12.05.2004.Brother Manoel Martins - brother in the congragation of the Verbisti, SVD - went from Brazil to Afrika for a charitable service on the poor. His letter, in which he speaking about his work, was adressed to Gabrile Feyler, Director of Caritas European Part of Russia. Here his letter, enjoy reading!
Hi!
About me, I am ok. Now I am back to Brazil and I arrived three weeks ago.
My experience in African was so nice. After some months in Nairobi , I was transfered to the countryside of the country. In the village where I was living was much poor. People are suffering a lot and some of them lack food for three days. In the village everybody do not have electricity and our electricity was a light of Kerosene. To live there was not so easy but I enjoyed a lot.
This week I wrote a report about my experience in African to my province and let me share it with you.
Since the time I came to Soweto I normally visited many people, especially families. During my visits, I meet many people of different tribes and I try to learn more about their customs and way of life. Mostly I spend much time with sick.
Having visited these people in their houses, I have learnt how much they suffer due to strict poverty they live in and diseases.
Due to the fact that I became free and close to them, many of those suffering from deadly diseases like HIV/AIDS feel free to share with me about their condition. Since before they had no courage to inform even their own children, for they feared how it will be accepted by the family and community as a whole.
Having all this knowledge, I felt the need to help the victims but it was not easy because as much as they shared with me, they never wanted me to disclose the whole thing to anybody else, and yet it was the only way to help them. Anyway, to solve the problem, even though they never wanted me to tell anybody, I had to share it with Fr. Augustine who gave me the go ahead to do the research fully.
To carry out this research, I planned to have a group of them come together and share the life together, but it was not easy due to the fact that they never wanted to be known.
To start with, I talked to each of them on how they can form a group, but they did not accept the invitation at all. Then I opted to continue to talk with them privately and as the time went on, they came to accept the idea of forming a group. All the same I gave them sometime due to the fact that I had experienced how difficult it was for them to accept the formation of a group. Therefore I gave them time to mature fully and know what they really needed. Then I suggested that they start in January 2003, which they grandly accepted.
In the basket of the most needy people, I also found street children who also needed attention. Therefore I used to visit them with some young people, we could cook, talk and also have some entertainment on the street with them. After all these activities, we started inviting them to the church compound and there we would have all the above activities together. Although in the church compound, we started having some more complex activities in that we had classes, competitions and some work in the compound.
What made it difficult for us is that, as much as we kept them busy during the day, in the evening they had to go back to the streets since we had no accommodation for them and they didn't have it either.
All the same, this has born a new idea for us that in future, we prepare a good place for them where they can stay and be looked after permanently.
Having these two great ideas that of HIV/Aids victims and the street children from last year 2002, I started to save the situations. This year of 2003, the HIV/Aids victims started off the group as planned. In the group we have many activities, which we carry out when we meet once a week, that is bible sharing in relation to our real life, counseling, course and seminars which I carry out or invite professionals to do it. Since most of them have families we are also helping them to start small-scale businesses to support their families and be financially stable so as to live. Having accepted our status and worked together, we felt the need to have a name for our group and the name we chose is: Solidarity with HIV/Aids people, is our compromise.
Having gotten fully involved in what we were doing, some of the victims became very outgoing even in sharing with other people outside the group, such that even other professionals and well wishers volunteered came up ready to help the victims and they have really done it.
Finally as the group grew also they suggested that they be registered as an N.G.O. by the government of which we did a few month ago and we have already started receiving the donations like food.
All the same, as you know such projects have a lot of faults, as much as I wanted to help, some of the women came up cheating to me that they are very poor. But after the research, I learnt that they were capable to care for themselves, which was really frustrating but all the same, we had to go on with love.
As for the street boys, this year 2003 I have also continued with the project that I had on the idea born in 2002.
As it's not easy to get them out of the streets I had to use tactical ways to get them, like to eat with, play, talk and also spend the nights with them on the street.
