Our Ubuntu journey has begun! Last evening at the Miami airport we all met for the first time. Only a few of us knew each other before Sunday night but our interests and experiences have brought us together to learn and grow in ways we have only begun to imagine. We arrived early morning in this city of 18.5 million people. Sao Paulo is the largest city in the Southern Hemisphere. Our home away from home is Sede Nacional da Igreja Metodista, the Brazilian Methodist Church Headquarters. Our rooms are warm and sunny, the hallway flooded with sun from the skylights overhead. Nothing can compare, however, with the warm and sunny reception we have received from our Brazilian sisters. After settling in we met in the dining room for breakfast of fresh mango and pineapple slices, bread and cheese, juice and Brazilian style coffee – yum.
After devotions led by Meredith, Lee shared some thoughts on our purposes here and her hopes for our time in Brazil. Ubuntu is a connection to UMW mission, an expanding of our understanding about the daily lives of our sisters around the world. Our Ubuntu Explorer journey is the first one with a theme: violence against women and children, in particular domestic violence and human trafficking. We pray God will open our eyes and hearts to all that our new experiences will offer.
We enjoyed a Brazilian lunch at Picanha Grill, a churrascaria around the corner from Sede Nacional. This included a delicious buffet served as the backdrop to a variety of gaucho-style charcoal grilled and salted meats brought to the table and cut for you at your choice. Many of us also tried fried pineapple and fried banana and a popular local fruit drink, guarana, for the first time. After a brief rest from our short night we met with Rosangela Oliveira, UMW regional missionary, and Maria Teresa (Teca) Greathouse, GBGM missionary and VIM national coordinator, who will be with us for the whole trip. We reviewed our agenda for the two weeks, mapped out carefully by our Brazilian and American leaders, and as a team began to make the more detailed decisions related to our activities. Following this several members shared more information about human trafficking in the U.S. and what they individually and the Women’s Division of UMC collectively are doing to help raise awareness of this serious problem. We were joined by Susie Johnson, Women’s Division Executive Secretary for Public Policy. We finished with a list of books and other resources we can use to spread awareness once we are home.
After a refreshing supper of soup and sandwiches Suzanne led us in devotions. We concluded with thoughts on our first day and what we hope to gain from our time in Brazil. Here are some of our comments:
“a better understanding of the causes of human trafficking so I can go home and really empower others”
“how even tiny steps in the right direction can be accomplished”
“it is inspiring to see the interest in your faces [about this issue so important to me]—this is already more than I expected and there is more to come”
“I’m hoping to be open: coming face to face with the stories will be difficult but I pray I can be more Christ like”
“this afternoon was very eye-opening and I know the rest of the time will be even more”
“I want to get a new/better perspective on human trafficking from another culture and learn ways they are dealing [with these issues] to take ideas back home”
“I know the Brazil side and want to know more the US side [so we can] all grow stronger and support each other in this work”
“I want to broaden my insight of human trafficking, to immerse myself in another culture and learn commonalities I can share when I go home”
“I want to remember the passion I felt about Ubuntu when I studied with Desmond Tutu—to find it again [and apply it to my life now]”
“I’m hoping for healing for myself and for others, to find some tangible ways to make my life/my ministry [even] more meaningful”
“I am expecting we will become a part of a much bigger community than we thought—harness our power of transformation”
“I believe God is in this work we are doing. I hope to gain patience and [find ways to] keep the hope alive that we can make an effective change in the world”
“[as a professor of mine told me, I hope that] instead of always drying the floor we can find ways to fix the faucet causing the leak”
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