A World Without Internet

Simon and I on our last day!

So for the past couple days, not only has life been crazy, but we are currently in Rio where the internet is horrible. Which makes posting almost impossible with all of the running around we have done since we touched down. So let me pick up where I left off:

Steaks on the grill. Yummy!

Tuesday:
To celebrate all of our hard work we had a delicious Brazilian Bar-B-Que or a "charischo" (my spelling is horrible) but it was the best mean I have had since we first got here. With Steak, sausage and chicken on the grill it was amazing. We also had the traditional rice and beans with grilled plantains. The school had the party in our honor and it was a great way to start the day after class.
This was our last day at the school - and most of us were closer with these children, so that made the good byes even harder. After going to classes like a normal day the children pulled us into the chorus classroom where they had a performance for us with songs and dances as well as a scrapbook they had made in our honor. It was so touching and mean the world to our group that we were able to help and influence their lives. After all of the songs, dances and gift presenting we had to say goodbye, which had a lot of tears. Throughout our stay in Vitoria I had become really good friends with another set of twins, Lieze and Tieze, who are the sweetest girls I have ever met and they gave me a cute card and a tearful goodbye and in exchange I gave them Crayola Twistables and tears as well. They as so sweet and I am so thankful that I was able to meet them.

Lieze, Tieze and I on the last day. 

Wednesday:
We were able to tour another factory that is a sponsor of the institute and were able to tour their facility. The factory was Arcelormittal, a steel coil factory that produces some of the largest amount of processed and unprocessed steel in the world. We were not allowed to take pictures while inside their grounds, but we did get a cool sway bag and a great bus tour of all of the processes involved. We were also able to see some sea turtles as well as a crocodile. They were a part of the area that is considered a nature preserve. With them providing lunch, which was the equivalent of 7th grade all over again, with the metal trays and tons of people starring at you get your food. We then had the afternoon off to get anything done that we needed to before we left for Rio. For me that included a visit to the pool, then and intense packing session (that turned into a nap) then packing then a quick dinner and finally bed at 8 pm we were so exhausted.

These are everywhere in Rio!

Thursday: (aka The day from HELL)
The rented van to take us to the airport was due to arrive at 6 am so we had to get up at 5 am to get ready and take everything we own downstairs. After waiting in the lobby for almost and hour for the vans we called them to find out that they thought we were leaving tomorrow so.... all 15 of us had to take taxis in small groups to the airport. Which was very interesting because Brazilian drivers as scary and do not care for traffic signs, signals or laws. When we arrived at the airport it was already 7:20am and our flight was set for 8 am..... well after we got our tickets the plane was delayed for 30 minutes for weather and we were so happy..... until everything hit the fan. A 30 minute wait for a plane turned into 3.5 hours at the Vitoria airport reading, playing cards, trying to sleep and sitting on the cold floor. The fog in Rio was so bad that they were not letting any planes leave or land there. So after the fog cleared we had to wait for a plane from Rio to fly to Vitoria, then get on and fly to Rio. We finally boarded a plane at 1:00 pm and set off for Rio. However while in the air, the domestic airport was closed down for good due to fog, so we were rerouted mid air to the international airport.... which is 35 kilometers from the other airport and 45 kilometers from our hotel. After contacting the van people and getting everything in motion we were on our way through Rio. It was so amazing to see a completely different side of Brazil that what we had experienced in Vitoria. The sheer numbers of people around every corner reminded us of Atlanta and New York with all of the hustle and bustle that goes on in large cities. Our hotel is really more like an apartment with a nice kitchen, two bunk beds, a queen bed (which I lucked out to get) and a great view of the building next door. Not. But none the less Rio has got one of the most interesting cities I have ever been in. After all of the travel trouble we finally got to eat lunch at 3:00pm at a local burger place that is really delicious and then we took at tour of the neighborhood. Five hours and four miles of walking later we had seen the beach, the city, and Americans for the first time since the airport when we first arrived. We have also been privy to see the construction and developments being made for the World Cup and the Olympics, plus the rioters that are taking to the streets. Most of us went to bed like grandmas (~8:30 pm) due to the long day that we had.

