For ten years, she secretly fed three street girls — until the day a black car pulled up in front of her house and her past came back to haunt her in unimaginable ways…

It was a cold, rainy night in Curitiba when Dona Elenora Alves first saw them:
three little girls huddled behind the garbage bin of the supermarket where she worked the night shift.
The oldest couldn’t have been more than fifteen; the youngest, perhaps eight.
They were dirty, hungry, and terrified.

When Elenora handed them a bowl of rice and beans, the girls took a step back, frightened, like hunted animals.
« It’s all right, » she said softly, setting the bowl down.
« You don’t have to say anything. It’s just food. »

Gradually, the three of them approached.
They ate in silence.

This simple gesture — invisible to the eyes of the world — was the beginning of something that would change their lives forever.

 The Years of Silence

Night after night, once the supermarket closed, Elenora would set aside bread, bruised fruit, and leftover food, then place it behind the dumpster.
From a distance, from her car, she watched the little girls appear and disappear like shadows.

Over time, they began to trust her.
The eldest was named Lia, and the other two were Rosa and Clara.
They told her they were sisters.
Elenora didn’t ask for anything more—she knew that, for children like them, trust was a fragile thing.

For ten years, she kept this secret.
When she had a few coins left, she bought clothes in thrift stores.
She found an abandoned warehouse behind a church, repaired the roof, and stored blankets there when it got cold.