Today was a remarkable day. We started with our lovely and welcome breakfast buffet at Hotel Mistral. We are growing used to the colorful and tasty variety of food. Fresh fruit like papaya, pineapple and melons; fresh juices include bacatada (avocado and milk “smoothy”), goiaba (guava), caju (cashew—from the fruit, not the nut), lorgute, acerola (same in English?), laranja (orange), manga (mango), leite gelado (special milk).
After breakfast we gathered in the meeting room (the hotel allowed us to use it free for these two hours as we need projection screen and electricity and we are a large group with the 11 of us plus Suzie, Teca and Rosangela, Sonia, Leila, Almerinda and Ampala. Teca led us in devotions, using the soil and seed story from Mathew 13, which Ashley read aloud. Then she made a presentation with a video (in English) about the project which she and her husband founded and she coordinates here in Brazil: Shade and Fresh Water, which began in 2000. Teca tells us that many of Brazil’s problems are rooted in a small wealthy elite that often does not respond to the needs of the majority of people. Today Brazil has a higher percentage of people living in urban areas than the U.S. Many parents have to work very hard to make ends meet and often children are left alone at home for long periods of time. Brazil has passed laws so that few children sleep on the street but drugs and violence are serious problems and the less developed regions of the Northeast (where we are now) in particular also have problems with a large number of child and teen prostitution. (Prostitution is legal in Brazil for those over 18.) Shade and Fresh Water has created a network of local churches to work with children at risk. “The projects really helped me,” one young man stated in the video. “They changed my life.” Shade and Fresh Water is a project you can donate to through the United Methodist Church. In conclusion, Teca said, “our job does not have an end. We will be here a long time. We have to stop the oppression of God’s people.”(You can read more about this project in another post on the blog)
Teca gathered the cards she had handed to each of us earlier. On the card we were to put our name and email. “God bless you. God protect you. God give you peace.” As she came around the circle of we sisters, we were each to take one of the flowered cards. If we got our own, we could put it back and take another. The card we receive will be our sister for whom we will especially pray. If she wishes, she can ask for special prayers, but we will be thinking of her in particular often. The room buzzed with chatting and hugs and picture taking as we found the person whose name we had chosen and the person who had picked our name sought us out. We have met so many people we want to pray for here in Brazil—we know we will be praying for many of them—but it is special to sometimes be able to focus on someone special as well—our “chosen” sisters.
Then Sonia, President of the Methodist Women Federation in Brazil, shared about the work Methodist women are doing here in Brazil, including their hospital boat in the Amazon, a special project for women prisoners where they visit and give each a hygiene kit, they also give special attention to seniors and have several houses for elderly women. Each month they have an issue they pray about for the whole month. They are organizing their own Ubuntu project here in Brazil for each to do.
Suzie spoke briefly telling the Brazilian women that we U.S. members of UMW were honored to take this Ubuntu journey with them Together, she said, we will walk with you, Methodist women in Brazil, to end trafficking and violence against women and children.
Rosangela explained about her job: to work together with Methodist women in Latin America and the U.S. to bring UMW projects to Latin America. She came in April to prepare some of the ground work in person for our Ubuntu journey. Almerinda identified some of the groups that we might visit and began to develop relationships with those she did not know before. Aparna, as past president of the local Methodist women, had also played a role in preparation. Almerinda showed us a montage of some of the pictures she had been taking this week. We all loved the photos so much that she promised to share a link for it with us.
Now we have met the President and Vice President of the national federation of Methodist women (Sonia and Leila respecitively), the regional President in Sao Paulo region, Neusa, and the regional President in Fortaleza region, Almerinda. We adjourned for lunch at Gheller Churrascaria which will be on the way to where we are going this afternoon.
This afternoon we travel to Palmeira, a community outside of Fortaleza that was settled by people relocated from near the beaches in Fortaleza. When Fortaleza’s popularity as a tourist destination skyrocketed 20 or 30 years ago and all the high rise hotels were being built the people who lived there were moved here. Palmeira is on the outskirts of Fortaleza, past the partially finished futebol (soccer) stadium where one of the World Cup matches will be played in 2012, past the intersection where we marched and handed out fliers yesterday. It looked so different with almost no traffic and none of our marches populating the medians handing out fliers.
The streets are lined with small one story brick and stucco row houses, the front facades very close to the street. A pale peachy/orange and white, maybe tan, seem to be common colors here, though sprinkled throughout are bright blues and yellows and oranges. Our first stop was the local Methodist Church where we picked up Pastor Tarcizio, whom we met last weekend at one of the other churches. His warm gentle smile welcomed us to his neighborhood. We learned that our driver’s in-laws live somewhere around here too. This is one of the poorest and most dangerous areas near Fortaleza. Many nonprofit and community organizations have a presence here.
