FROM CHILDHOOD TO YOUTH: THE “PLACELESS” LIVING ON THE STREETS OF PORTO ALEGRE

The main issue approached in this work concerns the daily lives of young people that live on the streets in Porto Alegre. I have used the expression “placeless” to point out what their reports have shown, i.e. it seems that they were born “without a place to stay” in this world; when they were born, they did not have a place either in their families or in their original communities. Today, as adults, they try to find their place. I have become interested in understanding how they went to the streets, the previous and current relationships they have had with their families, as well as the reasons that have led them to either stay or not in these life conditions. The field research has consisted of observations of those young people’s routines on the streets and interviews. The research was carried out with four subjects aged 17-20 years old that either live or lived in abandonment situation in big cities. I have detected that those young people have to face the limitation of the time with one vital moratorium.