Winter blankets for the homeless in Brazil
Sao Paulo, Brazil
(Translated by Ted Hwang, Northern California)
The night was frigid, and because of a shortage
of electrical power, darkness permeated the city of Sao Paulo.
There was occasional flickering light from bonfires where homeless
people gathered to warm themselves. The bonfires became beacons
for Tzu Chi volunteers. They distributed blankets, hot coffee
and bread on the streets and under overpasses. In two such distributions
in June, Tzu Chi volunteers handed out 190 blankets.
The month of June is in the midst of winter
in South America. A cold front had chilled Sao Paulo several
days in a row. People shivered in the wind. Tzu Chi volunteers,
who distributed 1,300 blankets last year, visited the east Sao
Paulo areas of Tatuape, Saomiguel Paulista, Jabaguara and Saude
on the nights of June 19 and 27. The distribution missions lasted
until midnight.
Because of insufficient rainfall in Brazil
this year, dams cannot generate enough electric power. The Brazilian
government scheduled blackouts starting on June 1, so Sao Paulo
is pitch black at night. Wielding flashlights, Tzu Chi people
searched under each overpass for homeless people. When they
found them, they greeted them and offered hot beverages and
food to warm their bodies. Finally, they gently put new blankets
over them.
W.S., a sixty-year-old Asian who came to Brazil
twenty years ago, sleeps on a bed of cardboard and plastic bags.
He told Tzu Chi people that every day he dreams of the day that
people from his homeland will come to take him back home. At
that moment, he was grateful to the Tzu Chi people for bringing
him warmth.
B.N., thirty-six years old, also came from
abroad. She used to be a housekeeper in Sao Paulo, but has been
living on the streets ever since she lost her job. She clung
to the blanket that Tzu Chi people put over her. She said emotionally
that no matter how cold the night might be, she did not dare
wrap newspapers over herself because someone had been burnt
to death when pranksters set his newspapers on fire.
As volunteers drove out of Liberdade, they
saw an old Asian man waving to them, so they stopped to see
how they could help. The man, who was over seventy years old,
had come to Brazil forty-six years ago from Canton, China, and
had been homeless and vagrant for much of that time. He said
he had seen Tzu Chi volunteers providing medical services to
local people, and now when he was cold and hungry he saw Tzu
Chi people again, so he wanted to ask for help. Tzu Chi volunteers
accompanied the old man to a small restaurant for a meal and
presented him with two blankets as a gift.
There are approximately 8,600 homeless people
in Sao Paulo. The city has established 14 shelters that can
temporarily accommodate 3,700 people. Although the shelters
provide hot water, clean clothes, beds and food, not all homeless
people are willing to go there. Some don't like the shelters'
regulations, especially the rule that males and females must
stay apart. Not willing to separate their families, many would
rather live on the streets.
As long as there is a need, Tzu Chi
people will continue to provide blankets to homeless friends.
