Convivência (Familiarity) with Teenagers in POA

Mural
Originally uploaded by Blue Dragonfly Girl

I have been meaning for quite some time to write more about my internship.

So, here I go...finally.

Since I've left the main office and have been brought into the field, it has felt like a bit of a whirlwind. Often I come home and my head is spinning, so full of images, new words, feelings, thoughts and experiences to be processed.

And so if I had to choose one word to describe my experience thus far, it would be FULL.

My supervisors truly have the intent of providing me with a rich experience. They want me to leave here with an ample understanding of the reality of adolescents in conflict with the law in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. Wow. It's a huge undertaking and their view is systems-oriented. They know that I can't begin to grasp the reality of these youth if I only see them inside an office space. So they want me to see everything I can: juvenile justice in the courthouse, the process of these youth through their offices, the process of community service, the families of these youth, the places where they live.

Writing those sentences fills me with overwhelming gratitude because I have already seen so much and because people have been so open to letting me in.

The region of the city where I am interning has two offices. One office is close to a vila known for its drug-trafficking. The word is used in Rio Grande do Sul to mean the same thing as favela. English approximations of this word include slum and ghetto.

The other office is a greater distance from the city center and is in an area that 20 years ago was largely undeveloped. Slowly the urban poor were displaced from more central locations and came to reside further away. Even now though, it looks almost rural and it's hard to believe you're still in an urban setting.

So, what have I been doing lately?

I have been observing (sometimes participating too) my supervisors as they meet with youth who committed or carried out an 'offending act' (I'm trying to translate somewhat literally here to convey the feeling of the language) who have been ordered to Liberdade Assistida (LA). Literally this means Assisted Freedom. Basically, it's a Brazilian version of juvenile probation and it lasts six months. Sometimes these youth are also assigned to Prestação a Serviço a Comunidade (Repayment of Service to the Community aka Community Service) which is also generally performed 4 hours a week for 24 weeks.

The youth on juvenile probation have to meet with their coordinator once a week. During this meeting, which often a parent attends as well, there's a check-in about how the youth is doing. If they're under 18 then they need to be enrolled in school and there's help with that. Also, they may get enrolled in youth programs. Sometimes there are certain courses available in the city for them to take for free, such as a year-long computer course too. Additionally they may need to do something regarding drug addiction or therapy. And of course, community service might be on the list. In order to get to all these commitments, they are given bus passes. They are also given bus passes to come to and from their meetings with their coordinator.

How are the kids and their parents? Immediately my mind tries to find similarities between them and the youth in conflict with the law that I have worked with in the United States. Of course there's always the kid who doesn't say much or express much emotion, the kid who is always smiling with a mischevious look on his face or appears bashful or slightly embarrassed, the kid who puts up a good show, saying everything he thinks we want to hear, the kid who looks like he couldn't give a damn, the mother who does everything for her son including speak for him, the parents who really need an outlet for themselves, and on and on. 

But, that's just the surface. I'm still learning what that might mean. There are so many other levels and the reality of their daily lives is so different. The monthly minimum wage here is R$500. That's about $270 American dollars a month. It's really NOT that cheap here. I'm not sure how you'd even survive on that, but these families do it. And many survive on less than that. 

My emotional responses vary when meeting with these adolescents. Sometime I have a surge of affection, sometimes I just feel curious, sometimes I feel sad in a way that's difficult to verbalize. I guess it's just the enormity of the trajectory that they often appear to be on, and those age-old questions about how we break free from the harmful cycles and patterns existing in all our lives. All in all, I just am looking forward to the opportunity to get to know these kids more, perhaps even to be helpful to them in some way.

So, what else have I been up to?

A little bit of challenging paperwork that made me want to tear out my hair. Ah well, it didn't last long. No hair lost either. 

I have also gone to several meetings with different agencies that provide community service opportunities for these kids. These include a university (that I'm connected with through this internship), a parks and recreation service, a religiously-affiliated organization in a vila (I'm not actually sure yet what they do) and a book archive. The regional coordinators meet with these agencies on a bi-weekly basis to discuss how everything is going with the youth doing community service.

And then there are regional meetings where a lot is discussed as well including how to adapt to some recent changes in social work in Brazil (I'm still learning about what this really entails). There are more meetings to come.

Today I also went on my first home visit with two social workers and an intern. We are driven to these visits in a van with a driver. This weirds me out slightly even though it shouldn't. It seems that the vilas can be precarious places and so drivers are the way to do it. We visited a husband and wife and their kids in their new home. Their new home consisted of what appeared to be several abandoned structures, with an outhouse (with real toilet, not sure about plumbing) in the yard in between. There was a bit of crumbling disrepair, trash in the yard, yadda yadda yadda. Contrasting this, a line of colorful freshly-washed clothes flapped brightly in the breeze. Then there were the children with sweet smiles and teeth that had never seen a dentist. The husband was happy to give us a tour of their new dwellings. Apparently where they had lived before was incredibly small. This was good living now.

The husband was excessively thin and had tuberculosis. I think he had been hospitalized to try and treat his illness but had left in order to continue drinking. We stood in his bedroom/living room, two of his young children on the couch/bed and he talked about what was going to happen if/when he died. Damn. I wondered what the kids were feeling or if they were used to this kind of talk.

Later the intern told me that what I had observed here was nothing in comparison to what I would see. Still, perhaps it's better that I progress towards the 'harder' stuff day by day. As it was I felt an intensity in my chest that I hadn't really expected. When I told my supervisor about the visit she said that it was good that I see this reality, that I start to see where these kids are coming from. I wholeheartedly agree.

In the vila (or really the outskirts) I was in today, I noticed lots of dogs running. A stark contrast to the neighborhood where I'm living where everyone is constantly out walking their dogs on leashes and carrying plastic bags to scoop up their poop if necessary. I noticed more bars on windows and high metal gates in front of houses (though this isn't only synonymous with poor neighborhoods). But, again I don't think I've really gone in yet. Today when leaving the office with my supervisor, she had to drive through some back roads to get to the main road due to how she'd parked. There were clusters of men on various street corners. "They're trafficking," she said. It was a little before 5 PM. The office closes at 5 for that reason.

However, in case anyone is reading this who is worried about my safety, really it's all okay. I'm not going to be hanging out alone in any areas that aren't safe. The bus stop that I take is on a busy thoroughfare and the office is just around the corner.

However, to leave things on a more positive, strengths-based note, I'll explain the origin of this post's picture. This was how I spent 2 1/2 hours of my afternoon, painting a mural in the backyard of the office with a bunch of neat teenagers who I can't wait to get to know more. There's a youth group offered at this office for teenagers who are involved in the various family services. It's more prevention oriented but I think some kids in conflict with the law may also get involved. One of their projects has been the beautification of this wall out back and I think it's looking awesome. They had done the bulk of the work some weeks ago, but now a lot of details remained to be filled in. I got to help paint things white for example. Everyone was absorbed in their tasks. It felt meditative.

At one point I was conversing a little with a young man painting next to me. He wanted to know what I was doing in Porto Alegre. Was I on vacation? I was talking about how I was here to learn and that I bet they had a lot to teach me, how I was here with them so that I could come to a...I paused, trying to think of a good word to describe my intent. "Convivência?" he offered. It's a word that's used a lot here that I hadn't really known, meaning something like familiarity and intimacy. "Exactly," I said. This describes so much of the feeling I'd like to eventually have here. A tall order for sure, but one that everyone seems to be trying to help me achieve. Already I know that it will be hard to leave.