A obra da rua em África: crónica de uma fundação (ca. 1960-ca. 2000)

The history and evolution of the “Obra da Rua or Obra do Padre Américo” in the Portuguese mainland is an expression, even today, of the visionary and truly inspiring audacity of its founder, and of the perennial validity of the pedagogical and assistance principles conveyed and applied therein. And if it is fair that Father Américo Monteiro de Aguiar (1887 – 1956) should be pointed out as the great protagonist of such dynamics, sowing and seeing the “Casas do Gaiato” and other valences of his Work in different latitudes of Portugal in the 1940s and 1950s, the same cannot be said about the fruits whose African seed was only possible to launch remotely. Thus, in an attempt to weave together some of the threads, perhaps dispersed, of what could be a sketch of a “history of the foundation of Obra da Rua in Africa”, some of the fundamental chronological-spatial landmarks of this “leap” taken by the “Padres da Rua” will be identified. Outside of this analysis will necessarily be the most recent times, on which we do not yet seem feasible a correct exegesis of the successes and failures verified. The hope remains, therefore, that this exploratory exercise will at least make more evident the relevance and indelible legacy of such a project in the history of the communities where it has been implanted.