Visit to Taquaril

After the festivities were all over a few of us including me went back to Taquaril, where we had spent Christmas Day, to see how they were getting on. Piers was on the road with another task in hand.

It was quite a different scene from Christmas Day. We arrived at around 11 in the morning. As we entered the small dwelling the stench of human waste was overpowering, the place was in a mess and the children were dirty. Claudia (not her real name) was still in bed, the children roaming around the place aimlessly. She was looking really depressed, she is pregnant and the previous night had gone to the streets looking for the father of her child. She refers to him as her ‘boyfriend.’ She found him high on drugs and after a row he had beaten her and threatened to kill her. She is only 17 and really is living in fear. She feels unsafe in this large and dangerous slum, unable to cope with 3 children whose parents are in prison. It was a sad scene. She told us (well mainly Shell our leader since my Portuguese is still a little rusty to say the least) that she had received a letter from the children’s mother and she had written how when she is released does not want to take the children back into her care. I am sure the children had been told this already as I really noticed how sad their eyes were on this visit. Particularly the boy, he is dark skinned with beautiful big, vivid green eyes – they stared blankly at us.

The only good thing that came out of this visit was the realisation that something has to change in this situation. We managed to get the address of the prison the parents are in and are waiting to begin the process of visiting them. Perhaps we can in some way help them, or at least the mother, to re-establish an attachment to her children. The last thing we want is to split these children up and put them into various Government institutions when what they need is solid relationship with one or both of their parents. We will be working and praying hard for this.