The Fun Never Stops

Yesterday I spent the day with the ABBA ¨technical team¨ in the office. These are the hard-working people who do the social/legal/financial work of the organisation. Delton and I went to track down the academic records of one of the Elohim boys so that he can transfer to the nearest school to Elohim. Paperwork doesn´t always travel as it should here so it proved a little more difficult than anticipated. When the boys arrive at Elohim there is a whole host of paperwork to be signed, sealed and delivered to the right people and places. It is often tedious and complicated work - birth certificates, school records, medical historys and not to mention the major task of actually tracking down the families. These guys work so hard to piece together the lives of these children and it is work that often goes without recognition.

Today I spent a couple of hours playing football with the boys. They´re beginning to be more comfortable around me more and try to communicate a little more too. They are so sweet. This is my last day at Elohim for the moment but I´m hoping to spend a little more time here again in my remaining few weeks. Tonight I have (I think!) a rehearsal with the band for my singing debut on Sunday. My Portuguese is still limited and none of the band speak English - so that will making the choose and arranging of music somewhat complicated! However, music is a universal language and the band do sound awesome so hopefully it will come together somehow.

Tomorrow I have a 6am start for an all-day training course (in Portguese of course) in working with street children. Hopefully I´ll be able to understand most of or at least some of it! On Monday I move in to Casa Semear where the kids club will start up again and I´ll be working there full time. Life here is keeping me busy with work and play (often the two are nicely combined at Elohim) and it´s pretty much like home now -  always busy but somewhat more relaxed! Still not missing home too much but my supply of Scottish tea is slowly running out. Anyone who wants to volunteer to post me some is more than welcome!

Thanks again for all the messages - it´s good to hear from you!

Quick Update

Just a quick update to say that I will have little internet access for the next couple of weeks so I won´t be posting much. I had a great weekend socialising again. Arthur and I went into the centre of Sao Paulo to be tourists for the day and then we went with Zaqueu to a family churrasco (BBQ) at his pastors house where we made lots of new friends. I´ve been asked to sing a solo next week at their igreja (church) which has a pretty large congregation - probably 250+ on a Sunday night. This means I have to rehearse the band and work out all the arrangements in Portuguese. That will be a challenge!

This week I´m working at Casa Elohim (Mon, Tues and Fri). Two of the boys ran away, back to the streets, last night which is frustrating and disappointing for the staff. However, today we took the six younger boys out on bikes to the park and they had a great time. Casa Elohim currently has two sets of three brothers all living together - it can be a challenge but mostly they are really sweet kids.

I´m feeling really at home here now - mostly thanks to people making such an effort to include me and invite me out which is much appreciated. My portuguese is resembling something conversational now which helps! Things will change a little after Sunday when I move in to Casa Semear to live there - much further away from the centre of all my social activities. However, that will now only be for two weeks and I will probably return to live with Dot and Caio again mid-August for the remainder of my trip. This means I can work at Casa Semear every day and still enjoy the social circle I´ve established here already. Thanks for everyone who has sent encouraging messages over the past week - I´ve not had time to reply to them all but they have been much appreciated!

Street Life

Casa Elohim

Once again, yesterday was a busier day than I had anticipated. Fabio from Casa Elohim called and I arranged to go over for a couple of hours to meet the team, arrange my working hours for next week and to see Hedi on her birthday. (Hedi is the lovely lady who looked after our team during our stay last year). It was an eventful day for Elohim as three new boys - all brothers - had arrived at the shelter to stay. They have been abandoned by both their mother and their father. The Elohim staff seem doubtful that there is much hope of reconciliation with their family. They are just the most beautiful little boys and the youngest is only five. I helped him put on some new clothes, provided by Elohim, and the smile on his little face simply broke my heart. It both angers and saddens me because I just can´t imagine how anyone could abandon them without a care. However, there is no doubt that the parents have their problems as well and if they can be helped then the ABBA team will do what they can. For these three little boys the future is now uncertain. Much of their hope lies in either building bridges with their family or being integrated in to a foster family found by ABBA. However, foster families are scarce and it might be almost impossible to find a family who would take all three brothers together. Still, the team will work, hope and pray for their future. 

 

