Postscript

I continued to ponder how you might spell Heny (my spelling), the name of Marina's guitar player boyfriend. Vini, our house manager, has known him since college, so on the way to the airport Sunday morning I inquired about the spelling. Vini said, " It's spelled R-E-N-E-E, ...Heny, it's French, you know." And that explains why I can read, but can't speak Portuguese!
judy

Back in the US

We returned to the US last night after 4 days on the Amazon River. There are no words to describe the majestic awesome beauty of the river and it's surrounding jungle. And the pictures don't do it justice either. In spite of all the rain, the wet season is the time to go there. The river can be 30-35 feet higher in the rainy season, allowing access to places you can't go during regular tourist season. Our lodge was comfortable and we had an excellent local guide.

The highlights of the trip included seeing river dolphins, including the rarer pink ones, eating primative-looking piriracu, the delicious fish that has fed the Amazonian people for centuries, Larry slogging through the river's edge in the pitch dark with the guide to capture a baby caimen and seeing the sunrise over the river.

The focus of our EcoLodge was education and preservation of the river and jungle. We visited a center where monkeys captured for illegal trade come when they are recovered and need to be rehabilitated before their return to the wild and a similar place for caimen. We learned about the traditional nutritional and medicinal properties of the local plants and about how the indigenous natives live deep in the jungle versus the coboclos, who are of indigenous origin, but live a more modern life along the river.

I don't think I'll suffer the extreme reverse culture shock after this trip that I did before. But I have to remind myself I can drink from the water fountain, put toilet paper in the toilet and best of all, there are washcloths in the hotel. They've never heard of washcloths in Brazil. I was disturbed by the loud, harsh, raspy voiced Southern businessmen in the airport last night in contrast to the lyrical, melodic Portuguese I'm used to hearing. I just wanted to put my hands over my ears and scream at them to shut up!

We are headed to SC to see Aubrey and Dylan for the rest of the week and will be home again next week.
Judy

Last Day in Salvador

Last night was our curfew adventure for this trip. We made it back at 3 minutes of 2am. I can't remember the last time I was still up at 2, much less out somewhere. I guess they probably wouldn't send us home with only today left. Marina met us here and went with us to the bar. It was a place a tourist would never be likely to find. On the beach, but far from the tourist areas. It was in a middle class neighborhood and filled with casually fashionable twenty and thirty-something locals, most of whom seemed to know each other. Definitely different from anyplace else we've been.

Marina's boyfriend, pronouced Heny, but probably spelled Remi, plays guitar and speaks only a little English. He was very pleased, but a little embarassed we had come to hear them. The band, Rock Band (pronounced Banjee jee hrockee) plays British and American 70's classic rock such as Pink Floyd, Neill Young, Beatles, Eric Clapton, Creedence Clearwater Revival, etc. It was very bizarre to hear them singing "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" , etc, knowing they had no idea what they were singing. Because they learn the songs by mimicing the sounds, when they sing Pink Floyd, they have a very British accent and when they do southern rock, they sound like hillbillies. It was a real kick. I had Marina tell him that we live about 20 minutes away from Neill Young and I thought he would faint from envy. He called over all his friends to meet us. I had her assure him that it was not like we'd ever run into Neill in the grocery store!

Marina ordered a local seafood specialty, sururu, for us to try and when he saw the size of the dollop of malagueta hot sauce I put in mine, his eyes became huge. He got really excited and said that if I like Bahian cuisine, his mother was one of the best regional cooks around. She lives in a town nearby. He invited us to come to dine with his family next time we return. He meant it and I am so there. I am starting to tear up at the thought of leaving these friendly, gracious, generous, joyful people that we have come to love so much. Lulu, who tends our room and keeps it clean, just left for the day with many laughs and hugs. It was hard to say farewell. We'll have to do the same later today with Joceline, the other housekeeper who laughs all the time, Emelia and Laura our fabulous cooks and the other great staff. Our good friend, Vini, the house manager will pick us up at 5:30am tomorrow and drive us to the airport.