Today (Friday):
It was the best day ever!! We had to wake up at 6:30am, but it was worth it. Our tour of the Christ on the Mount tour was scheduled for 8am, when it first opened, and when we arrived we were the only ones there. We were able to take so many pictures and see everything without being shoved around of having to fight for space. It was so remarkable. We then went to the famous favela, Roshina, and were able to tour and take pictures there. This was one of my favorite parts, because you were able to see the real daily life and struggles that are ongoing in Brazil. After the favela, we went to Sugar Loaf Mountain, which is a huge mountain in Rio, which requires sky buckets to get too and was a great view. After that then we had a lunch break and then another tour. This tour however was really a scouting mission for the next year's Mercer on Missions tour. Most of us were so wore out that we did not feel like going on this part, however it proved to be one of the greatest experiences of my life. When we got to the site, a local baptist church, we saw this institute that mirrors Joao XXIII with supplemental classes and activities to aid children in their favelas. After meeting some of the children, answering questions and seeing the facility, we had the offer of a lifetime: To go up into the favelas at night while being escorted by the president of that local community. We could not pass it up, so we all geared up and climbed two miles up the steepest hill I have ever climbed in my life ( it was steeper than stone mountain and the highest incline on a treadmill) and we walked into the favela at night. What we say was amazing, the whole community came out and was interacting with each other and the children followed us asking questions and making fun of us for being tired after the hike. We then got to see some dances native to the area as well as a dance battle. Even after all of that climbing we were only half way up the favela, when we were offered to go to the top ( normally the place of the drug lords but they were cleaned out ) so we said yes. We hopped in the back of a truck and made the trek up to the top of the mountain that these people called home. The view from the top was spectacular, so much so that words cannot describe it and my camera could not properly capture the awe that it had on all of us. We were able to see the whole city, and all of sub burbs, neighborhoods, buildings and surrounding cities and favelas for miles. We then got to ride back down, say good bye to our new friends from the church and come back to the hotel. Today was such an amazing experience and I am now saddened by the fact we leave tomorrow. Even though I am going through some major chickfila, sweet tea and America withdrawal, Brazil has captured my heart. People here are so loving, caring and generous when they have nothing. Tomorrow the plans are going to the beach and soaking up as much of the sun and the culture as we can before our flight at 9:30 pm. It is going to be another long day, but I don't think I will regret one minute of it!
Alexis

Me and Jesus!

Roshcina Favela

A meat vendor in the favela.... 

A favela at night! 

The Christening of the Garden

Vitoria! 

So today was our last day with the kids who come to the institute on Mondays/Wednesday, tomorrow we will say farewell to the Tuesdays/Thursday kids, also today we had class in the morning and discussed the local news and current events that are making headlines in Brazil.

With the world looking towards Brazil for the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016 there are so major changes that are on going in this developing country. The arenas that are being built for these two major world events, the World Cup Stadium has already cost the federal government over 1.5 billion dollars  and it is rising every day. Brazil states that this is going to be the most expensive arena that has ever been built for a cup event - however this calls into question: Who will be buying these tickets for these games? With the minimum wage of workers being $625.00 Real per month and many people living under that amount - who is this stadium really for? Some news casters say Europeans, some say the Brazilian upper class; none the less this is costing the government some big bucks that they may not receive back in predicted revenue. In South Africa, after spending millions of dollars on their wonderful stadium, they only received a little over one third of the total stadium cost in capitalism in the economy. On top of all this there has been known political corruption in the Brazilian government for years that plays a very large part in the inequality of the distribution of wealth as well as the lack of opportunities for citizens to increase their socio-economic status. All of this has caused so much tension in the country that there have been riots and protests in the streets for days now. Riots in Sao Paulo, Rio and Brasilia and now we have seen and heard of more (hopefully) peaceful protests right in our own backyard of Vitoria. Led by students attending Vitoria University and other neighboring schools and interest groups - a five mile long protest has taken the streets and caused quite a traffic jam. We were told we could not attend this gathering in fear that violence may occur. In Sao Paulo two days ago a peaceful protest about the increase of bus fair ended in a bus being set on fire and pushed down a street. This is doubtful to occur in Vitoria - however these other cities have set the stage for the police (which are military based in procedure) so if something small were to happen the chance for over reaction by authorities is high. So we have been told to stay away for safety reasons. Now onto the sappy stuff.....

