Ricardo is from São Paulo, is 45 years old and is a resident of a small hostel in the city. He was adopted, says his childhood was very quiet and normal and classified as a lower middle class. But over time he got involved in some bad practices. In his teenage years he began to get involved with drugs (marijuana, alcohol), and with that his plans for life changed. In adulthood Ricardo got some work, but obviously it was difficult to keep those jobs with his chemical dependency. He would miss work, receive his salary and use it for drugs, but today he has settled at the Nhanderu Shamanic Spiritual Institute, and is clean for four months.
Then we asked what were these plans that Ricardo had, which he eventually abandoned because of drug use. He was very interested in performing arts, theater and things like that, but he thinks it will not be possible to pursue this goal because he has no patience to study. He says he will try to find a steady job and build upon it, says he has already worked in the vegetarian market and would start there.
We ask again about this part of his life that was all about his chemical addiction. He says it all started with friendships. His friends all did it and then peer pressured him to try it, and he ended up liking it. At the beginning of your addiction, your life was not so affected. But over time he liked it. Started missing work, started using drugs during the week instead of just on the weekend. Eventually lost control. With this his mother died, he lost work and ended up in the street. Ended up living in a hostel, not to be on the street and get sanitized, have a place to sleep, and aims to get out of hostel life and be able to support himself by March 2020.