Young People Offer "Bath for Good" to Homeless People in Manaus

In the midst of the Youth Week of Prayer, which culminated in the celebrations of Global Youth Day, the Adventist churches in Manaus carry out several actions in the city aimed at people forgotten by society, such as the homeless.

Last Wednesday, young people from the church of Boas Novas, north of the city, set up a structure in Praça dos Remédios, in the historic center of the capital of Amazonas. A cabin called “banho do bem” offered free baths to people; they also received hygiene kits with soap, toothpaste, a toothbrush, and towel.

Andrei Marques, 25, has been living on the street for a year, ever since he lost his father to COVID-19. “After my father died, I was disoriented. When I realized it, I was already living on the street. But here, life is not easy. Sometimes, I pay to take a shower, but I have to stop eating for that, and I can't always,” says Marques. 

“[This is] an action that makes us wonder what we were really called for. We need to take [the gospel beyond] the churches and take it to where people need it,” highlights Fábio Heverton, local pastor.

Even on a rainy day in the capital of Amazonas, about 30 people showered in the cabin, in addition to receiving snacks, missionary books, and prayers from the young people who participated in the action.

Love the Forgotten

“I tried to live with the family after coming out of a halfway house. I thought they would accept me, but they didn't. I had to return to the streets, and this time, with my wife and daughter. Life on the street is not easy; hunger hurts,” says Carlos M., 22.

He is the partner of L. Vieira, 24, who also broke up with her family when she got involved with drugs in 2019 and now sleeps in a pension in downtown Manaus, paying R$50 (approx. US$10). “But there are days when we don't get anything, not even to feed my four-year-old daughter. And then we count on the kindness of the owner of the boarding house, to at least sleep with her protected, but I'm very afraid of the tutelary council taking my daughter,” she reports, emotional.

It was thinking about these situations that the young people chose the place and the public. According to Bruna Ximendes, leader of the youth of Boas Novas, the group had already carried out actions for homeless people. “We were here at the height of the pandemic last year, donating soup, clothes, masks, and gel alcohol to them, and we realized the need for a bath. They pay up to R$2.00 to shower at the fair,” she explains.

The action carried out by the Adventist youth provided the homeless with 400 snacks, 40 bath kits, and 200 missionary books.

This article was originally published on the South American Division’s news site