We arrived at Banco Palmas, the very first community bank organized in Brazil. The first people moved to this community in 1973. Conditions for housing were extremely poor: there was no sanitation, no water, roads were bad to nonexistent. The people in the community understood they needed some kind of advocacy so in 1982 they formed a community organization. They held many workshops and began to push for changes. They realized that the infrastructures were getting better but there was still a great deal of poverty and the people still had less money and had to travel very far in order to work. Determined, they developed a plan of what they wanted for the next ten years and set strategies of getting income in the neighborhood. In 1998 they created the bank to give the opportunity to local people with talent to get small loans. Now they have been making microloans and supporting the community with handicraft and business training for years. One of the ladies they helped get her business going was at the craft fair we visited on Saturday after the violence workshop. The principals they use here are based on what is called “solidarities.” Instead of a lot of money in the hands of a few there is more distribution, instead of competing, they help each other out. They give loans, train people in handicrafts and starting small businesses and have even created their own currency so that it can be spent within the community and help the community.
The outside of the bank has a simple store front look with a sign on the stucco and a door to the right, no windows. You enter a large room with the cashiers to the far left. We saw some of the currency: one Palma equals one Real, we learned the reason for developing their own currency was to help the community invest in itself, to build pride in what they are accomplishing. We walked with the director out the back door through a beautiful and refreshing garden full of fruit and palm trees, tropical flowers, bushes, the path through it arranged so employees, visitors and customers could most enjoy it. The training pavilion is where we sat together, surrounded by the green gardens and sounds beyond the street, to hear more about the work of the bank. The buildings included a handicraft workshop, the pavilion for meetings, the offices of staff. Everywhere there were trees and flowers, paths and all kinds of nature to look upon and enjoy. What great care and pride went into creating this garden—it shows how important the work of the bank is to the people.
Our next stop was the women's community center organized by the women here. They have grown it into a place with an after school program, herbalist training and education, cooking, and handicrafts. We said hello to the children being helped with their homework and the herbalist trainer showed us some of the herbal products she makes and trains others to make. They also support women in their community who are abused or going through difficult divorces. One of the women who now works in the kitchen preparing food and training others told her own story. She finally decided to leave her husband who was abusing her and her friends at the women’s center helped her get legal advice, procure her safety, and plan how she would proceed. She feared for her safety so she and her children moved out of their home. This friend, she said, stepping over to another lady and putting her arm around her, offered her a place to stay until the divorce was finalized. It took about six months for the divorce to be finalized, all that time she lived wih her friend and her children had to live separately. She removed her glasses and dabbed her eyes as she told the story, hugging her friend, who hugged her back. As we continued talking about the programs here she left for a few minutes, her eyes filling with tears.
We returned to the local Methodist church where they have an after school program: part of the Shade and Fresh Water project (see daily blog post about the project on Tuesday September 26). We met the children who were shy at first but after their teacher led us in singing several get acquainted songs and games – including hearing everyone’s name and dancing with a partner! – we were all laughing and hugging. The children had learned a few English phrases, like “What is your name?” and they would keep asking until they remembered your name. Some of our names are much easier to remember and others difficult to pronounce in Portuguese. Another favorite question was “Do you like hamburgers?”
a paz do mundo comeca no meu coracao, no seu coracao, a paz! (Peace in the world begins in my heart, in your heart, the peace.) –repeat
Da um abraco no amigo (give a hug to your friend) Da um abraco pela paz (give a hug for peace)
and we go around giving hugs to at least six people.
Our dinner tonight was at a traditional tapioquiera nearby. It is a women's cooperative with about 20 vendors who make the traditional tapioca pancake filled with either savory meat/fish, cheese, egg or sweet (such as chocolate banana or guava jam and cream cheese) Teca tells us that it wasn't until the 60's that Brazil grew their own wheat and the northeast region did not use wheat traditionally, even though there was some imported. They used corn or tapioca to make flour. Teca grew up on an island close to the mouth of the Amazon and she did not have bread made with wheat until she was about 14. We watched the “pancakes” being made on the grill: they sprinkle the dry flour in a circle and the moisture in the flour helps hold it together forming the “tortilla.” The cook flips it once and then adds the filling and folds it over and wraps it up. The tapioca "tortilla" is served with hot coffee with milk. (We are going to a grocery store later this week because so many of us want to buy some of the delicious Brazilian coffee!)
When we were asked tonight to say where we saw God today we had to say just about everywhere, in every person, even in the restaurants where food was prepared and served with great care and love.
