The last two days have been wonderful, but lets go back a little further to explain why. So, On Saturday and Sunday night I went to church with some of my friends here. Saturday night was a young adult gathering and Sunday night was regular church. I had told some of my friends that I was interested in visiting some ministries or on going projects in the city while I was here. So, on Sunday at church my friend Levi introduced me to some people that are involved with different projects from his church. One of those people was a woman named Silvana. She does not speak much English, but she was happy to set things up for me to go along with her and some others to a youth jail, probably the equivalent of a juvenile detention center. Silvana has been working in this jail for the past 3 years. She goes every week and a group from their church go every month. There are boys from age 12 – 21 in this jail. The boys are divided into different units based on age. We visited all the units. It’s a little strange that I ahve never visited a jail or prison in the US and my first time visiting one is here in Brasil and honestly at first I was a little disappointed maybe b/c what I really wanted to visit was a ministry that works in the flavellas or slums or with kids from the streets, but I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to visit this place and meet some of these boys and talk with them. I did not have many expectations going into the day, but I did not expect to be the center of attention, but I quickly became the center of attention when we visited most of the units. Most of the boys had never met a foreigner or an American and I don’t think any other Americans have visited the jail before or at least not in a while. Some of them were proud to show off the few phrases they new in English and others would ask the Brasilians I came with who translated for me to teach them how to say thank you or what’s your name so that could say it to me. There are so many things I could say about my expereince, I don’t know which to choose.
I guess I will just share a few. The first was a boy named Andre. In the first unit we visited we watched the boys praticing for drumming for a show they will be doing soon. After they finished practicing Silvana introduced me and many of the boys gathered around. Andre was an out spoken one and he bodly said “What’s your name?” And I responed “my name is Iris” (but pronounced the Portugues or Spanish way). Then I said “what is your name?” and he understood and responed with “My name is Andre.” Everyone got a kick out of this and I was impressed. A lot of times people know the basic questions and they can ask, but they don’t know how to answer them when they are asked the questions back, Andre did.
I was a little surprised at how interested they were in knowing things about me and asking questions about America. Two of the brasilians I went with spkoe Englishand were able to help translate for me. I was a little embarrased at first, being the center of attention, but then I got more comfortable. I was glad that I was able to visit them. One of the boys in the first unit thanked me for coming and said that some people think of them as animals and so they were glad I wanted to come visit them. I realized it was a special thing for them to have a foreigner come visit them and I was glad that my visit was able to say that I don’t think they are animals and I was able to share that I know God loves them and that all people deserve to br treated with dignity.
The second unti we visited was the one with the youngest boys. They looked so young. they were ages 12-14, but looked even younger than that to me. They stopped playing soccer when we arrive and Silvana gathered them around and they willing came to listen to her and meet her freinds. Many of the boys know Silvana and love her. It was neat to see the relationships she has with them. It was hard to think of these kids being in jail. Three expereinces from this unit I would like share. 1. A boy named Wallace. He was the second boy to talk to me and he asked me a few questions in English. HE was so happy to meet me and when we were on our way to leave, I was pulled towards the classroom they have and he brought me a notebook with note in English. The first page was pictures with English words written next to them and he wanted me to pronounce the words for him. Then he showed me the alphabet and then he spelled his name for me. I wish I could have stayed longer and sat down with him and taught him some more wors in English and just given him some more attention. When we were in a big group I got to pray for these boys and Guillerme translated my prayer. When Silvana asked me if I wanted to pray I was a little nervous to at first, but I knew I wanted to pray for these boys. It reminded of the first time Mama asked me to pray in Tanzania. Iw as nervous, but felt honored to be asked and to hae the oppotunity to pray over these children. IT was a beautiful thing to be able to prayover these boys. Then one of the boys wanted to know what other countries I had been to and them what other languages I spoke. I told them I spoke Swahili, a langage from Afric and they wanted to hear me speak some. So I would say a sentence and then translate it myself into English and then Guillerme would tranlaste it for them into Portugese. I really enjoyed this. I thought it was crazy and muito legal (really cool) that boys in this jail in Brazil wanted to hear me speak Swahili and then way it got tranlated to them. I really wished I could have stayed longer with these younger boys.
Next we visited the unit with the oldest boys, aged maybe 17-21. They seemed so much older than all the other boys, drastically older. But I think they had the most questions for me out of all the units we visited. They asked about differences in American and Brazillan culture, about music in America, about drug use in America, about Barak Obama, and about why I had come to visit them. Ia slo got to share with them about the work of the Catholic Worker House in Gainesville and why we do what we do. I would say of all the units we visited the boys here were the most thankful. I did not get to talk to any of them very much one on one, but there were a handful that came up and really sincerely thankfed me for coming and aksed God to bless me or told me to go with God. There was one who looked quite ruff and did not have a shirt on and hand a handful of tatoos and as we were about to leave he came up to me and sincerely thanked me for coming to visit them. I was touched by how much they appreciated me visiting. They invited me to come again as did people from each of the units we visited.
I am so glad that I went. I truly enjoyed the expereince and really felt it was a valuable way to spend the day. I also really enjoyed the 4 people I went with. Although I could only minimally communicate with 2 of them, I still feel a bond with them and Silvana would tell the boys that I had never been to her house and we had just met, but we were bonded together by the love of Jesus, which is so true. The two brasilians i went with that did speak English were so gracious to me and I was really thankful for them and enjoyed talking with them and getting to know them. It is nice to share with each other and to see that we struggle with some of the same things. Guillerme is a student studyuing engineering, a type very similar to what I studied. He is doing an internship in supply chain, which is somethign I studied. It was neat to hear his heart and share our experiences and thoughts about our lives and our futures. I was encourged by talking with him.
At the Catholic Worker House we have a poster on the wall that lists works of mercy, such as feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the prisoner, etc. Most of the things in the list are from Matthew 25. I always thought about the “visit the prisoner.” it was not apart fo what we did as a community, but I used to think about it and I feel blessed to have participated in that action here in Brasil. It was truly a blessing to me.
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”
Matthew 25:37-40
Following Iris 
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