Bringing Jesus to the streets of Brazil’s megacities BY DEBORAH MEROFF
T
onight, as most of the children you know are being tucked into bed by loving parents, more than 7 million Brazilian boys and girls will rock themselves to sleep on city pavements. Many of them will seek comfort in crack cocaine. Most of the rest will seek oblivion through aerosols, rags soaked in paint thinner, or glue. Solvents are cheaper than food—and who will care if they should accidentally suffocate, or damage their brains, kidneys, or livers? Certainly not the “street cleaners,” those self-appointed vigilantes who rid society of these small nuisances by putting a bullet through their brains as they sleep. An estimated 10 million children live on the streets of Brazil. Some are as young as 3 years old; many will never grow up.Take a walk through the major cities and you will see prepubescent girls standing in the shadows, waiting for the next cruising car to pick them up. On other corners, heavily made-up transsexuals flaunt their hunger-carved bodies; nearby, homeless families spread out their belongings and lie down on pieces of cardboard. Millions of others—a quarter of the population of Rio and São Paulo—crowd into everspreading slums. While most of us push such realities out of sight and out of mind, a few Christian organizations have chosen to do something about the marginalized people in Brazil’s cities. Among them is the New Dawn Evangelical Community (CENA). CENA is an indigenous ministry, born 18 years ago for the purpose of rescuing and rehabilitating at least some of the lost souls of São Paulo. With approximately 22 million people, São Paulo is one of the world’s largest cities. But
CENA has found Jesus’ power enough to transform even the most desperate of drug addicts, prisoners, prostitutes, transvestites, homeless people, and slum-dwellers. Every day CENA workers visit São Paulo’s favelas (slums), prisons, and a 13-story apartment block used by prostitutes. The ministry includes a street church right in the middle of “Crackland.” Twice a week, 150 destitute men and women look forward to coming here for a good meal, shower, and change of clothing. “We started the church 10 years ago because nobody else wanted these people,” says CENA director Paulo Capilletti. “Most are drug addicts and people without homes. But many have accepted Jesus.” Another unreached group in Brazil’s megacities is their estimated 6,000 to 8,000 transvestites and transsexuals. A CENA counsellor explains that men who reject their gender have usually suffered intense abuse by their fathers. “It’s not enough to put different clothes on them,” she stresses. “They need inner healing. That takes a long time.” It also takes Jesus. This counsellor has seen a great number of transsexuals healed after being introduced to the Lord. A few have even gone on to become missionaries in other parts of Brazil. The men, women, and children CENA rescues from the streets can elect to live for a time at their 700,000-squaremeter property in Juquitiba, a 90-minute drive from São Paulo. The farm was donated to CENA eight years ago and is currently home to about 50 people, including staff. Each person contributes to upkeeping the buildings or grounds, preparing meals, and performing other duties. A garden provides some of the food, and a pond has been developed for
PRISM 2006
16