Tomorrow morning we fly to Brasilia, then Manaus, and then take a boat down the river to the lodge on the Amazon where we will spend the vacation part of our trip. We may not have internet access there, so this might be the last report for a while. You may have to wait for our return to hear about our Amazon adventures.
Judy

Final Work Day

Our last work day was a busy one. With the orphanage closed, we helped out in the daycare. I don't see how Georgina, the director, manages 10 - 14 little ones aged two and under, all with snotty noses, usually on her own. We had 11 today. The arrive by 8:30 and first have prayers, then breakfast. Next, they all head for the potties. After they xixi (pee in Portuguese), we go outside to play. Then we go back inside and play some more. Playing consists of a lot of crying and running around. Nothing organized.

Next all hands get washed, prayers again, everyone is fed and back to the potties. Everyone gets a bath and goes down for a nap. We had a potty, wash, dry, diaper, bed assembly line that took four of us. I just can't see how she does it alone.

This afternoon we went to the Pelhourino to the Afro-Brazilian Museum. It was a great museum with exhibits on the origins of the African slaves who came to Salvador, the culture as it developed here, a section on candomble and incredibly beautiful art and craft traditional to the area. Downstairs were exhibits related to local archeology and the indigenous tribes of Bahia.

When we returned, we finally got our acaraje. She was back in business today. Her stand is across from McDonald's and she does way more business. We had to wait in line and the cars were backing up in the street. I told her I wanted pimenta (hot) and she put a little drizzle of the sauce. When I said mais, por favor (more, please), she looked at me like I had no clue what I was asking for and added another drizzle. Hot and delicious.

Tonight I think we are headed out to hear our Portuguese teacher's boyfriend's band play at a local bar. He plays classic American rock, which would not normally be my choice in Brazil. But she was so excited to invite us, that a few of us decided to go. There are only six of us still here at the house this weekend. After we leave on Sunday, and those in Lencois return, there will only be seven here until the big onslaught on May 31 with a total of 44.

Marina, our teacher, just called. She is so happy we are going to hear the band, she is going to come meet us to make sure we don't get lost. She is such a delightful person and wonderful teacher, I wish I could take her home with me so I could learn Portuguese faster.
Judy

Corpus Christi

Well, I don't think I'll have a major breakdown this time over leaving. Mostly because I know I will be back. This place and the people of Salvador have once again stolen my heart. I shed a few tears this afternoon thinking about leaving, but it's okay. One of the important things I know is that I could stay longer. Probably not three months, like some people, but at least a couple more weeks.

Many of the group has gone to Lencois for the long weekend, so there are only a few of us here now. Over lunch, we had a heavy discussion about what is really our value here and why do we want to do it. Larry and I have an assignment that is like a pleasure cruise compared to those at Casah, the home for HIV positive people of all ages. In Brazil, medication to treat HIV is free, but the living conditions there are shocking. It is so bad, that CCS stopped sending volunteers there for a while because it was too difficult to handle. This is the first group to go again for a while. They restarted the program because they decided if the volunteers were willing, showing up and doing something to bring a little care and distraction into the lives of the residents was better than doing nothing.

Education is a big issue in these places. A teacher shows up occasionally at Casah for the school aged children and the Madre Teresa program is intended to serve only the basic needs of the poorest of the poor and does not include an educational component. Davi, who turned three last Saturday, is starving to learn. He is so smart and needs to be in pre-school. It's his hope for improving his situation.

We came up with no answers to solve these problems, but we do know that the little time we spend here, and the others who follow us, does make a difference in these lives. We can also hope that our presence can inspire others locally and abroad to make change. I'm going to miss my children until I return.

Since it was a holiday, we got to sleep late today - until 7am. Being so close to the equator, the days are about 12 hours of light year round. 5 to 5. And I've been waking up with daylight at 5, even though I don't need to get up that early.