Of all the experiences I had with them the most striking one was on Easter night 2003 when I went to visit them, I carried food with me. I had carried food with me so that we can share, we could celebrate our Easter. We cooked, sharing all the duties together and also ate, but not remembering some of those who were absent and when it came to the time of resting "sleeping", what struck me most was their regard for God. Although I had forgotten to prayer during the meal-times, one of them reminded me that we should thank God. This made me feel uneasy until I asked him to pray. So he started it and he was doing a nice prayer in relation to their real life on the street. But when he came to tell thank God for the food which they got during the Easter night, one of them immediately stood up and said: " you can tell thank God for every thing but not for food, there is no thanks for food because I am still having an empty stomach." Everybody fell in to laughter then we slept. All the same the most moving thing is that they thanked God for everything including calamities, which make them, suffer.
After getting more familiar with them, we got a house for them and started living together in the rented house.
Since most of them were drug-addicted, they continued to sniff glue in our absence since they knew we don't like it, which made it very difficult to handle them. So some said openly that they want to run away because they were free to do what they want outside than in the house. Then we gave them sometime to stop sniffing and gradually we had to put a rule and said no to glue in the house which made some of them to run away. Those who remained we are trying our best to kept them busy so that they can forget their way of former life and drugs in particular. We are also putting more effort for them to attend the Holy mass daily and Catechism as spiritual food.
During this period also I had an experience of the prodigal Son. In that one day I was with my boys in the field playing football. One of the boys who used to be drunk and disturbed me a lot, the same one who told me that he wanted to go out to be free, came back and started pleading with me that I may get him back in the house. He said to me, "please take me in and this time I will be better than before." In fact, I got confused on what to do and after a little bit silence and sharing with him what the others are doing as well, I though of the prodigal son. Like the father, I just took him back in and as he promised, now he is a very good boy in the group.
Today also I would say that most of them are starting to develop virtues e.g. trusting, which they did not have from the time they came. For example, when all of them were given money by one SVD brother, all the rest went and ate sweets, but one of them came and entrusted his money to Fr. Augustine since he wanted to use it as offertory but not to enjoy himself. Then Fr. Augustine asked him to keep it and the day after the boy himself can put as offertory but he refused. The boy was asked by Father why he did not want to keep the money by himself and he saids that he will be tempted to use the money if he keeps it. This action is moving others such that they are also ready to develop more better virtues that before. This made me so happy and I give thanks to God for the amount they are teaching me spirituality and in my daily life.
From the beginning, it was not very easy to have the street boys in the church compound because most of the parishioners were complaining about them and even not ready to see them in the church compound. This also made the parish council to make a meeting to complain on how unhappy they were about them and especially me. All the same, I had a good parish priest and he was at my side thus giving me the strength to go ahead peacefully.
As it is said that, "you know a tree by it's good fruits." When they started seeing how good the boys are becoming, today even they have started participating in feeding and even their up bringing.
Another activity I am carrying out is being responsible in school both primary and Pre-school. Having these two institutions, I am able to be more responsible and active in my duties but very challenging.
Finally, being in the same house with the Vocation director, I also helped in the field, like visiting, inviting and nurturing the candidates when they came in the house. I also compile reports about them and it is all fun working with the candidates. This is because I fell in love with the kind of apostolate that time out of the good experiences I had.
In my apostolate in Soweto , I came to meet many realities of life and lived with them better than when I had only the knowledge of them from studies. This I came to know more by socializing with them thus becoming more aggressive in solving the problems with street children and also the HIV/Aids victims thus becoming a true disciple among the most unwanted. Therefore, I am certain that my experience as a whole has given me a hint of what missionary work is all about and has made me aware of my talents and also of my limitations and weaknesses which gives me in the remaining years of studies an opportunity to prepare myself well for my future assignment as religious-missionary in the society of the Divine Word. I thank God for the experience thus helping me to discern my future commitment as a religious.
I wish you all the best. And also I would like to invite you to come to visit Brazil one day and you are very welcome.
Manoel Martins
