Rita Maria Vieira rscj who has the privilege to collaborate, at the moment, with a group of the population on the street in Belo Horizonte, Brazil

People living on the streets: their organization and community life

That a part of the population of Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais, Brazil) actually lives on the streets is the result of the present system of exclusion in this country. These people struggle to survive, often with faith and much tenacity. They search for alternatives to get work and to find shelter. That is why they move around constantly, be it in town or wandering from place to place. They dream of some day finding a solution to their troubles. This keeps their hope alive and upholds their capacity to go on struggling.

A large percentage of these people find their sustenance on the street itself; for example, by collecting and selling used paper and other objects that can be recycled. This kind of occupation gives them an important role in maintaining the cleanliness of the place and makes them become collaborators in ecological planning.

One can discover a spontaneous complicity, certain codes of honor, rigid rules and a common language, and mutual help and solidarity in the groups where people gather on the streets. This leads to practical organization and a kind of community life. In such communities which are born on the streets, it is possible to discern a power capable of transforming people, of making them look closely at the world and of wanting to try to make their mark. They regard the world as a place where they have a real mission. According to the testimony given by one of the street dwellers,

“From day to day, there is more union among the people who live on the street. To be a member of a community means to be a better brother or sister to others, by showing more solidarity. When being with the community, we become able to escape the solitude that surrounds us on the street.”

In fact, people who live on the street are engulfed by an immense solitude. All are alone with their life stories of pain and anguish. They prefer not to remember, as they suffer from the loss of everything that was dear to them: family, friends, home, work, documents, belongings, and even their personal identity.

Participating in community organizations allows them to rediscover themselves, and helps them to enter into new relationships and create new ties.
“On the street, while you are on your own, you live in isolation. I prefer to be in a community, to make friends and come to know other people.”

A true community organization opens socio-political as well as economic and ecological perspectives. This helps the people to stand up and confront the challenge of exclusion. Such mobilization leads to the formation of a movement capable of subverting relations that could become mere welfare props. In fact, people on the street can truly become new agents of social life. This prospect animates them to struggle towards political policies promising them that they will be included in society as equal members with equal rights.

We recognize that the organization in communities, as a daily practice of work and mission, became the liberating foundation of citizenship and of the struggle for the rights which had been conquered during all these years.

True to the dream and intuition of Nenuca*, to “bring monastic life to the street”, together with the actual and former street dwellers, collectors of paper and recyclable objects, pastoral workers, friends and partners... we are ready for the “grand liturgical service” on the street, under marquees, highway bridges and on the garbage heaps of our towns. Full of gratitude, we sing psalms, while receiving others, with hope and joy: “O Lord, we receive your mercy in the interior of our house”, amidst the confusion of our violent cities and the painful suffering of your people, excluded by an unjust system and by negligent authorities, while yearning for Resurrection! In this we praise your inclusion, preference and belonging now and for ever.



* Sister Griselda Marina Castelvecchi, “Nenuca”, is one of the founders of the Fraternity of the Oblates of Saint Benedict.