Volunteer in Brazil: The Blog

This time next week I will be at home with my family and Rio will once again be thousands of miles and several worlds away. This has been an unforgetable experience and one which I am glad I undertook. the children here in the project are such a lovely lively bunch that it is hard to believe the lives they have to live when not in the project.

Yesterday we had a party for them because it was Childrens Day. At first there were a couple of games of five-a-side football with many of them playing in bare feet because it was easier than playing in flip flops which was the only other alternative. This did not alter the enthusiasm with which they played. It did however result in a few injuries which did not seem to bother them too much either. It got quite cold while we were watching this and some of the children came up for a cuddle just to warm up this was such a natural thing for them to do that the only person who really noticed I think was me.
After they had all been fed there were some other games which Beth had organised. The best of these was a game that required each child to have string tied to their wrists and one childs string was looped through anothers and they had to work together to free themselves. It was great fun to watch and led to much laughter form everyone. The party did not finish until after 6pm and they all went home with a bag of sweets and I think feeling very happy.

They are a great bunch of kids and hopefully through the existance of the project they will realise that there is a life beyond the slums in which they live. When I met some of the ex-pupils a few weeks ago it was nice to hear that most of them were working and some were continuing their studies. If this project only shows one person that there is an alternative then it has all be worthwhile but I´m glad to say it already appears to have shown many that they do not have to live in the same way as those around them, who live outside the law.

Hi

Beth and I had a lovely weekend in the mountains and the weather was fantastic all the time we were there.  It is a lot like being in Germany or Austria because all the houses are built in  the style of alpine Chalets and with the backdrop of the hills it could easily be in the Alps.  Except for the fact that I dont think it ever gets as hot as that in the Alps.

This all seemed a million miles away from Rio where there is constant noise and movement specially this weekend because of the elections.  I was horrified to see all the litter on the ground outside all of the polling stations and Beth explained that the candidates are not allowed to hand out flyers in the vicinity of the polling stations so they just throw the flyers on the floor and hope that undecided voters will see theirs and vote for them. 

Unfortunatly when I returned to the convent the computer is not working so I am having problems sending e-mails as this one loses its connection every time I try to send one.  So if I havent been in touch, sorry.

This is a country of great contrasts such as the difference between the peace of the mountains and the noise of Rio, and the wealth of some and the extreme poverty of others.  It is an experience being here and seeing for myself what happens to people when they do not have the safety net of the welfare state to pick up the pieces when life goes bad.  Projects like this are so necessary to prevent life from going as bad as it might do otherwise.

Hi Beth & Rosemarie,

Great to hear that you had a fantastic time in the mountains. The next time I am in Rio I really want to spend some time there. Now that I have remembered how to open the blog I am going to see if we can get the children at St Mary’s using it.

I will be in touch - abraco Joe

Hi everyone I have been here in Brazil for exactly three weeks now and have only just managed to access this blog but I think we have got it now.

I was not at all sure what to expect when I arrived here but the first thing I got was a really warm welcome from Beth who was standing at the airport with a sign with my name on it.  I was very pleased to see her as I was not sure what I was going to do if she was not there because my Portugese was and still is no good at all.  On my first afternoon I came to the project just to meet the children who all made a great effort to greet me in English and to tell me their names, which I forgot almost immediatly.  They were all very friendly and full of life.  I tried to help them with the project of drawing cards which they are doing with St Marys in Chipping.  There is one small boy of about 8 years who is the most fantastic artist for one so young.  All the other children were asking him to draw their cards.

Since then I have been attempting twice a week to teach English to these children while trying to learn Portugese from them and from Beth.  Some of them show a certain apptitude for the subject while others do not seem to get it at all. I suppose that is much like any class anywhere in the world.  Before teaching my first class I was really worried because I don´t think I am a natural at teaching but the children make it so easy because on the whole they really want to try and understand.  I find one of things hardest to overcome is the fact that they pronounce the letter R as H and cannot seem to get the right sound because it is not one they are used to.  Teaching the names for various parts of a house was fun because we now all have ´hoofs´ instead of ´roofs´.