Stories from Vila Dias

Maybe from the distance, you see the slum as a place full of dangers, bad people, violence, ugly and badly finished houses, etc.

I know what I see!
Amazing people with their life stories, challenges and dreams. Children full of potential and energy. Strong women who educate their children with challenges and difficulties.

Today I had the privilege of meeting another story. 

Walking up the hill to come home, I met Silvia (I'll call her like that).
28 years old, charwoman, 6 children, no husband, boyfriend in jail awaiting trial, happy and communicative. Silvia and I talked as we walked up the hill.
She said that eleven days before, she had given birth to a girl. At first she could not remember the name of the youngest daughter. After some effort, Sylvia remembered the name and told us that her father had chosen the beautiful girl name. Due to complications in childbirth, the baby girl was still hospitalized and Silvia would clean the house of a family and after that visit her baby in the hospital. 

According to her: "Leave her there in the hospital, poor girl, it is better not to see how terrible this world is..."

Silvia had a cesarean and eleven days later, she was walking up the hill to work. When I talked about resting after the cesarean section, she gave a good ironic laugh "If I rest, my kids do not eat ..." 

We kept talking, which seemed more like an interview because I had a lot of questions to ask. Silvia answered each of my questions with enthusiasm, it's nice to be heard even by a stranger.
So, I heard about her struggle, her life, the difficulty of not being able to keep all children with her, the sadness to deliver "some" children to the care of others and the satisfaction of working to sustain her home.

There are many Silvias in poor communities all around. Each Silvia  with her own history, struggles and difficulties. 

The biggest challenge is to show these women that there is a better life. The challenge is to help them to break the cycle of poverty that holds women like Silvia in a routine of conformism and hopelessness.

There is hope for Silvia and her 6 children.
There is hope for this girl born eleven days ago.