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At home in the streets January 24, 2010
Voices of Hope Pew Bulletin Story
El Salvador
“For a significant portion of my life, I was of the mind that God spoke primarily through pipe organs and eight-part choirs, preferably in cathedraltype spaces. In more recent times, however, I have become convinced that God speaks most passionately in jail cells and hospital AIDS wards. I’ve now come to be persuaded that God, ever the ‘Nomada,’ speaks in a still, small voice even on the street and every bit as transformingly.” — Brian Rude CoCoSI, the Committee Against AIDS, that in a play on words also means “Brains (Head), Yes!” was established in 1999 by a group of eight high school students from Santa Marta, El Salvador. CoCoSI runs workshops in schools, with health professionals, in military and police detachments and in prisons. Brian Rude is a Lutheran pastor who works with PWRDF partner CoCosi. He tells of meeting one particular group of at-risk youth who called themselves Nomadas, as they have no particular place to call home. He had been meeting with them in a small living room, squeezing in 15 people where six could sit comfortably, until the group grew to more than 20. At this point, they were back meeting on the sidewalk. When one member became ill, the group decided to visit and send cards and letters to the hospital. When their friend returned home, he was greeted by a beautiful mural painted by his nomadic friends on the wall outside his family’s front door. It seemed the Nomadas had finally found a home.
