Joe’s Posts: Nordeste e ‘Tchau, Brasil’
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009Oi!
Well, hello blog fans, and welcome to what may be my final blog (at least until I go back!) about my experiences over three months in Brazil. I am now writing from England, and after an enjoyable, if slightly surreal, two weeks settling back into home life, I’ve had time to reflect on the trip. I thought it was about time I told you a little about my last three weeks up in the NorthEast of Brazil, as well as saying a final ‘Obrigado’ to everyone who made the time what it was.
So, to pick up where I left off; during my ninth week in Brazil, I travelled by plane and bus to the Northern State of Piaui. It was a long journey (the bus leg was around 17 hours), and I very nearly didn’t notice that we’d arrived at my stop when we did, but I got there safely in the end. And, as a completely unexpected bonus, was lucky enough to meet my favourite Brazilian singer Lenine in the airport at Rio (see the photo below), before flying to Brasilia. I’m sure he feels a whole lot more secure about his musical talent now that I’ve told him his new album is ‘excelente’. My destination was the small town of Christino Castro, a place connected to Volunteer-In-Brazil through friendships with our English co-ordinator Joe Howson. My three weeks there were a fantastic aspect of my whole trip, and here’s how I spent them:
- Staying in Totinha’s house. My gracious hostess in Christino was Totinha, an old friend of Joe H’s, who, as she proudly informed me, has now had twelve English people stay in her house over the years. Also living in her house at the moment is her twenty-year old daughter Giovanna (who is a student of vetinary medicine at University in a nearby town), and a girl named Eliseth, who works as a maid (for Totinha) during the week whilst she finishes school in Christino (her family live in the ‘bush’ - the more remote area outside the town where people work the land). And equally responsible for me as a ‘volunteer’ was Miguel, another close friend of Joe’s who lives near to Totinha, is a history teacher, not a bad guitarist, and great to have a ‘cerveja’ (or two) and a chat with. These guys took great care of me, and I became very close to them, so I’m really grateful for that. I had my own little room in Totinha’s house, the opportunity just to rest or take a shower whenever I needed to, and I was certainly never in danger of going hungry there. It took me a while to persuade them to let me help with the washing up, too, but when I eventually cracked this, I felt a bit less guilty about having three great meals a day set out for me. Compared to what most people in England are used to, the house is basic and small, but it’s clean, simple, and - most memorably - a happy, lively place where friends and extended family are often wandering in and out.
- School visiting. When put in a larger perspective, my time in the NorthEast was short, and the volunteer programs there are just beginning, and so I didn’t have the chance to take on a lot of responsibilities, as in Rio. One thing I did do a lot of however, was school visiting. For its size, Christino has a surprisingly large number of schools for various ages of students, and I think I went into six there in the town, and a further two outside. On the whole, these were a great success, and I enjoyed, with Totinha (herself the director of a small school) giving short presentations about myself and why I was in Brazil. This, as well as fielding students’ questions (usually including ‘did I have a girlfriend?’, ‘what football team do I support?’, ‘what do I think of Brazilian TV / weather / food?’ etc etc) in Portuguese as best I could, talking with teachers, helping with bits of English here and there, taking the register, and, eventually, being forced into giving my e-mail address to whole classes. An eye opening aspect was the difference between the state schools and the one private school in Christino; the latter having a uniform, more qualified teachers, a much higher standard of English, and about 10-12 students in a class compared to 35-40. I also spent an interesting four days out staying at a school in the bush, the highlight of which was being the only male invited to join in training with the local girls football team, but where the lack of proper building work on the school was highlighted during a torrential downpour.
- Other volunteer ‘work’. I did get out and about and do a few other duties, too. In conjunction with some students (around my age) from a college just outside of the town, I did some manual work - essentially just gathering and transporting fertile soil in order to help start their vegetable garden over at the school. I also spoke at a local agricultural meeting, took some trees over to be planted at Joe’s ‘Boa Esperance’ project (a house he’s constructing with plans for it to function as a future volunteer-centre), and delivered some tables and footballs etc with Totinha out in the bush.
