Changing People's World

Recently, we were pleasantly surprised by the reflection that a student, Giovanna Borsetti, who recently graduated in Law, shared on a social page. Together with other classmates from a historic university in São Paulo – the Mackenzie Presbyterian University (UPM) – she participated in the legal orientation program that takes place in the Arsenale every Saturday morning. Some students, guided by a professor who has been following this project for years, come to give advice to our guests who often find themselves in complicated situations, but cannot afford legal advice. These guys give back their professionalism and in the meantime gain a life experience by coming into contact with the reality of the population that finds itself on the street. As often happens, these contacts do a lot of good... We share, with great gratitude, what she wrote in her article.

«This was my last semester of university and, consequently, of the legal orientation activity at the Arsenale della Speranza. In my first semester, I remember a professor who asked the fateful question: "Why do you study law?". And I said, “Because I want to change the world.” The teacher then said to the whole class, “Students, get one thing into your heads, to avoid future disappointments: no one changes the world.”

Although I admit that my answer was generic, the comment that professor made stayed in my mind throughout my degree and I began to try to prove him wrong. Over the course of four years, I have had the opportunity to participate in services that have moved me, that have made me happy and, above all, have made me understand how there is a lack of effective public policies that can adequately serve people on the streets. Invalid phones, websites that make it impossible to make appointments on weekends, government programs that are difficult to access, loss of certificates by the registry office and lack of support for the reintegration of these people into society are situations that I have encountered firsthand.

On the other hand, I have been able to meet people who actually want to change this reality. It would not be an exaggeration for me to say that the legal orientation activity at the Arsenale della Speranza is part of my family. A family that shares and sees the same pains of the system and that builds a whole network of change starting from the cases that come to us. Together, we all change the world of people.

The great truth behind my search for the answer to the comment made by that professor has been before my eyes for all these years. The search for a better world is not in the generalization of the term, but in the search to change the world of every person we meet. The change is in our dialogue with those who are on the street. It is in allowing them to be heard when society and the State do not. It is in the fact of offering them an answer, even if it is not something strictly legal. It is in the fact that these men decide to tell their situation and seek help. We are so close to the notion of “world” that sometimes we do not realize it! Justice, after all, is done in small steps, in small layers of society and with the work of a group of people. We cannot change the world, but we can make the world of some people change."

Fraternity of Hope in Brazil
NP December 2024