This time of year, fall, the beach was not nearly so crowded as it was in the spring. But Praia da Barra is always a happening place. People chanting and singing to sell their wares - everything you can imagine - bathing suits, dresses, jewelry, sunglasses, nuts, food cooked in a charcoal pot by your chair, you name it. Each section of the beach is "owned" by an entrepreneur who will rent you chairs, an umbrella and deliver your drinks with a cooler and a table for a reasonable price. We hooked up with Davi who took very good care of us all afternoon for a great price.

Last year, we were the only white people on the beach. This time, at least 30% of the people were lighter skinned. It's definitely not tourist season, so I'm not sure why the change. We were not nearly as glaringly different. The population in general seems to have an increase in lighter skinned people as well. In Brazil, people of African descent are very proud of their heritage, but you do not call them "black." The politically correct term is Negro, pronounced nay-grew.

We headed for our favorite acaraje stand this evening, but apparently she took the day off for the holiday. Last trip, I tried another local specialty, acai, on the way home in the airport. I thought it tasted like cough syrup from my childhood. Everyone convinced me to try it again. So we walked to the local favorite acai shop. Totally different this time. Acai is a dark purple berry from the Amazon and the way it is typically eaten is like a slurpy with sliced bananas with a very crunchy granola on top. Delicious!
Judy

Longest Day

We survived our full day at the orphanage, but I sure am tired. We played ball and made flags out of crepe paper in the morning. The nuns are amazing. One came in this morning to read Little Red Riding Hood along with a CD that had music, which the kids really enjoyed. Then she dragged a mattress out of one of the cribs and was teaching the kids how to do acrobatics. Davi was pretty good at somersaults and they all like being stood on their heads. Jocko, who cries at almost everything, loved being flipped with somersaults. After that, this nun, who was not exactly young, was running up and down the outside ramp with them, getting them to do races. I got tired just watching.

They all took naps and after a snack, we played with stickers and books. Kailane never would go to sleep and finally climbed out of her crib. I was surprised that she sat on a bed with me for over a half an hour reading the dog/number book I made the other night while Larry and Chiquinha scrubbed and mopped the whole place, end to end. Since tomorrow and Friday are holidays at the orphanage, everyone was leaving this afternoon. They all got baths and spiffed up to go home for the weekend. We waited with them in the daycare for their parents until it was time for us to leave at 4. I don't know what happens if their parents don't show up. At left, Jocko after his bath. Clarinhia at right.

We arrived back at the house late for our last Portuguese lesson. Marina is a great teacher. I wish we had more time with her. She invited us to her boyfriend's band's concert at a bar on Friday night. We'll have to see how tired we are. It doesn't start until 10pm.

I forgot to mention that when we went out with Bruno yesterday afternoon, we passed by Fonte Nova stadium where we attended the soccer game last fall and a month later a section collapsed, killing seven people. We confirmed that as we thought, it was the section where we were sitting that collapsed. It gave me chills just to think about it. We sat on the row behind the row that collapsed. People with us sat on the row that later collapsed. Earlier this week, there was an article in the paper about the proposed plans for the new stadium once this one is torn down. It has been closed since the collapse in November.

We have capoeira class again tonight. I doubt I'll make it past the warm up this time.
Judy

Finally Sunshine

The weather today was glorious. The first day with no rain. Not too hot and a nice breeze. We took the children outside to play in the courtyard for the first time this trip. The daycare joined us and it was quite a commotion. Fortunately, several of the nuns came out to play, too. They are so wonderful with the children.

The morning flew by quickly with all play. We served breakfast and lunch and got everyone ready for naps. And back to me doing the laundry and Larry doing lots of mopping. We are still spending a lot of time comforting Jocko and Clarinhia as they are still fearful and anxious.

We took an interesting excursion this afternoon. We headed to a hilltop favella. The streets are very narrow and lined with shops. Little alleys go up and down the hillside that lead to the houses. Most people don't have cars, so there's no need for a real street. The houses are all in terrible condition. Bruno, our wonderful guide, said this area is the poorest of the poor. I was glad that our excellent driver, Moises, could not understand the English because he lived in the neighborhood. He took us to his street and showed us his car, of which he is very proud. The exteriors of the buildings may look bad, but let me tell you, the people in the streets all looked sharp. This living arrangement is just a way of life. Half the houses aren't even finished, but Bruno says the attitude is, don't worry, the money will come. When we have a few dollars, we'll buy a few more bricks. The people in the favells have the best views in town since they are on the hilltops. Ocean views we'd all have to pay big bucks for.

