visiting the american school of recife & GTP (Grupo de Trabalhos em Prevencao Posithivo)

on Tuesday, we were able to visit the American School of Recife in Boa Viagem where we got to learn all about how the school works & then we were able to teach the students about american sports.

We started off the morning meeting with some students involved in the Association Brazil America (ABA) & the US Embassy in Brazil English Immersion Program.  These 45 students are the finalists in the Youth Ambassadors Program. The people who were chosen from the Youth Ambassadors Program were able to go to the USA and these finalists instead get to spend some time in an English Immersion Program.  Next year they will attempt to become a Youth Ambassador again and they will have a upper hand because they were finalists last year.  

First we were given a tour of the school and then a presentation from one of the guidance counselors who was American. We learned all about the school such as the types of students who attend and some of the schools their students get accepted to such as HARVARD, YALE, PRINCETON, ETC! They take all of their classes in English except for their language courses of course such as Portuguese, Spanish, French.  When they graduate they receive both an American and a Brazilian diploma and the guidance counselors focus on helping their students get accepted to American Schools. This school costs roughly 15K a year so these students are very very high upper class.

Then we gave presentations on different types of american sports and how they are played such as american football, baseball, basketball, cheerleading.. Then we went outside and played!

Jordan had fun playing baseball!

Around 12, half of our group went to CCJ to continue painting and another half went to Diaconia (the NGO over our projects). From Diaconia, we went to have lunch at this restaurant run by a group of individuals with HIV, whose money raised from the restaurant goes to assisting their mission.  

We were greeted at the restaurant by a cross dresser (sorry, I don't know all the terms to describe everyone..) but he was a man, dressed in a bright orange wig and red dress and heels.. As we got in line to get our food we were served by the waitress/cook Juliana who was darling and even looked pregnant but when Juliana spoke we realized she was a man as well.. 

We ate our food and then went upstairs of this house to listen to a presentation from one of the people who work there. He spoke to us for a lonnnggg time about HIV related topics such as how it is passed, how it can be prevented, the types of people who obtain it, how to educate people, the importance of using protection, how HIV does not have a face, how the brazilian government is corrupt etc etc etc. 

Basically, we learned the effects of HIV and how it is passed so quickly..at least in Brazil, in the northeast, crack is a huge problem. And since crack is so affordable (around 10 reis or 5 dollars) and it is so addictive, people will sell their bodies for crack and that is another big reason why HIV is spread so quickly. We also talked about infidelity in marriage, and carnaval being a place where foreigners come to buy sex because it is cheaper than anywhere else and many times protection is not used. 

In all honesty, it was not hard to be in a house of people infected with HIV. It was not hard being fed by people HIV. It was not hard talking to them, befriending them or anything. HIV does not scare me. It was hardest for me being surrounded by people with such different perspectives on life as me, people who have lived their lives as transvestites, cross dressers, prostitutes, etc. As Vanessa put it, it was kind of like a "hate the sin, love the sinner" kind of day however it was hard for me to love the sinner because I guess I just don't feel comfortable around transvestites and prostitutes and drag queens and what not..Also,  the presentation we got was super heavy and actually overwhelming so after that night I was just kinda so full of emotion and so "sad" in a way that I went home and slept.. Maybe I went through culture shock of heterosexual and homosexual people! I don't know! But then I remember how many gay friends I have and how that has never bothered me but I guess maybe I had culture shock of being in a house full of transvestites, I'm not sure..

I guess it was kinda just a day to completely forget who I was and what I believed in and learn all about them and try to be accepting of how they have chosen to live their lives. It was a good thing and I'm really glad we went but I'm not sure my heart can take another trip there because I left with such a sad heart in a way. 

this is the restaurant 

the man who gave us the lecture on HIV/AIDS.

the end. 

favela.

 Even after a really late night, we still got up bright and early to be at CCJ (our internship) at 9AM.

