Our breakfast at the Mistral
Hotel is a lo-o-ng buffet, a feast for the eyes as well as the stomach. Fresh
fruit like papaya, bananas, melon and pineapple. Several kinds of bread and
cereals, sausage and scrambled eggs. Pound cakes and custards, and delicious
Brazilian coffee. Afterwards Suzanne led
us in devotions, encouraging us to be still and listen. And we were off to
Central Methodist church.
We travelled through parts of the
city, watching the people and activity and finally pulled onto a quiet street
and parked. There was road construction on the street in front of the church so
we had to walk around the corner. It was as if we are walking on the beach withall
the sand;it reminded us of the city where we were and our purpose. We concentrated
on our footing as we crossed the street. When we looked up there was the church
anda beautiful ”Jornada Ubuntu” banner.
We felt so welcome. Then people began to greet us – so many people – and we truly felt at home. Almerinda, President
of the region’s Women’s organization and Bishop Maria Freitas, Bishop of the
region along with Pastor Emanuel of this church welcome us all to this workshop
on the prevention of violence. There are 15 churches from Brazil represented
here today at the workshop, not counting the 12 of us from 8 U.S. states. The
sanctuary is a refreshing respite from the heat of the tropical sun. Tall stain
glass windows and the lattice work concrete blocks above them are open to the
gentle breeze blowing in from outside. We are greeted with smiling faces and
greetings Bom Dia (good day) and Ben Vindo (welcome) and hugs from so many.
The program began with Almerinda
asking us to sing several songs and a prayer and our Ubuntu team is welcomed.
“Our reality is not very different despite our different cultures.” She went on
to say we arelike one body and in order for our body to work well we need all
its parts. Each of us is very important and unless we come together we are
never going to have a world without violence, a world without oppression of
women. Leila led the next part of the service with song and a round of everyone
giving welcoming handshakes and/or hugs to each other. Then we played a game –
cat and rats – to demonstrate how important it is to work together to help
protect our children and women against violence. Next Leila asked us to write a
wish, our biggest dream, on the small piece of paper the children handed out.
We folded the paper small enough to place each one inside a purple balloon
which we blew up and tied closed with our wish inside. As a symbol of putting
our dreams out into the universe and keeping them afloat, we tossed them into
the air. Each of us was charged with keeping them up, tapping them high into
the sky. When she called us to stop the game we chose one balloon and popped it
to read the message. Now we had English
speakers with Portuguese messages and Portuguese speakers with English
messages. There was a lot of translating going on! One group of teens was
determined to find the author of the English dream they had found. They found
her! It was Rita. Rosangela spoke about the
concept of Ubuntu as a way for people relate to each other: I am human because
you are human. “We came to share our
experiences and to hold your hand and we need you to hold our hand too.”
The first person to speak was
Andreia Costa, Coordinator of the Ceara office (the state Fortaleza is in) responsible
for fighting human trafficking. She explained that not only is Brazil very
dedicated to stopping this problem of trafficking but she personally, like all
of us, considers this work her mission. There are three important aspects of
combatting human trafficking: 1. Preventing, 2. Apprehension of the criminals
responsible, and 3. Assistance to the victims. This is such a serious problem
that many international organizations are getting together to try to help
prevent trafficking. There are 2.5 million victims of human trafficking
identified each year and 79% of them are women and girls. The reasons seem to
be economic (victims are searching a better life and are often misled),
discrimination, and technology (the internet provides the means of making
trafficking more available to more people). In Ceara there is a serious problem
of sexual tourism. Her government office is a small team but they are dedicated
to this work. Last night she went to the beach from 10 pm to 3 am to deliver
fliers to make people more aware of the problem.
Bishop Marisa Freitas emphasized
that this is important work we can all do. If we consider people who are
exploited as important we are putting Jesus in our lives. Our mission is not to
be in power but to serve. She prays to God that the little seed we are planting
today will change the church and the world.
Susie Johnson spoke representing
United Methodist Women in the U.S. She explained what is happening there and
what UMW is doing. She encouraged everyone to be vigilant in making sure that
once the laws are passed they are enforced. UMW now has a trained team of 23
women that educate others in their churches and communities about human
trafficking. We too believe the same three ways can help restore the lives of
those who are trafficked (prevention, apprehension of criminals responsible,
and assistance to the victims).
Sister Gabriella is a Roman Catholic
nun representing of A Cup for Life, an organization created by nuns in the
Catholic Church in 2006 to help combat such problems as domestic violence,
poverty and human trafficking. She believes there is still much educating to be
done, especially for people to learn to recognize the presence of these
problems within their communities. They like to work within their church, in
the schools and in the community to build awareness.
A number of people had good
questions after the presentations. We could tell that the group of about 100
people were very interested in learning more and discovering ways they could be
involved. An exciting end to the workshop! We adjourned to have lunch prepared
by the women of the church. We sat at tables in the open-air shelter at the
back of the church courtyard. We had a delicious meal followed by cashew or
strawberry ice cream. Many of us had the opportunity to chat with people there.
Rosa handed out “peace” bracelets to the young people, the same as the ones she
gave to the street children in Sao Bernardo do Campo. A group of teens were
getting many of our names so they could find us on facebook—then right away
proceeded to search for us on their phones.
After lunch we enjoyed making a few purchases at the little craft fair
set up in the courtyard.
Once we were back at the hotel we
had a little time to ourselves, to rest, watch Brazilian television, read or
communicate with family via email. One of our team (who shall remain nameless)
even went for a quick swim in the hotel pool on the roof. We met at the
appointed hour, refreshed and ready for our next event. Joining us now is
Andressa, a missionary from Salvador, who will stay with us this week and help
with translations and more. Because time
was short,for dinner we went to a grocery store kind-of delicatessen where we
chose hot savory filled pastries or delicious soups and more.
We were off
to Central Methodist again to participate in their 45th anniversary
celebration. Some memories of the night: wonderful music by groups from three
different churches that made us want to jump up and dance along, members
lifting their hands to God and jumping with joy, the little skit put on by the
youth group of one church. Bishop Marisa spoke eloquently of the good deeds Central
Church has done in its 45 years. After a few more songs of rejoicing, it was
time to go home.
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