Central Sao Paulo

Later in the evening I went out with Luke to the streets of the city centre.  His mission was to meet a couple of the street boys who had previously lived at Elohim for varying periods but had chosen to return to life on the streets. Driving in to Sao Paulo it´s a beautiful city - bright lights, flashy buildings, modern architecture. It is deceptively beautiful. However, it didn´t take us long to find a small band of kids who were settling down in the street for the night. From as young as about eight to the older teens there were around a dozen kids living together. I find it an indication of our human nature that even on the streets, family units of some kind are formed. I spoke to some of the girls, most of whom were around 12-15 years old. Beautiful girls on the surface but they had a pain in their eyes. One young girl was seven or eight months pregnant. What kind of life will her baby have? Almost all the kids were high on glue or marijuana. Each carried a little plastic bottle with their substance of choice. I will never forget the face of the little boy, about eight years old, slumped under a blanket on the ground, bottle in hand, barely in touch with reality. But of course - this is what they want. Reality is painful and the temporary peace that comes with substance abuse is part of the warped reality in which they live. Luke managed to find the boys he had been searching for. He gave them some small gifts including photos - a reminder not only of their time at Elohim but of the love and hope that is still available should they choose to take it. After some time spent in meaningful conversation, Luke invited us over and together, on the pavement in the middle of a busy street, we sat down with a couple of boys and played Uno. For ten or fifteen minutes the inner-child emerged as they got caught up in the fun of playing and interacting with adults who cared instead of cursed them. It was a surreal and challenging experience but for that short time I  didn´t want to be anywhere else. I suspect that, sooner rather than later, I will be back there again.

Social Central

Pastels

Some of you will be pleased to hear that it hasn´t been all work and no play. My social life has been just as hectic as it is at home which I´m exceptionally grateful for! I´ve been blessed with a multitude of new friends to keep me entertained. The weekend I arrived, I spent some time with Dot, Caio and Arthur before camp. Arthur is a student from Holland who, like me, is over here for a little bit of work experience and travel adventures. He came to camp with us and is currently working at Casa Elohim (the rescue house for street boys). On the Saturday afternoon we went to the local market for pastels. I forgot how much I love those! In the evening we went to Caio´s parents house for dinner where we had amazing fondue and wine by the fire. We also went there for lunch the next day. I had met Caio´s parents on our previous trip but I always appreciate how hospitable people are willing to be when they don´t even know me very well. Over the first weekend it was really nice just to relax and spend time together before the madness of camp ensued. 

Me, Sam and Pedro

The weekend prior to camp was the beginning of my holiday time here. I have this week off to myself so I had arranged to see my friend Sam from college as he is over here visiting family in Guarulhos. We spent some time with his family including a big family lunch on the Sunday which was highly entertaining. On the Saturday night Sam had a reunion dinner with some old school friends. I went along with him and his cousin Pedro. Neither Pedro nor I actually knew anybody at the dinner so we spent most of the evening getting to know each other better! However, it was nice just to be out in the town without lots of children to be responsible for! Again, the hospitality of a family who don´t know me at all was so much appreciated. When I got home I watched the Brazil v Paraguay game for the South American Cup. Have to say, I was somewhat ashamed of Brazil!

Me and Marianne having chocolate pizza

I thought that after the weekend my activities would calm down somewhat but this is Brazil - I should have known better! Monday afternoon Dot and Caio were leaving for their month-long trip to Holland. Robert called in the morning and we arranged to all go to McDonalds for lunch to say farewell. I came home and was prepared for a quiet night in. Wrong again. Robert called to say he´d arranged a dinner out at Casa de Pizza for the team who´d helped at camp last week. That was a really nice treat because with all the madness and activities at camp, the team actually didn´t have much time to spend together. We managed to get together Robert, Silvana, myself, Dora, Arthur and Zaqueu (a part time social worker at Casa Semear who also helped at camp). It was a relaxing and enjoyable time of fellowship for everyone. I also got my chocolate and banana pizza which I love!

Zaqueu, me and Arthur

The next day I settled in to the house and resolved myself to a quiet day. Wrong again. Zaqueu got in touch to say that there was a gig on at his church with a Brasilian gospel group. We picked up Arthur and went shopping in Interlagos for a couple of hours just having some fun. Around 8pm we headed over to the church for what I can only describe as the best three hours of my life! It´s so hard to describe but I would say imagine that Queen Latifah and James Brown were leading worship with a gospel-funk band. It was kind of like Sister Act meets Jackson 5. The band were incredible and the singing was just phenomenal. The best part was the free-style break-dance session where some of the kids got up and jammed. I very nearly joined in! After the service most of the youth came over so speak to Arthur and I - being the only white people in the building we attracted a lot of attention. The girls wanted me to sing and dance to them a little so I did and we had a good laugh. Zaq, Arthur and I went for a drive and hung out for a while afterwards, making it home not long after 1am. I´ve been blessed with good friends already and I´m really grateful for that. I think I was prepared for a long, lonely trip but so far it has been non-stop fun. I love Brazil!

Acampamento do Exodo - Juquitiba

Finally - time for a real update! So far I´ve only had time to update via facebook and twitter, as every day has been a frenzy of activity. I am now home alone (with Calvin the cat) and have time to relax. At the moment I want to post about the camp because this is what the majority of the fundraising money went towards. Tomorrow I´ll post a little more about what else has been happening.

