Morning Greetings

Rainbow Portrait of My Umbrella
Originally uploaded by Blue Dragonfly Girl

This morning I didn't yet know it was going to rain all day long. I was walking to the bus to head out to Lomba do Pinheiro for the last time...the last time this trip anyway.

The ground was wet from the rain the night before.

I saw a man on the ground in the shadow of the hospital, covered by many blankets. And I wondered, if he'd slept this way, wet and damp, throughout the downpour. Had he been up all night moving until the rain ended? How did he bear the cold? And I saw he was cuddling with a sweet puppy.

He saw me looking at him and he looked me in the eye and said, "Good morning." I felt touched. I didn't know if he was calling me out for staring at him or if he'd seen the smile on my face, but I appreciated his words all the same.

"Good morning," I said back to him, thinking about all the people who affect us positively and don't even know how much their kindness matters.

Street Sleeping

On the Street
Originally uploaded by Blue Dragonfly Girl

A common sight on the streets of Porto Alegre is sleeping men and women who appear to be homeless. Sometimes they stretch out with nothing between their bodies and the pavement. Other times they have cardboard. Often though, they lay on mattresses. I'm curious where they find these mattresses. And, I find myself wondering if this complicates movement from one place to another. Once I saw a mattress stuffed in a tree, perhaps waiting for its owner to return. I imagine it must require effort to maintain possession of one's bed. Passersby (myself included) just walk around the people on the ground, more often than not, barely noticing them or pretending not too. They are usually sleeping and so there is no eye contact. It seems accepted that they use this public space like this - I haven't seen anyone asking these people without a roof over their head to move along.

Street Situations

Passing By People Without Homes
Originally uploaded by Blue Dragonfly Girl

Crianças e adolescentes em situação de rua: children and adolescents in street situation.

That's how the agency I'm working for refers to kids and children who are homeless. The dictionary definition literally translates to "without house."

My experience here with people who are homeless has felt eerie. I'm not alone in this - I recently saw a local newspaper headline about the invisible homeless.

Back home in Texas, when I stop at red lights at intersections, I feel very aware of the homeless people I encounter. Usually, we chat. They have funny signs for busking. I hand them a bottle of water. We smile at each other. The light turns green and I leave. I'm not saying this is enough, or that it pretends to solve anything, but at the very least it's some human interaction. 

Here though, people who are homeless seem to try to blend into the backdrop. They don't look at you. They're very quiet. They don't ask for money. They're this presence that's strongly felt, but still easily invisible because you don't have to notice...Taking this picture was too easy to do because they weren't looking at me either.

I have the opportunity to talk to some folks who work with children, adolescents and adults without homes and I am really curious to hear about their work...