- Meeting the town. One of the most interesting things about my time in Christino Castro was simply experiencing the town life and getting to know the people there. They refer to it as a ‘cidade’, which literally means ‘city’ - but we would probably class it as a village, or at least a small town. Most of the shops, bars and the one hotel are located along one very long, very straight road, but there are lots of houses, and a church, square, bank and a fair few swimming pools. Fortunately, and although it’s very hot and relatively dry, there’s an abundance of water underground - whereas certain places out in the bush and within an hour’s drive are some of the driest regions in Brazil. This is probably one of the reasons, despite the basic infrastrucutre, the town doesn’t feel impoverished - the impression I got was more positive, more of a people contented with simplicity. I certainly met plenty of the residents anyway…on one memorable morning stroll with Totinha I must have been introduced to 50 people. There’s definitely an ‘everyone knows everyone’ culture, and most of the families are very large…meaning you’re always bumping into someone’s cousin or another of Miguel’s brothers.
- Speaking Portuguese. One of the biggest challenges that my time in the NE presented was that of having to communicate in Portuguese all the time. To generalise, no-one speaks English; I just met one English teacher named Emmanuel who had a proper qualification in it and spoke more-or-less fluently. Some of the residents (including Totinha) know a few of the basics, and the students of the private school were learning well, but in terms of practical verbal communication - if you want to get a message across, you have to work out how to say it in their language! Luckily, as I experienced in Rio too, the people were very accepting of my attempts, so I soon got over inhibitions about trying, and my standard increased a lot. I’d done a lot of theoretical learning in Rio, so this was a great environment to put it into practice.
- ‘Cultural Relations’. Well, I’m always trying to do my bit for diplomatic international relationships, and so this necessitated -as you can imagine - a few trips to parties, cold beers or coconut waters by (or in) the pools, conversations over a pastel or a pizza, and generally trying to fit in with the social side of life around Christino. We went fishing, and in fact one of the tastiest meals was eating Giovanna’s catch the next day - although it was difficult to admit this, as some competitiveness may or may not have arisen during the fishing. One of the coolest features of the area is actually the natural hot water reserves, which run underground but are pressurised at certain points to spray out of the ground and which you can shower or bathe in. As far as socialising goes, I’m indebted mainly to four young people, and so a special thanks go to Giovanna and her boyfriend Roberto, along with their friends Gisley and Rosangela, for driving me around, speaking Portuguese slowly, and letting me be ‘part of the gang’ for three weeks.
As with almost everyone in Christino, I was made to feel more like family than a foreigner. It’s this unconditional sense of welcome and love that I’ll remember most about my days as a Piauiense. It’s an impossible time to sum up, but I hope this has provided some sort of flavour, and the photos below may help with this too.
-Plants for Joe’s house, and the main road.
-Blending in (spot the tourist in his Brazil football top).
-With Totinha and Giovanna (and note the Tucan) at Roberto’s house.
-Miguel at an agricultural meeting.
-About to write…something…on the board.
-Attempting to join in at Volleyball.
-What a surprise…it’s beans and rice for dinner!
-Some good old soil shovelling.
-Sunset after a day out in the schools.
-Football with the girls from the Lagoa Grande community.
-And the ‘flood’ in the school there.
-The torrential rain didn’t dampen spirits though.
-With Rosangela whilst eating out in a nearby town.
-Another sunset - here over the still under-construction University.
-With Roberto enjoying the natural hot water.
-My one hot shower in Christino.
So, though they won’t get to read this - a big Obrigado to everyone in Christino for the experience I’ve just described. As my final blog, I’ll also finish by thanking the guys from Rio again - the staff around the centre for their hospitality, the kids for inspiring me, Laura (ok she’s not technically from Rio) for being a great flatmate and photographer, Bia/Gabriel/Eduardo for taking me around and speaking great English, and Beth herself for everything she did for me and the great work she’s doing at the project. It’s impossible to thank Joe Howson in England enough too. Without him, I wouldn’t have gone to Brazil, and the Rio project wouldn’t be open today. Last but not least, I’m very grateful to everyone who’s put up with these far-too-long entries, for reading the blog and sending me lots of encouraging e-mails and comments.
Até à próxima vez guys,
José
x
