This blog is a continuation of the post titled "Brazil: Histories, Observations, and Toilets."
I do not know the whole story for each child, nor do I know details on any case. Here, I will simply state what I have gathered either from the children themselves or from those who have been working with these kids for quite some time. If I do not know certain details, said details will simply be left unstated.
The girl I discuss in the first paragraph actually has a bit more to her past than I was first led on. She indeed was a fully active prostitute at the age of ten when she arrived at the Lar. Her mom was a drug addict and most likely a prostitute as well, especially given the fact that the girl and her sister look very different. Her mom is now dead and from the pictures I have seen of her, she was not in a good physical condition during her final years. She had very dark and wrinkled skin, seemingly missing teeth, and a hunched back as she sat on a low step. She looked like a drug-addict at the end of her life.
This 10-year-old girl was also addicted to crack and would dress in such a way that let her potential clients know what she was standing on the street for--not very nice clothes, in fact, not many clothes at all.
It's surprising to me, actually, how many young girls I see walking around the streets in just their underwear--whether I be traveling through the city or on the dirt roads surrounding the Lar. Passing through the city I would see many children almost piled on the sidewalk together just sitting or standing around. Two girls were walking across the street in nothing but panties, and some would be selling things from the street divider.
Anyway, back to the girl mentioned above. This young lady confessed that she would be sold to men for their sexual pleasures and even to have "sexual relations" with another young prostitute while a group of men watched.
Upon interviewing this now 15-year-old at the Lar, she stated that her best memory was the day she came to the Lar and stopped doing drugs. Her sister was picked up off the street as well, pictured sweeping the gutter in the aforementioned blog post.
____________________________________________
Another sibling group are here at the Lar after spending some time of their lives with a schizophrenic parent. I do not know much about these three children, however I do know that one of the boy's shows serious signs of schizophrenia and anger issues. He has threatened to kill one of the other girls at the Lar after she denied his request to be her boyfriend and would give her the "death stare" on multiple occasions while sternly telling her of her lack of worth and beauty. He was saying such things while smacking her knee and almost snarling at her during church as she was sobbing with tears.
He also has gotten in many fights with other boys at the younger boys' location where he lives. In this past month he threatened to kill his own brother, shouting degrading comments and bringing physical abuse into the situation.
This young boy has almost been thrown out of the orphanage on multiple occasions, but because the mental hospital refuses to take him, the orphanage directors don't want to just abandon him on the streets.
______________________________________________
Another one of the teenage girls came from a home where witchcraft and voodoo is actively practiced. This has caused some issues when considering watching certain movies or adding certain books to the orphanage library collection.
I must also admit that around Halloween time I questioned what some of the girls' motives were with their costumes. Many of the girls dressed in all black, some even painting every inch of visible skin to be solid black. They wore capes and spoke in weird voices while crawling around with moves that one would see in a paranormal activity movie or a demon-chimpanzee movie of sort.
One of the girls also found it entertaining to flip her eye-lids inside out as she performed such behaviors and screeched and screamed throughout the house.
I understand that much of this behavior was in good fun in the spirit of Halloween--which is not celebrated in the least down here in Brazil--but I am also mindful of their histories with such activity.
___________________________________________________
Another sibling couple had a mom that was mentally ill as well as physically ill and hospitalized for quite some time. Apparently she had escaped a few weeks ago but was returned to the hospital she was staying at. Last night the Lar was informed that she had died and today is the day that the brother and sister will be informed.
I cannot imagine. I will not even try.
___________________________________________________
Another one of the teen girls came over to my apartment one night and shared her and her sister's past with me. It was in Portuguese and so she asked to type it into the Google translator on my computer.
This caught me off-guard because this young lady in particular has always carried a tough-girl, I-don't-care, I-don't-need-this sort of attitude since I met her. Don't get me wrong, she is very kind and sweet, she just lets you know with her attitude that she is not someone you want to cross. She is your friend as long as she thinks you're her friend, but as soon as she begins to question the latter she makes sure that she'll be the first one to "draw her gun," so to speak.
So here she is, typing her heart and hurts into my Google browser. She types and clicks away at my keyboard while I sit patiently waiting and acting like I'm reading my e-mail off my iPod or something. Tears began rolling down her sharp cheeks as she kept clicking away with her two fingers tapping the keyboard.
She finishes.
Not every word translates because not every word is spelt correctly. Keep in mind that many of the kids are far behind in school and this one in particular has recently chosen to cease her attendance of school.
From what I gathered, and after checking what I collected with her (she understands a lot of English, she just can't speak it), I gained a great insight into her heart.
She was six and her sister was only seven.
Their uncle was a drug addict or dealer of sort and she and her sister would always want to go over to her uncles house to get drugs.
Their dad did not like this fact and would lock the girls in the house, maybe their room, and beat the seven-year-old sister. He would beat her very badly and she now has scars on her chest and back because of it.
Eventually they got taken away by social services and brought here to the Lar.
The teen girl now is very rebellious and has almost been kicked out of the Lar multiple times. She has been here ten years--the longest than any other girl besides her own sister.
She has some self-respect issues, I believe, and continually makes-out with random boys any chance she gets when she is taken outside the Lar. She looks at boys, and men, as if they are pieces of meat; looking them up and down on the street, turning her head all the way around as they pass. I witnessed this in my presence and have mentioned classy behavior with her, but she is involved with boys more than I anticipated.
We have only gone to the beach twice since I've been here and the first time she made out with some random boy, boasting of the respect he has for her because he pulled the sleeve of her swimsuit up as it drooped over her shoulder during their make-out session.
I also had to pull her away from talking to a twenty or thirty-something year old man while the other intern and I were treating the girls to some food on the beach at sunset. She is a bad example for the thirteen year old girl that only arrived here at the Lar about two months ago and is following her to talk to such men.