We had our first encounter in the favela (slums). We were given some painting materials and paint and were given some walls to start painting.  The people in the favela seemed very grateful for our efforts. Even though we didn't do much (in comparison to how big the favela is) people were really happy that we were there trying to help.  They kept coming out asking us to paint their wall but we just did not have the time or means to be able to paint everyones who asked.  After we painted a base paint, we used the graffiti cans & other paints and actually painted things on their walls. It was hard for me to accept that people would WANT their front wall painted covered in trees, clouds, birds, hearts, etc. To me it appeared kind of "day care" or childish to have your house covered in things like hearts, clouds and what not and I kept thinking "what if these people would prefer just the solid color and no added pictures?"(we were told to graffiti on the base paint) But as time went on I realized that it was not "daycare ish" at all but the favela itself has its own "culture" and views on what is beautiful.  I cannot think about what I myself would consider beautiful (plain, solid paints, no graffiti) but I had to realize that what they consider beautiful is graffiti & images. I grew up in a place where graffiti was used to tag things and not as an art form as much as it is here.  They wanted their homes to be painted bright blue and covered with trees and birds and what not! because that is what THEY like and it doesn't matter what I like or think looks nice. That was an eye opener.

I learned that when I step into someone elses community and home, I must serve them in the way they would like to be served, not how I think would be best to serve them. So there we were, painting random walls with different images like flowers and stuff! and the people all stood outside and watched, and asked their walls be painted as well. I learned that if they had the means available, they would love to be able to fix up their community themselves and be more self reliant..but they just don't have anything..

this was probably the nicest street in the favela we saw..at least in my opinion.

two little girls & a boy who were running around the favela playing together. It was amazing how seeing those kids was just an eye opener for me. I feel like a mom in the US typically watches every single step their child takes, protecting them from anything that could possibly hurt them..but on the other side of the world, kids like this are running around with no shoes on dirt roads covered in bricks, rocks, glass, feces, bottles, etc while sewer water runs throughout everything. The mother's let their kids go and they run around, play and come back even in those horribly unsafe, unsanitary conditions. A lot of time they don't have anyone really watching them because their parents are involved with drugs and other addictive substances. I bet these kids were around 2 or 3 years old and they were just running wild & free.

 Look at those beautiful dark eyes & eyelashes! 

the first wall we started working on before we separated

these kids were painting this house and they were loving it.

the final piece of jordan's group wall.

In all, I would say my first experience in a brazilian favela was a positive one. I was saddened by a lot of things I saw such as the fact that about 90% of the girls who were walking around had a huge pregnant belly, there were plenty of drunks and lots of blood shot eyes. But I also did see wonderful things like LOVE. I saw people outside surrounding a baby and being so happy to see him smile.  I saw a grandfather holding his grandson in his lap lovingly. I saw parents throwing a ball to a stray dog while the kids laughed. I saw kids playing soccer in the road. I even saw my little rascal friend covered head to toe in flour and egg. I guess kids are kids no matter where they live! There is sadness in places like this but you can also find happiness there as well.

From what I could see, people were ok with our presence there. I feel like they appreciated our want to make it look a little nicer in there, I feel like many of them were grateful and happy to have us. I would never have entered that area if we had not been with Carbonel or the other people of the community. It wasn't exactly the safest place in the world for a group like us. But I think overall we felt safe there as we watched tons of small kids playing and running around the street. I heard people passing by shouting "gente boa" which means "good people" & I thought either they are telling us that or telling other people in the community not to bother us because we are trying to help.

But one of our roomates Joe, said that he heard a man murmur as he passed saying "Look at these Americans here to see people going hungry." I'm glad I didn't hear that because it would have broken my heart. I did not travel all the way here to see people go hungry. There is poverty everywhere, including the US. I came here because I love Brazil. I came here because I want to learn about the culture, the history. I want to explore new places. Learn new things. I came here to SERVE the community through my internship. 


But I did not come here to see anyone go hungry.

festa junina at CCJ

last night there was this big storm so we woke up to lots of rain & wind.

my first thought was-I GET TO WEAR JEANS!

silly thing to get excited about right? 

after class this morning, we all took buses to Peixinhos to go to a Festa Junina party at our internship CCJ. We were all told to bring treats for the kids so our house brought cookies, and those kids loved them! We had so much fun playing and talking with them. They were all pretty shy and embarrassed to come talk to us so we really had to try to make friends with them. But once they were comfortable they were the cutest things. I had one girl ask me if I was from China and another ask me if I was from Japan. Do I look asian? Maybe my black hair and whiteish(compared to theirs) skin made me look asian. It was also cute being called "senhora"by all the little kiddos too.

