After Brazil mudslides, grief and faith among the ruins

By DAVID BILLER
Associated Press

PETROPOLIS, Brazil (AP) — Every day Alex Sandro Condé leaves the shelter where he has been staying since deadly landslides devastated his poor, mountainside neighborhood in Brazil. He goes to seek out others who have suffered loss — and he doesn’t have to look hard. Condé can’t even walk a block without stopping to place his hand on someone’s shoulder and offer a hug, a kind word, spiritual counsel. That’s how great the grief is in Petropolis, where over 200 people were killed by this month’s slides. A devout evangelical Christian, Condé sees it as his divine mission to be strong in the aftermath of disaster so others can lean on him.