Brazil - Project "Living with dignity"

Living with dignity is a human right. It includes the experience of home, security and love. It is about a place where people experience, albeit often unconsciously: "It's good to be here!"

 

Without this experience man becomes rootless, he does not know where he belongs. Suffice it to recall the parable of the prodigal son. When he literally had nothing left, he set out to return to his father's house. He longed again for a home and life in dignity. The deepest experience for him was certainly the fact that his father was expecting him and came to meet him to "take him home".

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Since it was the goal of the founder of the Schönstattbewegung, Father Josef Kentenich, to create the new human being in the new community and thus to help in the inner healing of our time and world, he has always dealt with the social problems dealt with. This also includes living and living in dignity as a basic human and family right.

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The apartment as a place of security

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A home should actually be a place of security and well-being, offering hygienic conditions, protection and security. In most cases, however, the huts in the favelas are only used for sleeping. There is neither a toilet nor a shower. The hut is often full of rubbish and offers neither protection from the weather nor from domestic violence, including against children. Many of these families lack a healthy structure.

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But where the foundation of the family is shaky, the children can no longer find support for healthy growth. And the result that society is increasingly confronted with today are street children, aggressiveness, violence, neglect and overcrowded prisons.

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That is why the social project “Living with dignity” was launched. We see it as an important task to devote ourselves to the needy families and, with the help of members from the Schönstattbewegung, the missionaries and coordinators of the Pilgrim Shrines Campaign, to improve the living conditions.