We stopped at the most famous ice cream shop in Salvador. I had mangaba. It's a fruit that we can't get at home. We also taste-tested green corn ice cream. Quite strange, if you can imagine.

Then we went to Bonfim Church. It is the oldest and most famous church in Salvador. Long history intertwined with Catholicism and candomble. Bonfim means good end. Many people have experienced miracles from praying here and there is a room dedicated to people bringing offerings of thanks related to their blessing. It is filled with photos, diplomas and plastic body parts (to represent the part of someone that got well).

For such a large city, the crime rate is quite low. There is no organized crime and little crime involving bodily harm. Mostly theft. Caitlin went out running alone early on Saturday morning (which she shouldn't have) and was robbed of her camera at knife-point. She said she was never physically threatened, they just showed her the knife, pointed at her camera, and when she handed it over, they told her to go away. Even in the favellas, it is pretty safe to walk around during the day in groups.

Tomorrow we will spend the whole day at the orphanage since Thursday is a national holiday, Corpus Christi. Although the country is not officially Catholic, it represents such a large percentage of the population, many of the religious holidays become national holidays. And if it falls on Thursday, often everyone takes off Friday as well. Great if you want a vacation, but not so great for their economy. So tomorrow will be our last day at the orphanage as it is closed on Friday as well. We'll help out in the daycare, which will be open.
Judy

New Kids on the Block

When we first arrived at the orphanage this morning, none of the kids were there yet. I thought it might be a slow day. That didn't last long. Within half an hour, the three regulars arrived along with three new children. The first was Clara Lucia, but she is called Clarinhia, which means "little Clara." She is a little over a year old and is very quiet and shy. She has been in the daycare, but her mother decided to put her in the orphanage. She has three siblings and her father died before she was born. The mother just couldn't manage all of them. Sister Passandra says their house is so sad, she has never seen Clarinhia smile.

Next came Kailane. She blew in like a storm. She is a semi-regular, but doesn't come consistently enough to develop a routine. She pitched a really big fit for about half an hour. Once she settled down, you could tell she and Davi were good friends and they played together well. The others are too young to really play together.

Jocko came next. I don't know his story, but he was teary-eyed and frightened. We spent a lot of time with the new children trying to ease their anxieties. After breakfast, everyone had a bath and the morning went by in a blur we were so busy. On the right, Larry is helping Felipe with his bath.

Davi liked the counting book I made last night with pictures of dogs and numbers. He can count to seven. We also decorated crowns for everyone. Kailane made hers, one for me and one for Jocko, who was taking a bath at the time. To the left is Kailane modeling her crown.

This afternoon we had an unusual educational activity. Fred talked to us about candomble, the religion that originated in West Africa and came here with the slaves. It is very strong in Bahia. Then he took us to a candomble house, which is like their church. They are very private and he had to get special permission to take us there. I got very confused with all the explanations of the various orixas, which now correspond with Catholic saints so that their religion would be more acceptable. A high priest from another house arrived, someone Fred knew, and we got permission to go inside for three minutes. First the priest poured water on the doorway, I'm guessing to cleanse the area.

Next we went to the beach to the "home" of one of the orixas, Yamanji, who is the keeper of the seas. Her image is like a mermaid. While we were there, two women came to give an offering of thanks. They placed a big fish on a platter of greens on the rocks and a big wave immediately washed it out. Then they tossed a bottle of champagne into the sea.