The camp was held at the same place as last year, out in Juquitiba, Sao Paulo - over an hour away from Casa Semear in Interlagos. The campsite is ideal for all kinds of activities. It has a big river going all around it with an hour-long jungle trail that´s great for treasure hunts and team games. We took 22 kids from Semear and 10+ leaders. The theme was Moses and the Exodus. I knew five or six of the kids from last year´s camp but there were plenty of new faces because Casa Semear has had a shift in attendance over the past year. We were prepared for another week of horrible damp, cold rain but thankfully every day was dry with glorious sunshine which meant that we could carry out all of the activities that had been planned. The weather determines so much at this kind of camp because you can´t just go indoors and watch a movie when it rains. Thankfully we were able to go on long walks, treasure hunts, obstacle courses and swimming in both the outdoor pool and the river. One day, in a re-enactment of crossing the Red Sea, Robert built a ´bridge´ across the river, made from  two bits of rope. Each kid had to cross the river on the the ropes and try to avoid falling into the river. It was hilarious. The best part came later. After the kids had all made it safely across the river, unbeknown to them, Caio was hiding in the jungle just up the bank with a megaphone. He let out an evil laugh and threatened to come and get them all if they didn´t get back to camp. The kids went crazy and just jumped right in to the river and started a huge water fight. It was hilarious chaos and they loved it!

I also managed to get a little bit of my hip-hop dancing in to the mix! Originally we were going to have a dance competition where the kids choreographed their own dances but after attempting some basic moves we discovered just how uncoordinated they are! Most of the kids don´t get the equivalent of PE as part of their education and so some of their vital physical development is a lacking in certain areas. So, instead I taught them some very basic hip-hop steps and some of the kids - boys and girls -  became quite enthusiastic and practiced for the rest of the week! Interestingly, one of the younger boys at the camp (one of the worst behaved, so I´m told) had seen some street-dance movies at home and had been teaching himself to break-dance. Despite the fact that it was normally quite hard to keep him concentrating on a task, when it came to dancing he was 100% focused and I managed to work with him on slightly more complex routines later on. In return he sat with me for the best part of an hour teaching me how to pronounce some Portuguese properly! It´s incredible how some things can bring people together even when language is a barrier. This little boy has a really tough life - his mum doesn´t want him and he´s been living temporarily with another family close to Semear. His situation is desperate and frustrating but it was amazing to see his determination to be good at something and make the best of himself. Moments like that make it all worth it for me.

Every night we had a big campfire. I think Robert tried to beat his record every night of just how big he could make the fire. Zaq had a guitar and so we sang some songs (in Portuguese and English), roasted marshmallows and had times of devotion and reflection. Some of these moments were really special, and even though I didn´t always understand what was being said, I could sense the atmosphere changing as some of the kids faced their own issues and built up better relationships with one another. One evening around the campfire one of the leaders shared  her testimony. She used to be a crack-addict, living on the streets and stealing to pay for both her habit and her 10 children. She has really turned her life around and now works full time at Casa Elohim - the ABBA rescue house for street boys. Much of what she said resonated with the kids and gave them inspiration to make changed in their own lives.That was a special moment to be part of.

All in all, the camp went really well. Of course, there were fights between the kids and times when they weren´t exactly happy campers - but they definitely had a great time and so did I. For the Casa Semear staff it was a great opportunity to build and strengthen relationships with the kids and invest more in sharing about their lives. This will help the day-to-day interactions at the Casa Semear kids´club over the next few months. Thankyou so much to everyone who helped raise the money to make the camp possible. Your money was truly well spent!

Quick Update

Today Dot & Caio left for their month-long trip to Holland. Robert, Silvana, Dot, Caio and myself went out for lunch to say goodbye. Robert´s picking me up in half an hour to go to Casa Semear to sort out some of the kids stuff. Proper updates will start tomorrow!

Home Sweet Home

Made it home from the jungle! We survived and the weather was glorious. I´m getting picked up first thing in the morning to have a weekend away with my friend from home but over the next week I´ll post in detail about camp.

Safe Arrival

I have arrived! All my travels went smoothly and both my bags arrived in tact. Dot & Caio managed to find me at the airport  and I´ve spent a very relaxing two days in their company. Although I was warned that it was cold and wintery, it´s been beautiful since I arrived. Yesterday we took a walk around the neighbourhood and I saw monkey and a teeny tiny baby monkey!  The weather has been good - I was anticipating a lot of cold rain but so far it´s been pleasant and warm. Had breakfast in the sunshine out on the veranda this morning - a little luxury before the hard work begins!

We dropped in briefly to see Robert & Silvana. Vinnie and Rapha (the boys) remembered  me from last year which was sweet, and Marianne has grown a lot! She can now walk and talk quite well. In the evening we had dinner at Caio´s parents house and we had lunch there again today. Great food and company though I can´t always follow the conversation!

Dot & Caio are away to church but I´m not feeling too well - think I have a cold coming on - so I´m resting up since we´ll have a 7am start for camp tomorrow! We´re hoping that the good weather will continue for the next week as we have lots of outdoor activities planned - camping, bonfires, adventure trails etc.  I will, of course, have no internet while I´m out there but I´ll be taking plenty of photos which I can hopefully post at some point later next week. My phone is working so I can send and receive texts before I leave but probably won´t have a signal out there.

Hope everyone back home is well.Thanks for all the messages!