Volunteer in Brazil: The Blog

Bom dia / boa tarde / boa noite, wherever you are!

Due to general business, and various conference groups using the computers here at the centre, blogging time has once again been short! Wanting to stick to my weekly routine, I owe you two blogs at the moment, and week seven will follow this one as soon as is bloggably possible. For now, here’s a retrospective look at Week 6…

-Slum Problems. Week 6 was when the problems with violence in the favelas here in Santa Teresa really came to the fore. Laura alluded to this in her post, and Joe Howson and Beth furthered her account well - so for more information see that last post and the comments. As a quick summary of a complicated situation (about which I’m no expert), the basic position is that in virtually all of Rio’s favelas, there is a constant tension between the police, and those (many) residents who work in the (lucrative and illegal) drugs trafficking trade. This is a sort of constant underground civil war, which climaxes in serious violence when the police attempt to ‘invade’ a favela in order to combat particular dealers, or to confiscate actual stores or drugs or weapons etc. The most serious problem is that the unit of police that generally invade the slums are the unit that is legally allowed to kill suspects without arrest/detention. Combine this with the facts that the police are not totally trustworthy and that the drugs trade have their own weapons to fight back with, and you have a toxic situation. In this week, such an invasion took place in the favela opposite the centre here, and all the children from the project stayed home on one day, and many stayed home the next. As Beth and Joe have said, the personal danger to myself and Laura is minimal - the convent here is very high, secure, and is respected neutral territory. We are not in direct danger from the police, and whilst gunshots, when they do come, are clearly audible, the favelas, in reality, are very contained environments. But it does vividly highlight the very need for the project to exist. With the money and ’glamour’ involved, it is easy to see how young people from the favelas are attracted to work with the drugs trade. The reason they shouldn’t, even apart from the morality and effects of drug use, is that they are likely to be killed in their young twenties, or at least be arrested long-term.  With regard to this, the most practical aim of the project is to equip the kids with the skills to find an alternative lifestyle to being employed with drugs trafficking, as well as giving them the critical ability to want to.

-Volleyball’s in fashion. Even throughout violent times, the resilient attitude of the kids comes through, and they seem to enjoy sport as much as ever. During this week, we played a lot of volleyball next to the project classrooms, which was good fun, and I received some much needed intensive training. I was more tentative about joining in with their, shall we say, ‘hi-paced’ version of dodgeball, but I eventually got the hang of this too, at least, the dodging part…

-Chocolate Pizza. Ok, on a thoroughly lighter note, in Week 6 Laura and I (notice that grammar, Mum?) experienced our first chocolate pizzas…hurrah! We ate at a place called Parmê, and our selection of delicious ’sweet’ Pizza slices (white/milk/dark chocolate, ice cream, banana etc) followed an equally ravishing main course of more standard savoury varieties. At a funky little outlet called Boomerang Mix (pronounced, Brazilian style, as Boomerangee Meeess), I also had a tasty Banana/Cheese/Cinnamon toastie…extremely normal here - would UK readers think this strange?

Trip to the beach + seafood treats.Beth was, at the weekend, kind enough to take us to a beach just outside of the city, and we enjoyed Bia coming along too. The weather wasn’t perfect, but we made the most of it whilst there, swimming/being buried by waves in the sea, as well as sun bathing (just, not with that much sun) and, obviously, I played a little bit of frisbee on the edge of the water. Afterwards, we went and had some good n’ fresh seafood in a semi-open-air restaurant, soaked in the ambiance and rounded it off with some small locally made ’sweets’ (various small, very sweet, typically Brazilian cakes). Perhaps Beth could help me out on a better description, as well as the name of the beach?  

Mass in the Church of St. Benedict.Well, technically, this city church is actually the ‘chapel’ of the ‘monastery’ of St. Benedict (Mosteiro de São Bento), but that goes without saying. Typical of the larger churches built in Brazil’s colonial times, it’s plain in grey and white stone on the outside, yet stunningly grand on the inside, with gold baroque detail running uninterrupted around the walls and the altar. But that’s pretty obvious too, really. Anyway, each Sunday, one of the Masses there is said with all the traditional, Latin, Gregorian chants incorporated, and so this was a very interesting experience - and a mass said half in Latin and half in Portuguese certainly kept us on our toes.

Ok, a few choice photos:

-Laura enjoys the prospect of a mixed chocolate pizza.

-With our sweet (’Doces’) Pizzas.

-Relaxed atmosphere at the Beach.

-Beach again.

-Altar at the Church.

-Looking above.

-More Baroque detail.

-One of Laura’s shots from further out.

-Sadly, all I know is that this is…a door!

-Another Church we looked into in the ‘Central’ district.

-And from the side…

In reply to the comments from Week 5; I’m not sure what Lenine would think, Mum, about you trying to replicate either his outfits or his musical genius, John will try and sneak you some Guarana back, Jen I will get in touch about that skyping possibility, and Parleck fell…”what the ….”? Everyone - thanks for reading! Appreciate it as always!

Tchau,

Joe

x

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