I think I have lost about 5lbs in the last couple of days. Something has upset my stomach and every time I eat, I get terrible cramps. But during orientation, Laura, one of our excellent cooks, said if anyone had stomach problems, she had a tea to fix it. She wasn't here yesterday when we got back, but before breakfast I managed to tell her I had a stomach ache. She went out back and returned with a handful of leaves and brewed them in a pot. Bom chai, she called it. It didn't taste bad, but I have no idea what it was. When I got back from the orphanage, she asked if I was better. When I said only a little, she brewed me another big mug. Now I think I'm cured.
Judy

Home from the weekend

Many people have told us we need to eat Brazilian churrascaria while we are here since it is sort of the Brazilian national style of cooking. Grilled meat, the favorite all over Brazil. So last night we finally decided to try it. We ordered the house specialty sampler that had grilled pork loin, ribs, sausage and several cuts of beef. It came with grilled pineapple, rice, beans, what they call salad but is a lot like salsa, the malagueta pepper sauce we love so much (HOT HOT HOT) and a delicious blend of mashed potatoes and manioc we'd never had before. Delicious! It was enough for four people at least and all for about the equivalent of 40 US dollars. Enjoyed outside under an almost full moon in the balmy breeze listening to live Brazilian music.

There is no nightlife in Praia do Forte so after walking around we headed back to our hotel. We discovered our TV had lots of movie channels and watched a romantic comedy (title unknown) in English with Portuguese subtitles. With the simple dialog of a simple movie, we had a lot of fun learning new words and expressions. Much more effective than Portuguese with English subtitles which I tried earlier in the week.

We got our usual rainy day today, so we mostly just walked around the village and did some shopping. The monkeys that hang out near the open air breakfast room did not want to stay outside in the rain today. The staff kept trying to lure them out with treats, but with no luck.

Much to my delight, I found a jewelry store that carries reasonably sized and priced replicas of the silver balanganda cluster jewelry I saw at the museum. The clerk was so pleased that I knew about the history she took a long time showing me their beautiful examples and explaining the meaning of each charm in a mixture of English and Portuguese. I purchased a small one that I will treasure always as a reminder of this beautiful part of Brazil, Bahia, that has a culture and history so rich and so different from anywhere else in the world.

There are two volunteers from our October trip that I keep in touch with. We emailed last week and they are both jealous we are here again. Cindy, who was with us at Madre Teresa has also been here twice. When I gave her the update on the missing children and the troubles with the parents of Jade and Rafael, she said she broke down and cried.

Tonight we are scrambling to come up with ideas to entertain the children tomorrow. I've used up most of what I had planned already. It's too late to go to the mall and look around for ideas, so we'll have to make do. Larry brought some stickers and the soccer ball is usually a hit. I try to do some learning activity each day, but I've used my one book I can read every way I can think of. I loaned it to someone else to use in her daycare tomorrow. I have some number stickers - maybe I can come up with something to do with those. Oh! I just had an idea! I'd better go get busy!
Judy

Sabado no Praia do Forte (Saturday in...)

Larry didn't have such an easy time getting here. His flight to Sao Paulo couldn't land due to fog and after circling for an hour was diverted to Rio. They landed, sat on the tarmack for an hour, went back to Sao Paulo and circled another hour before landing. Needless to say, he missed his connection to Salvador, but finally arrived about four hours late. After checking in with our volunteer coordinator, we headed for the bus station. We mastered the taxi system last trip, but traveling by bus was a new adventure. The bus station was very busy, but quite large and nice. So was our bus. Traffic was horrendous and it took 2 1/2 hours instead of 1 1/2 to get here. At every stop or slow down, vendors would jump on the bus to sell you water, soft drinks, juice, candy or nuts.

Our hotel is fantastic. We accidentally found a travel agent who specializes in Latin American travel and she was a real jewel. I had selected a hotel here from the internet, but asked her to make the reservation since my Portuguese is not good enough for the telephone. My choice was closed for renovation this month, but surprisingly, she had been here and recommended this location. When we checked in, they thought we were funny and gave us an upgrade, I think because of the note she put on our reservation - needs someone who speaks good English.

Larry hadn't slept in over two days and we slept for 12 hours. Breakfast is included and it was incredible. After filling our plates with amazing tropical fruits, sweet rolls and breads, they continually came by our table to bring delicacies that we had no idea what we were eating. No lunch today!

