Ever since we made the six-day drive to Recife in 2012, I have dreamed about one specific building in our city. It is a twenty-story building in the middle of the red light district. Slums are often built on invasion lands, and this building, called Holiday, is just that, a hotel which was occupied and taken over when it went bankrupt years ago. Without going into detail out of respect for the population that now lives here, this building is home to many of our friends who work in the drug trade and prostitution. In short, it is not a place you can enter without permission. Earlier this year our team was invited to sing in the lobby of Holiday, which has since turned into a weekly time of worship.
Every Sunday we now make home visits to the various floors of the Holdiay building and have developed strong relationships with the residents. I cannot express how moved I am by the trust these people have gifted to us. Enough so that earlier this year, we were allowed to paint a mural in the entrance way. It was a full day project with the help of around 10 children who live upstairs. Art really does change the environment. One of the inhabitants told me later that every time she sees the painting she is reminded that all people should be free, no matter what their circumstance in life, “even us here”, she said, “maybe we all deserve a chance at happiness”.