We sit and wait..we sit and wait..we sit and wait. The children and teens come and go. Some never speak to us. Some talk with us. They become our friends. Sometimes drugs and crime snatch them away from us, disrupting our relationship. Thankfully, most of the time, this is only something temporary. Crime and drugs cannot overcome love. We have seen this before. We need to allow things to run their cycle. There is nothing concrete for us to do except to sit and wait.

Sometimes good people have asked us what do we hope to achieve with all this waiting? It is quite a hard question to answer. I am still waiting to find out. At first, I felt little uncomfortable saying this. Now, I have grown accustomed to waiting. Sometimes I see something unfold which makes me want to say, “This is it! This is what we have been waiting to happen!” However, I have learned my lesson. I need to be cautious. I don’t want to grab hold of the first thing that happens to just to show people that we are doing something worthwhile here. We have waited too long to just grab at anything that comes by. All this waiting had not made us desperate. Strangely it has made us more hopeful and joyful. We enjoy waiting for the children. They appreciate having someone waiting for them. Maybe God does not want us to wait for anything. Maybe He just wants us to be. I am not sure about this; we just have to wait and see.

Wallace found us waiting for the teens. Wellington was with him. We have known them both for almost six years. However, Wellington lacked the courage to approach us for a favor. He hardly did anything with us. He was always polite but hardly spoke to us. Among the children, he is known as “Neckless” because his poor posture. I have verified that he does have a neck. He is only known by his nickname in the streets but he wanted us to only address him as Wellington. Wallace was going to be advocate. Wellington thought that we would help him if Wallace put in a good word for him. His request was simple. He wanted to get all his documents*. He was in the detention center for selling drugs. Now, he is sick and tired of that life. As soon as he was released, he walked into a store almost randomly and asked the owner if he needed someone to run errands. He was honest with the owner and told him about his criminal past. Now he wanted a chance to work and leave all criminal activities in the past. The man decided to give him the opportunity. He has seen Wellington before. However, he needed all his documents to work. In Brazil, before you work, you need about five documents from different governmental agencies. The children and teens usually have none. They don’t even have their identity cards. Usually parents help their children to navigate through the complex bureaucratic process. For teens and children in this streets, the very idea of entering these government buildings paralyzes them.

We went to all the agencies with Wellington. It gave us a lot of quality time with him. He told us about his mother who is crack addict. She was never able to do anything for him. He had to fend for himself since he was a little child. Now, he wants to do things the right way. He was determined. He was grateful for our help and relieved that everything went well. He gave us a big warm hug for helping him.

A few weeks later, another teenager Renan came up to us. He had the same request. He told us that Felipe and Wellington told him that we could help him. Renan also found a job. He was going to deliver periodicals. He was another teen that hardly spoke to us. The most significant interaction I had with him was an altercation. We were doing an activity with teens and he kept interrupting to ask one of the teens for drugs. I spoke to him firmly not to interrupt, perhaps a little too strong. He understood that I was upset with him. He came the next day wanting to know if we would play a game with him. After a short game, he got up and left with a big smile on his face. He knew everything was fine between us. It was his way of apologizing. This was months ago. After this incident, he hardly spoke to us. Now, he wants to work. He wants a new life.

Renan asked if we could help with all the documents. He admitted that he was little unsure about doing it on his own. It was the first time he really opened himself up to us. We discovered a shy and insecure ten year old hiding in his 18 year old body. We went to the respective offices and the lady attending to us asked me if he was my son. It was a strange question. We don’t look anything like each other. Besides, a lot of social workers help people with their documents. Therefore, what was the difference in our situation? Perhaps, all the years of sitting and waiting has created some spiritual bond between us and the children that is apparent to those on the outside. I don’t know, maybe it is just wishful thinking.

Renan “reported” to Felipe that we helped him. Then we receive a call from Felipe. His infant son is in the hospital. Felipe just became a father and the child has transformed his life. He started work this week. He still hasn’t got all his documents. One is still missing. He needed our assistance. We met him and he told us about his new work. He is very excited that he has a job. The pay is extremely low; hardly enough to pay for two weeks of food. Felipe doesn’t seem to care. For him, this is a victorious change in his life. He is taking his first step in becoming a responsible father. Felipe is feeling hopeful about life, not just Felipe, but Wellington and Renan. They don’t have to beg or steal or engage in any criminal activity anymore. A new horizon has opened for them. They are going forward. They are doing it by helping each other. They carefully looked at all the resources available to them and created their own network of hope. They found their jobs on their own. They did not have a problem asking the owners stores for jobs because they have known them over the years. They begged or loitered in front of their stores. They did not have a problem approaching us to do the work of their parents. They have seen us sitting and waiting for them. They finally found a place for us in their network of hope.

Perhaps, we misunderstood this waiting part. We thought that we were waiting for something to happen but in reality, God wants us to wait for the children to find a place for us in their lives. They want us to be in their lives and thankfully we were there sitting and waiting precisely at the moment when they needed us. Today, we might be helping them face the challenges that they fear; tomorrow, it might change. We just have to sit and wait and discover what role we will play in the future. In the meantime, the waiting feels hopeful and joyful.