We spent the morning exploring the village which has lots of shops and restaurants. We walked by the Tamar Project for sea turtle preservation. We didn't go in since it's not turtle season, but I could read the sign that explained that there are 5 species of endangered turtles here and they've been working hard for 28 years to save them with great success. Then we went to the beach. The weather was glorious, even though the forecast had said 100% chance of rain.

I see what Fred means that you can't live here and stay white for long. My skin has darkened by osmosis, even though today is almost the first sunshine since I've been here. I wish I could get Portuguese proficiency by osmosis as well.
Judy

First week over

Today went much better than yesterday. The children were in a good mood and pleased with everything. When I arrived, they were having breakfast of buttered rolls and coffee. It would have made a great photo of the three little boys sitting in a row eating breakfast, but I forgot to put the memory stick back in my camera after downloading yesterday's picture.

They really enjoy coloring. Davi wanted me to draw pictures of all the animals he knew. And Felipe practiced animal names and finding them in the books. We played ball and generally had a good time. Until lunch. Nobody liked lunch. Who thinks kids will eat fish? More laundry again today.

Yesterday I got an email from one of my fellow volunteers from the last trip, with a message for Chiquinha. I actually managed to convey it well enough in Portuguese that she understood what I said.

Traffic seems to be much worse than before. We are taking a different route because of the other volunteer assignments and the roads are horrendous. Our driver, Moises, is very good. But nobody obeys the lights, drives in their lane or seems to follow any rules that I can see. We have very near collisions at least five times each trip in the van. I read in this morning's paper that traffic accidents have significantly increased in Salvador since this time last year. I've even been getting motion sickness from the rough roads -something I've never had a problem with.

Larry is quite late in arriving, so it remains to be seen if we will make it to Praia do Forte this afternoon as planned.
Judy

Quinta-feida (Thursday)

Today I am totally exhausted. Nothing I tried kept the children entertained. Fiona, who had been with them the last several months, said they liked bowling. We make pins out of large soda bottles with water inside for stability and a soccer ball to knock them down. Well, all they wanted to do was hit each other with the bottles and managed to break one and dump the water out. So much for that idea. I brought really sturdy balloons and they popped them immediately. They finally settled down with some play dough. We made shapes and blobs and finally some cavalhos (horses) to gallop around on the table. Davi kept drilling me on the correct way to pronounce it, until I could do it to his satisfaction.

This is a picture of Jonathan. He is the newest and youngest child at Madre Teresa. He is one and has just learned to walk. He is doing a pretty good job of keeping up with the big boys, but loves to snuggle and be held. He eats like a cavalho! I never have trouble getting him to eat. But he usually falls asleep by the time we are finished.

Today Davi was testing my knowledge of Portuguese animals. He would point at a picture of a fish and tell me it was an elephant, or call a bird a cat, etc. He thought that was great fun to see if I knew the difference. Fortunately, I know all the animals.

But I am actually quite frustrated with my language skills. For all that I've studied, it seems like I'm worse off than last trip. At least then I knew I could hardly speak and now I feel like I should be able to do better than I can. My reading has improved and I can understand a lot more, but I'm still no good at speaking. I'm always missing at least one key word in a sentence when I want to say something. I still rely on a lot of hand waving.

Last night we had a capoeira lesson. Capoeira is a form of martial arts/dance that originated with the African slaves. It was originally a fighting technique that evolved into sort of a paired "dance off". It requires a great deal of grace, strength and stamina, which by the way, I don't have. I mostly made it through the opening warm up routine and followed the basic moves and kicks (quite poorly). I bowed out when it came to the part where people paired up for matches. I didn't think I needed to break or sprain anything in the first week. It was fun and a good workout, but not something I'll pursue. Maybe I'll be better at the samba lesson tonight.

Quarta-feira (Wednesday)

The van takes us a different route every morning for safety reasons. Today I got to see more of the favella than I wanted to. We took a very circuitous route down streets that hardly qualified as streets, knee deep in garbage, with buildings that were barely standing. The streets were teeming with people, donkeys, bicycles, cars and buses. Everyone honking and shoving and milling about. But as bad as the neighborhood looked, the people were all clean and neatly dressed. Appearance is everything.

