FIRE IN LIBERDADE

On Wednesday morning one of our Junior Soldiers phoned the Sunday School leader, S,  and told her there was a fire in her road.  'It is it in your house?' S asked.  'It's coming', she replied.  S. wasn't able to go so she phoned me and E and we arrived at the street about 4pm.  We didn't know what we would find and we imagined that the main drama would be over by the time that we got there.  However, the street was full of people and police. Two fire engines were parked in the road  and other police cars and vans were parked at various intervals up and down the street.  Many of our Sunday School children live in this street and practically all of our Junior Soldiers live there too.

The first person we saw was a 12 year old girl who no longer attends our Sunday School.  She looked very shocked and upset.  When I returned the next day I discovered that she lived in the building that burnt down.  Then two little girls that had been enrolled as Junior Soldiers just 2 weeks ago came running up to me and I gave them both a big hug.  They looked really pleased to see us.  We talked with some Mums that we know and discovered that the fire had started in the building that was a well known drug den.  We praised God that the fire had not spread into the buildings where our Sunday School children live.  One mother said, 'God was looking after us - again.'  I remembered that in October last year, in the very same street, a shooting had taken place and three people were injured but our children had been kept safe.  I smiled and placed my hand on her shoulder but I wasn't sure that I could agree because we soon learned that two people had died in the fire. The fire was probably caused by an electrical fault and had started in the room where they were living.  Why would God look after one family but not another?

We were told that when the fire began everyone who was inside the building ran outside screaming and their loud shouts brought everyone out into the street.  The flames were climbing high into the sky and someone must have alerted the fire brigade.  The news reports say that 24 families lived in the building  - 84 people altogether - but when we spoke to the local people they said that the number was much higher than that.  In these buildings each family lives in one room and they share a toilet and shower with the other families.  There is a shared sink in the corridor which they use to wash clothes and prepare food.  Somebody realised that there were two people still in the building - an old lady of 94 and her great grand son aged 6.  The boy's grandfather ran back into the building to rescue them but he was pushed back by the flames and he is now in ITU fighting for his life. Sadly, the old lady and little boy died.   There was a story going round that someone had told the boy to run but he wouldn't leave his great grandmother who was too ill to walk and he died in her arms. 

While we were there we watched as the police positioned a white van in front of the building and I realised that they were there to remove the bodies.  E,  moved away and I followed her.  We crossed the road and continued talking to people that we knew.  We walked down the street in the direction in which we had come and about 500 yards from the scene of the fire we saw a small group of women sitting outside a small warehouse on the opposite side of the road.  I assumed they were just onlookers but these women seemed more distressed than anyone else we had seen.  Their eyes were red and raw.  E. placed her hand on the shoulder of the lady sitting at the end of the row and said, 'Ok?'  The lady just looked at her and I said, 'It looks like she wants to talk', so we stopped and discovered that it was her mother and grandson that had died in the fire. Her name was G. and E. knew her because she always talked to her when she came to collect the children for Sunday School (our church does a walking bus every Sunday morning to bring children to Sunday School).   The little boy who had died had attended our Sunday School for the first time three weeks ago and E. had walked him there and back.

People were asking G if she wanted to go and see the bodies as they were taken out but she didn't want to.  A tall, thin man came and shouted his own version of 'comfort' at her, 'It's done now', he said, 'Don't cry, I've lost people, we've all lost people - be strong.  God will make you strong,' and then he walked off.  I looked at her and said, 'You can cry if you want to' (if she couldn't cry then, when can she cry?) I held her hands and prayed as the bodies were taken out of the building and loaded into the van.  I prayed that God would receive her loved ones into His hands and that He would bring comfort and peace to her in this devastating moment.  After we prayed a man with a notebook came and asked her questions.  He was a reporter and the story appeared in the newspapers and TV that evening.  I noticed that G. was still holding a plastic bag in her hand with a bottle of coke and other bits and pieces that she had bought at the shop that morning after taking two other grand children to the nursery.   She showed us a piece of paper that she had been given by the local council - it entitled her to 2 food parcels, 2 blankets, a mattress and something else.  Every person displaced by the fire had been offered a bed in a hostel but no-one wanted to sleep in a hostel.  G. told us that she would be sleeping in the small warehouse on a mattress that night. E. and I had to leave but promised G.we would return again soon. 

P (my husband) and I returned to the road the next day and we brought with us two people who work for The Salvation Army Social Project (Tres Coracoes) that is based in the same building as our church.  I wondered how we would find G. and we planned to ask the people on the street to help us but it was easier than we had imagined because when we arrived G. was sitting in the exact same place as the day before.  She took us into the small warehouse where the families were storing their furniture and belongings that had survived the fire.  We took information from her and another man who had also lost his home and a Project worker took G's son and the man back to the Project building to have a shower and collect clothes and a mattress and other things they might need.  I collected contact details from 7 families and the Project worker gave out slips of paper to the families to authorise them to enter the Family Project. This will entitle them to help and assistance starting next Saturday and will continue throughout the next year.

This is the second fire that has affected our Sunday School families. The first one occured in a different road at the beginning of January but was also caused by an electrical fault.  Fortunately, no-one was injured but many families lost everything they owned including their home. Our church has tried to help them the best we can and some of the families have taken part in the Tres Coracoes Family Project this year.

The children living in these slums are more likely to drop out of school, be abused or die in a fire because of the conditions in which they live.  Not far from these slum dwellings there are children living in high rise apartments in gated communities, with 24 / 7 security, a swimming pool, games room and so much more.  I feel uneasy about this - not that some children are living in comfort because that is a good thing but that some children are not.   I wonder how we can tolerate this inequality?  I am challenged to consider what it is that motivates me in life - am I striving to create a comfortable life for myself or should I work to improve the unacceptable conditions that many children live in?  Inequality in society has raised these questions throughout the centuries but I find it sad and strange that in these modern times that this inequality and injustice still exists.  I don't believe in a meritocracy where it is said that those who work hard receive greater rewards.  I believe this is a myth created by those who want to perpetuate the inequality which works in their favour and I believe that society often rewards those who have not worked as hard as those who remain in poverty.  I am fully aware that both the problem and the solution to the issue of poverty is complex but I would like to suggest that the solution will only come when we all agree that we cannot tolerate the existence of poverty any more. Every child deserves to have food, shelter, clothing, access to health care and good education in order to give them a good start in life and I think their parents and other family members deserve their basic human needs to be met too.