often set free.

  It is important to note that the reason that the street children and adolescents are being killed is not because Brazilians do not love children.  It is because of the fear of what the young men will become in the future. 

Ministry to Children at Risk:

What can be done?

The government agencies that serve to house and control the delinquents are many times woid family breakdown.  Since the majority of the families at risk are from the favelas or are new migrants to the city, there must be aggressive and urgent evangelism to reach and minister to these families.  Social and governmental programs will not work.

How Can I Help?

Workers Needed:

We presently have 27 children housed on a seven acre property in São Paulo purchased in 2002.  The property is composed of a sports complex with an adjacent property containing the four homes for children.  Various workers are needed for evangelism, temporary house parents, cooks, professional training, and other important ministries. 

The Church of God in Brazil has an orphanage near Brasilia that was built principally through funds raised by the Women’s Ministries.  Volunteer, self-supported workers are needed at these facilities to develop various ministries and to provide technical training to the children.  Another home for children is being developed in Recife.  We also need workers in Rio de Janeiro and other large cities where the problem is the greatest.  The need is great because the numbers continue to increase.  COME AND HELP US!  If you can’t come, PRAY that God will raise up laborers!