This is Davi, our budding scholar. Today we read some more books, and he got the hang of the obstacle course. He loves to have his picture taken. He would hardly sit still long enough for the shot to be taken before running over to see how his picture turned out. None of the children felt well today and they were all cranky and wouldn't eat. But we did play outside for a while and blow bubbles. Both Davi and Felipe can make their own bubbles now. Jonathan just chases them around.

This afternoon we have another Portuguese lesson and then tonight is our capoeira lesson. I'm sleeping well, but, boy, am I tired!
Judy

More on Monday

Today was Riyaad's 23rd birthday. The staff surprised him with a huge cake with chocolate icing decorated with fruit. Then they sang what I think was a Brazilian version of Happy Birthday. He thought no one knew and was mortally embarrassed that they made such as fuss over him.

In the afternoon we took a tour of the old city, the Pelhourino. For those of you who forget this is the third largest city in Brazil and think I'm in the wilderness, here is a view of the lower city, Baixa, from the upper city, the Pelhourino. The lower city is the newer downtown metropolitan area. You can see some pictures of the historic buildings in last year's blog.

I'm receiving email fairly easily so far, so if you have any questions let me know. Judy

Back to the Children

It was great to go back to Madre Teresa this morning. Some of the elderly ladies who live there and some of the sisters remember me. Of course, Chiquinha, the director of the orphange did, but the children I knew are too young to remember six months ago. Some of the children are no longer there. Tiago and Christian have apparently disappeared. They left one weekend with their respective parents two months ago and didn't come back. The nuns went to check on them and couldn't find them, so no one knows where they are. Franciella, Larry's favorite, is living at home. Her 11 year old sister looks after her. She came to the orphanage every day last fall. I don't know why she isn't in school. They said she lives nearby and is doing fine.

Jade and Raphael come and go. They were not there today. Apparently there is a battle with their father and he does not want to bring them. But when Raphael gets in bad shape (he is severely mentally and somewhat physcially handicapped), they'll drop them off.

For the good news, Davi, almost three is delightful. He is talking up a storm and taught me Portuguese words for some animals I don't know. He knows his numbers, colors and talks all the time. I have to constantly remind him I don't know much Portuguese. Felipe is now two. He came late today after being home for a few days. Many of the children from the daycare don't come either in the heavy rains because their parents have to walk long distances to bring them. Felipe is also talking quite a bit. There is also a new boy, Jonathan, just walking.

The lunch time routine consists of sitting at the table, feet under, hands folded, for lots of prayers. Many of them are cheery songs and Davi and Felipe are now old enough to sing along on some of them. But they last a LONG time. Today Davi was impatient. After about the second prayer he said a loud, "Amen, amen, amen!" Like enough already, let's get on with it!

Today we rode tricyles and I built an obstacle course for them, but they never quite got the hang of it. Davi read me picture books, then we lunched, etc and everyone went to sleep. Then came laundry. It has been raining so long, the whole place was frantically doing laundry trying to get some things clean and dry while the sun was shining. But now at dinner time, it's raining hard again. I hope they got the laundry inside in time.

More bad weather

The weather is miserable. We had heavy rain and high winds all night last night. There was debris everywhere this morning. I passed one building where part of the roof had blown off. It reminded me of our hurricane in the Bahamas. Today wasn't much better. No pictures since I didn't want to risk ruining my camera.

We spent the morning in orientation for our programs. It was more extensive than for our one week program since for that they did most of the planning for us. We broke up into our groups to make plans for the week. There will be two others at Madre Teresa with me. We tried to do a walking tour of the neighborhood but didn't get far due to the bad weather.

This afternoon I ventured out to the nearby museum that houses a collection of 18th and 19th century decorative arts. I fell in love with their collection of slave jewelry that comes only from Bahia. Fred, our history teacher, says he will bring me some more information that he has on the jewelry. I also went in search of washcloths. I forgot they don't have them here. I never even found a substitute.