Brinna signing a shirt

On our last day with the children of m/w we got to re-enter the classrooms with them, something we have not gotten to do much due to the project and its demanding schedule. It was so much fun and it was great to interact with the kids and just get to know on a more personal level. After a whole afternoon of classes, we officially commissioned our garden and gave the kids a small and brief lesson on how to take care of it, yourself and the community. We are hoping that through encouraging the kids to get involved in the garden and make it theirs that the area will be maintained and will attempt to unite the community. They were so grateful and made us a huge banner for us to take with us and share with our university. It was a very emotional day and the kids gave us hugs and wanted us to sign their shirts like we were superstars. It was so sweet and I am going to miss these children so much! They have made such a huge impact in my life, I can only hope that I have done the same to them!
Tomorrow will be our final day at the school, so the waterworks will be in full effect. The school is also throwing us a bar-b-que Brazilian style as a way to say thank you for all of our hard work. So I am looking forward to that as well as the steel mill visit tomorrow.
Until the next emotional good bye tomorrow,
Alexis

Kelly and John

Me and the twins, so precious!

Our First Day Off!

Laura and I after the festival- I got a new headband!

So today was our official first day off! YAY! We did have an assignment due at 10 am but most of us finished it Friday night so we could sleep in for once. It was a pretty calm day at first with a late breakfast and then a trip to the pool - only to find overcast weather and the potential for rain. However Kelly and I made the best of it and "laid out" for 3 hours in some sunlight and basically took a nap. Then Kayla, Kelly and I visited the restaurant we first went to when we got to Brazil - and realized how much better food is when you are not paying for it (the first time we went there Dr. Spears paid) it was still good - but not as good as before. The fun part came when we all decided to take a walk on the beach and wanted to use our new cover ups........ so all three of us had Brazilian flags on our bodies as we walk around the beach and the people setting up the weekend festival.
Looking like tourist - we kept getting honked at and cat called from cars, trucks and even a couple buses.... only to realize that there was a Brazilian soccer game today at 4pm. Brazil versus Japan. Brazil ended up winning 3-0 in a very good game that we all watched crowed into one room in our hotel. After getting dinner at the festival and doing some shopping ( no Lou I will not tell you what I got you) we came back to the to the hotel to a pleasant surprise. A local engineering student who has been helping us in our service project offered to show us a true Brazilian night life, so we said yes.....
I have never been to a Brazilian night club and I will never go again. After walking into the club and seeing the 50 foot ceilings there are at least 700 people in this night club. Traditional Brazilian dances were done on the floor, by paid dancers but also by locals who knew them. Then there was a live band who played and got the crowd going. After a while, Kayla got pulled up on stage to dance with the band. The night ended with DJ and American music filling the room.
This place was so chaotic and full of dancing and drunk people (who would stop and state when they heard us speak english) anyways we had a great time and I will NEVER go there again but it was a great experience and will be something I never forget. We are all at the hotel now, safe and sound and gearing up for our interviews tomorrow. Until next time!
Alexis

The Project is Complete!

Our finished garden! 

So all of our hard work has finally paid off! After two weeks of digging, pulling weeds, laying mortar and planting things the garden is finally done. When we first signed up for this trip we had a different service in mind, but when we arrived the school came to us and hoped that  we would address another important need that they have. 

Next to the school is a set of stairs that lead into a neighborhood where many of the students live who attend this institute. Known for its drug activity and connections, the rocks next to the stairs provide a place for junkies to smoke crack and cause trouble. So we decided to clean the area up, add a garden and try to bring a sense of community into the area. Once our project began word spread like wild fire and people over the hills in the next neighborhood over knew of our goal to beautify the area and they we so supportive. We also had so many neighbors and on lookers praise our attempt to create unity and hopefully safety for the many people who use the stairs everyday. We know that our small project will not save the world, or even change the conditions that people have to live in - however we hope that we will make just a small difference in the association of the area we created. No longer will it belong to the druggies but to the children of the neighborhood, who will have a safe stairwell to use while traveling to school. We also hope that Joao XXIII will keep up the project and they are going to use it as a continuing education site to educate the students on service learning (which is apparently only an American thing) on the importance of giving back, sustainability and bettering the Earth. 

We have an interview with a local newspaper tomorrow to report our progress, inspiration and hope for the future. We are all excited and nervous (bc again, Portuguese is hard) but also cannot wait to see what our hard work does for the school and the children. On Monday we are going to the local Steel Mill, then having ribbon cutting ceremony for the garden. I am so excited and ecstatic about our progress. I will keep you updated in the internet allows, lol. Otherwise Happy Father's Day! 

