Just Another Day In Complexo

Let me tell you a story.....

About 16 years ago a young man aged 14 had been living on the streets of Rio de Janeiro with no home or family to speak of for pretty much his whole life. When he was 14 and a half he was involved heavily in the drug world of Rio. He carried four guns and would threaten people who did not follow orders of the drug barons. One day whilst carrying his four guns, he came across something that he should not have seen (story not fully told!). Acting on instinct he shot an older lad (17ish) three times in the chest and killed him. The police caught him in the act and he was eventually convicted of the crime and sentenced to juvenile jail. After three years he was released. Two days after returning to his home (or shack), the police came knocking on his door. After opening the door, the police shot two bullets into the back of his head. He fell down, remembering that he got kicked in the face while on the floor and shot a further 6 times.

After being shot he went into an unconscious state and lay on the floor for 9 hours before somebody found him. Eventually, when someone did find him he was taking to hospital, where it was said that he had sustained too many injuries for it to be worthy to save his life. He was placed on a trolley and wheeled into the autopsy room. Upon arrival into the autopsy room, he woke from his unconscious state, causing the hospital staff to react quickly, making a decision to try and save him. After major surgery, including some body parts being removed (!) he waited in hospital. After the op he was told that the gun shot wound to the back of his spine, would paralyse him so that he would never walk again. 15 days later he was discharged from hospital, walking ok, but still with three bullets inside his body. To this day he still has those bullets inside him.

Nowadays this man runs a ywam base in one of the favela slums in Rio. He is a reformed Christian who still has major scars all over his body from when he was shot 8 times. He is quite possibly one of the happiest men that i have ever met, yet he has led a very tough life. Today we met Junoir Biano whilst sanding walls, washing floors, building houses and shoveling shit. Just another day and another crazy story living in brasil!