In the afternoon we had a Portuguese class and tonight was our history lecture from Fred. He reminded me just how poor the city is with such a high percentage of the population living in the favellas (slums). He is a huge proponent of the power of education to change the future of Salvador and all of Brazil. He teaches high school in a favella, as well as being a university professor.

Tomorrow morning I'm off to Madre Teresa. I'm looking forward to seeing which children are still there and I'm told there are new faces as well.

Day to Relax

Today was rather quiet. We had rain and gusty winds off and on. I did walk down the long hill to the beach during a break in the storm, gingerly maneuvering the mosaic sidewalks which are quite treacherous when wet. But we made it safely. The beach scene was quite different from my previous visit when it was teeming with people. Today, there were no dancers, sunbathers or roving vendors. Only a few die-hard food vendors having no luck on a dreary day. We were drenched in a cloudburst, but it was so windy we were dry by the time we got home.

This is a view out the window of the second floor of "home." It's a very urban neighborhood, with lots of apartments and small cars. It's quite safe it the daytime, but every building has security gates and guards.

There are 12 new volunteers who arrived yesterday from locations such as Alabama, Ohio, Michigan, California, Canada and England. Eight are college/grad school age and four of us live in the real world. In addition to Madre Teresa, people are assigned to a center that supports HIV positive children and adults, a community education center and a daycare center. One person will be working at a vocational center to help young people improve their English to help them get jobs in the travel industry.

Madre Teresa and the other daycare center serve the Alagados part of the city. It's a word that means flooded. Alagados is a marginalized swampland community where the mostly cardboard houses are on stilts stuck in the sand. There are about 56,000 people who live there and suffer from lack of sanitation and illiteracy. These programs are huge improvements in the lives of the children they affect.

I finished an amazing book today-Three Cups of Tea-the story of Greg Mortenson, a sometimes nurse/mountain climber, who after a failed attempt to climb K2, became obsessed with bringing education to the remotest locations in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Its a riveting account of his perils and adventures as he lives his commitment to spread peace through education. Thanks to Elyse for passing the book along. I highly recommend it.
Judy

Here at Last

I'm here! 29 hours door to door. The house staff was happy to see me. The ladies all showered me with hugs and immediately wanted to know if I had learned some more Portuguese since I was here last. I replied (in Portuguese) that I was studying and that I still didn't speak very well, but if they spoke slowly I might understand them. They cheered and applauded that I managed all that.

It was a tiring trip, but I met some interesting people along the way-a fundamentalist Baptist missionary and his teenage daughters who were originally from Chico but have lived down the Amazon from Manaus for 12 years translating the Bible into their native dialects. After a recent show I saw on PBS it seemed to me they need healthcare. He was describing the different tribes and I intended to ask about healthcare, but our line split and he went a different way. he gave me his email, so I may still ask.

On the long flight to Sao Paulo, I sat next to a Brazilian psychiatrist who was returning from a conference in DC. He initially mistook me for Brazilian until I started talking. He even said I looked Brazilian, which I took as a compliment. He taught me new words, pronunciations, expounded on the paradoxical Brazilian mind and drew intricate diagrams of his favorite places I should visit. We also had an animated discussion on US and Brazilian politics and trade policies, immigration and world affairs. He was much more knowledgeable on all topics so I mostly listened.

This Time Next Week

This time next week, I'll be in Salvador. I am really excited about going back. I will be returning to the orphanage at Madre Teresa as I requested. I'm looking forward to seeing how much the children have grown and changed. A couple of them should be talking by now. It will be a smaller group of volunteers than my last trip. Only 12 arriving at the same time I do and there is only one person there currently. It must be lonely for her. When Larry arrives, that will be 14. But it gets busy again at the end of May. There will be 40 new arrivals May 31.

I did a little shopping for supplies today. We can only take materials that we will use for projects with the children. I'll take some yarn, balloons, stickers and I got some foam visors and crowns on sale at Michaels to decorate. The crowns were a big hit last time. So were the balloons.

I've got lots to do to get ready this week, so I'll be busy. Friday will come quickly.
Judy