Brazil – Day 7

Final day … If you’ve been reading my account of the Brazil adventure, you’re probably quite pleased at this point. It’s been a long journey!! Fortunately, we didn’t do quite as much. First a confession, I nearly “accidentally” slept in on the last day. I was so tired … However, I’m so pleased I didn’t. My eyes were opened to the kind of conditions that some people live in, and while so much of what I saw was motivating and exciting, it was underpinned in that new reality – that people live in conditions I can’t even imagine. I don’t know about you, but when I see appeals and things on Red Nose Day or Children in Need for example I’m moved. I am affected and it makes me want to give some money – which I do normally. I’ve always watched those things in a very matter of fact way though. On this last day, I got to see it for myself – poverty, people living in cramped conditions, and then I got to meet some of the people who were making changes for some people. Sadder still, I met people that weren’t getting the help … I have sometimes wondered about whether or not the tears Lenny Henry cries on his Red Nose Day videos are crocodile tears. If my reaction to what I saw today is anything to go by, then I’ll have to say no now …

We started the day with a bus ride out to a favela in Sao Paulo. A favela is an area of low quality housing. Houses are built literally one on top of the other – there’s no green space and the roads are pretty appalling. To be honest, you’d probably call them slums – but not slums in the way you would understand it in the UK. in the UK, even the worst quality housing is better than this. The houses are built on land that isn’t owned by anyone, which means that people have no security in their homes – they haven’t a legal leg to stand on. I met a family who had two rooms (I think), and six people living in it – and one cat (I tried, unsuccessfully, to get them to call the cat Graeme)! We were going to see the work of Instituto Rukha. They exist to try and impact families in the Southern region of Sao Paulo city. The best way to describe their work is for you to watch this video!

I got to meet with a couple of these ‘educators’ and was taken to visit a family by them. They were called Felipe and Aline. We went to the house and I was impressed by how welcoming the family were. The mother wasn’t there, and I met with the father, and 3 of the boys. They have another child too (who also wasn’t there). I got to ask lots of questions, and it was really interesting that they genuinely value the help that they were getting. The father had been training to become a cleaner. He explained that he had to get over his fear of doing a woman’s profession. The eldest son had been learning how to get a job and create his own CV. Still, despite getting this help, they still lived in conditions that would make almost anyone in the UK balk with surprise. The house was dirty, the electricity supply, was probably illegal – they had a cat, so it could catch rats – what better protection?? While I was sitting in there, I found it really hard to talk on one or two occasions, because I was genuinely choked. Just before we’d gone in, I’d asked how much one of these favela homes cost to live in. I was told it cost around $R 1000, which is about £300. My digital camera cost more than that!! I was almost embarrassed sitting there, not to mention a little guilty. I was interested though in the fact that they seemed quite keen to have their photo taken. By the way, the pictures of the favelas that are below were not taken on the morning of this visit – I took them during a bus ride on another day. Another interesting reflection, is about football. Football is a universal language. I was wearing my Sao Paulo FC top on this final day, and I was visiting a house of FC Corinthians fans!! It was football that led the conversation though, and I’ve found this to be the case so often! Football is ace, it transcends borders and people are always enthusiastic to learn about it. Even Leicester City!! By the way, look at the pictures – see if you can spot Corinthian the cat!! (not Graeme, sadly)!

I am fully intending visiting Instituto Rukha again next year, and I’m looking forward to maybe even helping out. After this we visited another project that I’m very keen to visit again. This project works really closely with Instituto Rukha and is called Casa do Zezinho (literally the House of Jacks). It’s a place where some of the most needy can find education and social support, and it was amazing. The work, the colour and all that they were doing. I simply cannot put it into words. Here’s a video that describes what the project is all about.

It was started by one of the most inspirational people I’ve ever met called Tia Dag. She simply spreads love! When we got there, we were hugged – something I'm not the best at dealing with, and the whole place simply exuded joy. We saw loads of children creating, achieving and working well together. These children really valued what they had and the opportunity they had been given. It wasn’t just children though, the centre works with people from 6 – 21. We invaded a English class at one point – I showed them all how to say and spell Leicester (I do my bit to spread the cause of the Foxes)! All I can do is show you the colour – maybe you’ll see just a little of what I saw …

After this morning, I was drained. We had a bus ride back into the centre, and we spent at least a part of it talking about our experience. I was in bits. The injustice that some people have to deal with and put up with as a part of their lives is unacceptable. We have no idea how good we have it in the UK – and this is why I was so moved by the Casa do Zezinho – it was something that I could see that was making a REAL difference. Something that was giving light where there seems to be no light and no future. This was something too that Instituto Rukha was doing. It didn’t matter how many mountains we went up, or business people we met – if I take nothing else from this trip, it should be a reawakening of a passion for justice and seeing people treated fairly. I hope I never lose that, or allow it to become watered down as I think it has been.

We then went for lunch at a restaurant – I had nothing left at this point, and while the food was ace, I’m sure I’m not alone in being slightly unnerved by the lavishness of it compared with what we’d just seen. This also served as a chance to say goodbye, and that was hard too. We’d had a draining, exhausting week. But, if I’m honest one of the most challenging, moving weeks of my life. This was an unrepeatable experience – if it changes nothing in the way I approach or do things, then it will have failed. If we go home and have no impact as a result of this trip it was pointless. I’m certainly going to be considering some things as a result of this trip, and if you’re lucky I’ll probably be blogging about them too!! I am so privileged to have had this opportunity, and I can’t wait to share it with people at school. Maybe we can have an impact as a group, and not just as individuals? I’m also looking forward to doing some work with some of the other guys I met on the trip. Work around the 5 “Es” – again, more on that later.

I can’t finish a blog about Brazil, without the staple English photo – tourists in their new ‘local’ football shirts at the airport. Thanks for reading :)

Most important thing about Day 7 – Justice – pure and simple. I don’t want to sit on the sideline while people are being treated unfairly. That’s it!