There is a lot of uncertainty that comes along with beginning a venture like leaving your family and home to go to a country whose language you don't speak. Not the least of which is, Oh my word, I have made the biggest mistake of my life so far! That seems like an ever-near concern that I need to keep at bay. I know that I can't make it go away with logic and reason, but rather with experience and results. So I will endeavour as best as I can until I get experience and results or until it all collapses in a heap of failure.
But every now and then, little flashes of certainty crop up from unexpected places that renew my vigour. One of these recent flashes has come out of the news. Like I said, unexpected places, right?
I believe that we have been given a nice, big dream and vision to initiate here in this favela, and I know that it's never been done before, so who knows if it'll work? That is, that I am saddened to see the idleness designated to teenagers as a result of a lack of options, and that that has left many of them with their only influence being the streets to guide their behaviour, their culture and their life dreams. Of course, you can imagine the results of having hormone-ravaged teens let loose to the influence of less-than-respectable characters roaming the streets at night. Our dream, however, does not involve condemning their behaviour, or telling them to change. It is one of acceptance of people, and aims to simply change the influence in their lives in the hope that the Holy Spirit will do His job of convicting.
Recently in the newspapers here in São Paulo a rather large story reminds me of the boredom these teenagers have. It's about events that have been called "rolezinhos" in which groups of teenagers who have all created 'idols' through social networks (fellow teens that post entertaining or humourous videos, or facebook posts, etc) gather together in shopping centers for a chance to meet one of these idols. This is because it would be too hard to meet every fan one-on-one. A seemingly innocent event, however random it may seem. However each and every one of these "rolezinhos" have ended up in fights and arrests. The teens seem to even get bored of what they've organized and start disturbing shop-owners and shoppers with intimidations, pranks, etc, etc. So random. Life has to have more to offer, surely!
There has also recently been a very interesting article about a place in the city center labelled Crackland. No prizes for guessing the origin of that name. It has been a headache for many governing bodies in the city, and they have tried method after method to rid this place of the great numbers of homeless people who sleep on the sidewalks and spend the majority of their lives taking, or recovering from, crack. The current government is now prepared to try something new. They are going to take all of these addicts and put them in hotel rooms on the governments bill. They are then going to give them all public-service jobs, such as literally sweeping the streets, and are even going to pay them for doing the job. The only requirement...the only requirement...is that they go to work, or at least show that they are trying to improve their life (as in, if they didn't make it to work, but it turns out that they were at a counselling session, or some similar self-improvement meeting, then no worries). They don't have to quit their addictions. This is done under the same theory the government has come up with to change their sphere of influence from the streets to a more constructive environment. Families are even allowed to share rooms, or if they have no family, then friends that they choose.
Incredible.
Of course, this isn't exactly an already successful endeavour, either, but it's reassuring to know that I'm not crazy for believing in this kind of dream. It's always nice to know of others doing something similar.
Well, let's see what happens with their project, and, similarly, hope that I can stay on track in my dream to lift my eyes to those in need and believe in others when they have given up all hope in themselves! To pursue after the bored, and be able to have a role in positive change in their lives even if they are consciously unwilling to change.