When I pulled them away from the man by gently leading them by the arm, she was quick to snatch her arm from my hand and gave me a look of disgust and betrayal. She yelled a bunch in Portuguese causing some of the other girls to snicker and the intern to apologize to me for what she was saying. I however, was not sorry, nor did I regret pulling the girls away from that man whom had popped up multiple times during our venture at the beach that day.
This young lady has also threatened multiple times to leave the Lar and become a prostitute.
There are some issues of the heart.
There are lies that have been fed into her.
___________________________________________________
I have more to say about the young boy who just arrived off the streets last week and some others but I will give your eyes and my fingers a rest for now.
Thank you for reading.
If you are a believer, I ask that you please pray for these children.
Pray as the Spirit leads you.
Anyway, back to the girl mentioned above. This young lady confessed that she would be sold to men for their sexual pleasures and even to have "sexual relations" with another young prostitute while a group of men watched.
Upon interviewing this now 15-year-old at the Lar, she stated that her best memory was the day she came to the Lar and stopped doing drugs. Her sister was picked up off the street as well, pictured sweeping the gutter in the aforementioned blog post.
____________________________________________
Another sibling group are here at the Lar after spending some time of their lives with a schizophrenic parent. I do not know much about these three children, however I do know that one of the boy's shows serious signs of schizophrenia and anger issues. He has threatened to kill one of the other girls at the Lar after she denied his request to be her boyfriend and would give her the "death stare" on multiple occasions while sternly telling her of her lack of worth and beauty. He was saying such things while smacking her knee and almost snarling at her during church as she was sobbing with tears.
He also has gotten in many fights with other boys at the younger boys' location where he lives. In this past month he threatened to kill his own brother, shouting degrading comments and bringing physical abuse into the situation.
This young boy has almost been thrown out of the orphanage on multiple occasions, but because the mental hospital refuses to take him, the orphanage directors don't want to just abandon him on the streets.
______________________________________________
I must also admit that around Halloween time I questioned what some of the girls' motives were with their costumes. Many of the girls dressed in all black, some even painting every inch of visible skin to be solid black. They wore capes and spoke in weird voices while crawling around with moves that one would see in a paranormal activity movie or a demon-chimpanzee movie of sort.
One of the girls also found it entertaining to flip her eye-lids inside out as she performed such behaviors and screeched and screamed throughout the house.
I understand that much of this behavior was in good fun in the spirit of Halloween--which is not celebrated in the least down here in Brazil--but I am also mindful of their histories with such activity.
___________________________________________________
Another sibling couple had a mom that was mentally ill as well as physically ill and hospitalized for quite some time. Apparently she had escaped a few weeks ago but was returned to the hospital she was staying at. Last night the Lar was informed that she had died and today is the day that the brother and sister will be informed.
I cannot imagine. I will not even try.
___________________________________________________
Another one of the teen girls came over to my apartment one night and shared her and her sister's past with me. It was in Portuguese and so she asked to type it into the Google translator on my computer.
This caught me off-guard because this young lady in particular has always carried a tough-girl, I-don't-care, I-don't-need-this sort of attitude since I met her. Don't get me wrong, she is very kind and sweet, she just lets you know with her attitude that she is not someone you want to cross. She is your friend as long as she thinks you're her friend, but as soon as she begins to question the latter she makes sure that she'll be the first one to "draw her gun," so to speak.
So here she is, typing her heart and hurts into my Google browser. She types and clicks away at my keyboard while I sit patiently waiting and acting like I'm reading my e-mail off my iPod or something. Tears began rolling down her sharp cheeks as she kept clicking away with her two fingers tapping the keyboard.
She finishes.
Not every word translates because not every word is spelt correctly. Keep in mind that many of the kids are far behind in school and this one in particular has recently chosen to cease her attendance of school.
From what I gathered, and after checking what I collected with her (she understands a lot of English, she just can't speak it), I gained a great insight into her heart.
She was six and her sister was only seven.
Their uncle was a drug addict or dealer of sort and she and her sister would always want to go over to her uncles house to get drugs.
Their dad did not like this fact and would lock the girls in the house, maybe their room, and beat the seven-year-old sister. He would beat her very badly and she now has scars on her chest and back because of it.
Eventually they got taken away by social services and brought here to the Lar.
The teen girl now is very rebellious and has almost been kicked out of the Lar multiple times. She has been here ten years--the longest than any other girl besides her own sister.
She has some self-respect issues, I believe, and continually makes-out with random boys any chance she gets when she is taken outside the Lar. She looks at boys, and men, as if they are pieces of meat; looking them up and down on the street, turning her head all the way around as they pass. I witnessed this in my presence and have mentioned classy behavior with her, but she is involved with boys more than I anticipated.
I also had to pull her away from talking to a twenty or thirty-something year old man while the other intern and I were treating the girls to some food on the beach at sunset. She is a bad example for the thirteen year old girl that only arrived here at the Lar about two months ago and is following her to talk to such men.
When I pulled them away from the man by gently leading them by the arm, she was quick to snatch her arm from my hand and gave me a look of disgust and betrayal. She yelled a bunch in Portuguese causing some of the other girls to snicker and the intern to apologize to me for what she was saying. I however, was not sorry, nor did I regret pulling the girls away from that man whom had popped up multiple times during our venture at the beach that day.
This young lady has also threatened multiple times to leave the Lar and become a prostitute.
There are some issues of the heart.
There are lies that have been fed into her.
___________________________________________________
I have more to say about the young boy who just arrived off the streets last week and some others but I will give your eyes and my fingers a rest for now.
Thank you for reading.
If you are a believer, I ask that you please pray for these children.
Pray as the Spirit leads you.
No comments:
Post a Comment