Week N°3

Well, well how time has flown.....already my last week in Rio and wishing I had more time. I just looked at my itinerary and realized my flight back to Geneva will be leaving on Thursday 15th and back in Geneva on the Friday.....merda and all this time I thought I was leaving on Friday....:o(

As I mentioned before about taking matters into my own hands...today I went by myself to the paint shop and and managed to buy all the paint and painting materials I need....it was quite a funny experience as the guys in the shop could see I was struggling a bit with the language, so I had to use a lot of actions with my hands....they were having a great laugh and me too.....I'm telling you cannot beat the Brazilians for service, the guys in the shop were so helpful...at one stage the was no fixer or white paint left and the guy kindly called up another shop in the vicinity, et voila, two minutes later a guy comes in from the other shop with fixer and paint in hand, all for me....I was well impressed and ever so grateful :o) with a 'muito obrigada' and off I went with all my paint...

So the project for the kids will happen afterall but unfortunately my time is limited....as I leave on Thursday.....so I will put in some overtime over the next three days, but I have also made the other volunteers promise me that they will finish the work I started when I'm gone....

Well I say I have three days left for the painting project, well, its actually only two, because Wednesday is a goodbye treat for the kids, the volunteers will take the children to the beach for the day, I look foward to that myself. I will have to do a shop to buy food for a picnic too.....I will tell them all tomorrow where they will go, they will be over the moon...;O)

Today was another delousing session, one of the girls who had been denying she had lice, well we dicovered today that her hair was infested, and the worse thing is she has the most beautiful long and naturally curly hair....we've used vinegar, special shampoos on her, but in vain.....I think the buggers are immune to everything....grrrr:<

Frustration

Well I did mention before that the volunteers had this wall painting project for the children to participate in......slight problem I get the impression some of the adults working at the orphanage are not very supportive of our idea....Nilton is with us 100% and he seems to be going blue in the face asking people to cooperate with us and him....its already over a week that we were supposed to get the material for painting and the paint -(by the way this is were some of the money collected at Paddys Pub Quiz went), and still no joy. So after two shopping lists and numerous requests for help to go and buy the material, we have decided to go with Nilton tomorrow and buy it ourselves, Aaaaaaarghh!!!!we should have done this in the beginning, but you live and learn..... Following photos are before the playground makeover......

Week N°2

This week was a very short week as most of the children left the "safe house" to return to whatever families they have left for the New Year celebrations......which must be a difficult ordeal for some of them considering they come from abusive backgrounds. However Nilton our wonderful in-house assistant and day carer of the children reassures me that there is always somebody from the team of AMAS present with the children during their time at home, especially those who have suffered sexual abuse.....

Nilton, he himself was a child of the favela left to fend for himself at the age of 15, he has had his fair share of hard times, although you wouldn't think it when you see his large beaming smile. He explained his story to me one day and did so with such pride, as it is not always easy to get help when you need it here in Brazil, and neither is it easy to accept help and to use it to your advantage, especially when you come from a favela. The poverty situation in Brazil is similar to the caste system in India, the poor stay poor and are maginalized and of course the rich get richer and don't have to think about the poverty that lies beyond their pampered life style. Nilton is one of those people who wanted to live and wanted to help others to have a life too and for 16 years now he has been working with the orphanage and rescuing children and teenagers from horrific situations.

In any case I respect this guy so much, regardless of the life he had, he managed to pull himself through and he is a better person for it.....the guy never went to school but is able to speak english fluently and he is a great communicator.....where there is a will there is a way.....a lot is to be learned from this guy....Respect Nilton!!!!

Week N°1 in AMAS Fonseca - Niterói RJ

Well it has been over one week already since I've been here in Rio de Janeiro and also one week working in the orphanage. I started my mission here on 22nd December, the first day was my induction day were I was introduced to the children I would be working with and also the other volunteers.

I work in a house, run by the state and the Methodist Church who are trying to deal with the terrible reality of thousands of children here in Brazil each day (amasniteroi@terra.com.br). This house can be considered a "safe house" as well as an orphanage as the children and teenagers living here are rescued from high risk situations induced by abandonment by one or both parents, child prostitution, child labor, alcoholism and drug abuse and even sexual abuse. The age of the children can vary , some are as young as 2 years old to 16 years old. In this house comfort is at a minimum but it is still a better standard than the conditions they would have lived-in in the favela.

I work here with another volunteer, a 21 year old French girl from the Paris region. Our daily tasks start a 9am with a wake-up call for the children, bed making and cleaning of dormitory. Then its bath time, where we supervise that all children brush their teeth & wash well. At the moment we have the joy of daily delousing sessions, the children are riddled with head lice and we use everything from vinegar to shampoos to try to get rid of the buggers, but all in vain as the children use each others combs and hairbrushes, towels, etc.., and because we are not present all the time to supervise, this makes it really difficult to prevent head lice infestations..........even we the volunteers are at risk....so its delousing shampoo for everyone....I should have shaved my head afterall...

As you can imagine it is very difficult to communicate with children too....first of all there is the language barrier.....but I must say I've never learned a language so fast in all my life...:oD secondly, some of the children have mental problems in this case they have to be taken by the hand and shown the morning routine of bed making, cleaning etc...everyday .......thirdly, some children are just plain lazy and disappear when there is work to do....so the volunteers also spend a lot of time running around looking for those who are hiding..

Personally my favorite time is about 11am when we gather the children for activities such as of course futbol (pronounced foo-che-bol), yep we are in Brazil afterall.. football is nearly a religion...then a favorite of mine, drawing and painting activities. I have discovered some very eager and talented artists....so talented that the volunteers have decided to propose a project to the director of the house involving the children. The plan is to paint the walls of the childrens playground, it will bring some colour to the play area and this will hopefully encourage the children to concentrate and work together as a team..This project we will start next week.....

My day ends usually about 1pm - 2pm when the chidren are fed and put to bed for a siesta, then other volunteers take over the afternoon shift...usually after the morning shift I need a siesta myself, between the heat and looking after the children, its like a days work done already.