They also did a cute little line dance for us. They were adorable.

A lot of these kids have a lot of problems in the home & they go to that place during the day since they have no one at home. One of the little girls I talked to told me she had 13 siblings..

After all the festivities died down, Berkley and Joe played some music for them on the guitar and we sang in portuguese & english. It was really fun!

playing a little handgame with them.

this boy was the cutest little 5 year old.

dancing quadrilha

2 four year old best girl friends dancing together.

little black girl with the prettiest green eyes. she was so cute.

this girl was a little doll as well. eating her corn:)

taking a picture with another cynthia! she took my camera and was so excited to take pictures of everything. I ended up with 120 pictures on my camera thanks to her! lol

that little boy with the hat was a serious little rascal.

so cute!

the kids happy with their cookies that jordan made them.

playing with sparklers. it was not the best idea. i thought for sure someones hair was going to get caught on fire. 

a video of that little rascal..he thinks he's a little playuhh

first field trip!

today we had to take the bus to our classes at ABA and it is one scary experience taking a local bus in brazil. I mean it's like they are ZOOMING through the city like a roller coaster & everyone is basically on top of you and falling all over you & even though its only 7 miles away, it was still a 45 minute bus ride. Luckily we got there right on time & classes started soon after. We spent about an hour talking about the brazilian "jeitinho" or (way, manner) & then our professor decided it was time for us to take a little break. We were all pretty exhausted & not participating very much so when we were done with our break our teacher said "I hope you all are WIDE awake! We are leaving. Right now. Field trip time." So we traveled to what I think was like a suburb of olinda called peixinhos (litle fishes). 

We arrived at what seemed like our destination but we weren't absolutely sure. After a few minutes we were invited in where we spent time talking to a few of the people who work there & spent some time presenting ourselves. Everyone clapped for me when I said that I was studying "fonoaudiologia" & it was really funny.. That word is a lot harder to say than "historia" or "portugues" so I'm glad my practice of that has paid off. Haaa!

Anyways, after some chatting and then explaining what they do and where they come from, we went to lunch & then a exhibit that was walking distance from the center.  

In front of the place we visited for our internship.

This is our group in a circle presenting ourselves. The man with the beanie thing is our contact for our internship. He is apparently really good at graffiti & is going to teach us. The boy next to him in red is 20 years old. He says that he is married & lives with his wife here. I don't think they have children. He said that kites saved his life. I had a lot of trouble with their really thick accents & a lot of things I didn't understand. But from what I could understand was that he survived off of making kites in the streets. He said that he would ask his neighbors to borrow this or that in order to make his kite, and then he would sell it. He actually had to stop talking because he was in tears telling us about how he made his living on the streets selling manmade kites. But he's a really nice man. He's going to teach us how to make some kites. 

Group photo! The boy on the top left had pretty much every girl drooling in there. He looks like he walked out of an abercrombie magazine so the girls were freaking out. Until they found out he is just an 18 year old boy from belgium. HAHAHA! (don't worry vanessa, I had the girls in line. No flirting!)

We went to this super old butcher shop? It was kinda creepy.

Then we went up this tower thing that was a million flights of stairs (well it felt like that since my legs hurt from yesterday!) but it was so worth it because we got to see this incredible view of olinda & recife in the distance.

Recife in the distance.

Jordan made friends with the kids & he juggled with them. Oh the many hidden talents of Jordan.

Michele and I fell in love with this little boy. He was gorgeous. He is black with blue/green eyes. I asked Jordan to take a picture of us and zoom in on his face and he took that literally haha. Cutie!

Okay and lastly, I had to include our dessert from yesterday. Homemade dessert pizza! It was delicious! She is an amazing cook! I tell her she is like a culinary artist! No exaggeration either.