Tchau, Tchua

Alexis

__________________________________________________________

Through out our project our group has become very close with each other as well as the student and faculty of the institute. They have been so kind to us and let us leave our mark on their campus, so that they can remember us and consider their school to be our home as well. Ry'van is our local artist and painted our Mercer emblem on their stair well. Go Bears!

Kayla, is a transfer student from UGA, who joined our trip as a stranger and has become a wonderful friend and a professional mortar-er. On Friday she single handedly laid three rows of cinder blocks and was in charge of the patch work  of the all as well as aiding in our plant placement and anti-thief strategy.

 Laura has been a great friend of mine for 4 years and is a fellow Alpha Gamma Delta. A new graduate of Mercer, she is completing her master degree in Environmental Engineering at Mercer - so she will not leave me yet. She has been such a great help in making this project come to fruition. With her know how and upbeat attitude she kept us going through the hot times! (but seriously, Brazil's winter is so freaking hot!)

 James and Kelly demonstrate team work here people. Kelly is so wonderful and is basically the best rock finder ever. (She has mad skill)

Shout out to Kelly - who is my roommate and has been a great friend, confidant and jokester on the trip.

Nick with the thumbs up because he basically just smashed a huge rock into little bits using a pick axe. That is how we roll in Brazil! 

Internet Where Have You Gone?

Sorry everyone, the internet has been very finicky for the past couple of days and would not let me post on the blog so here comes a lot of information at you guys!

Journeying into the Favelas

The Favelas of Vitoria

On Monday we were able to take an actual tour of the favela that surrounds the institute where we have been doing our service project and where many of the children who attend Joao XXIII live. I can honestly say it was one of the most eye opening experiences of my life. We were accompanied on the tour by a social worker who works at XXIII and she was our guide through this favela that few outsiders are privileged to enter.  There were also a few other members that came with us that were architecture students and gurus who came to inspect the structural foundation of the favelas and offer their services to aid the people in constructing safe houses. The group set up a tour of an actual home with one of the little girls who goes to the school.

The entrance to Vanessa's

Her name is Vanessa and she is about 9 years old. I have been playing chess, learning portuguese and getting to know her for the past week and I had no idea what this little girl lived through everyday. Vanessa lives with her grandmother and her great aunt - her mother left shortly after she was born never to heard from again and her father was arrested for gang activity. The "house" she lived in was behind someone's house in an alley that connected to the main road. With rusted bed frames, old ladders and garbage lining the walls of the ally we had to watch all of our movements just trying to get a glimpse into her world. The house consisted of 2 rooms, a small kitchen with enough room for a stove, small broken sink and one counter with rusted appliances all over it and a bedroom/living room that had a twin bed and a full bed pushed up next to each other with a bureau and dresser less than three feet from the beds. The whole house seemed artificially damp because the roof is so old that in the last bad storm some of it came off, so the rains that have been occurring here basically every three days have been running into their house and soaking everything that they own. The bed had damp sheets and pillows on it, the walls were peeling from the condensation and the toaster over was rusted from water exposure. The bathroom was a room right next door where you showered while hovering over the toilet and also had the same rain water leakage problem. Vanessa's grandmother makes homemade ice cream like popsicles and sells them on the street, she makes about $125.00 Reals a month. From this she has to pay for personal medicine, take care of another adult and raise a child. As she was telling us about her daugher's struggles and raising her granddaughter, I could see the tears in her eyes that she was trying to hide under her straw hat and all of the pain and stress she deals with on a day to day basis.   Being able to take a peak into Vanessa's life has forever changed mine.

The community center

The next part of our tour was to the local social services office, where those families, like Vanessa's, who are struggling can register for Brazil's Bolsa Familia plan (where kids get ID cards and are given aid based on the number of registered children you have and that attend school) as well as basic food rations, Brazilian rights courses and classes on how to get involved in society. The people working there have such a deep understanding of favela life that the rows and rows of endless houses to us, are individual families that they know and help everyday. After the social center we were able to tour the school not far from the institute, where many of the children attend.

A mural in the school

The school was built in 1946 and according to the principle has pretty much remained the same except for some minor improvements - however most huge ideas that were created for the school, ie. new annex, were never followed through due to the government and a space issue. Going to a Brazilian school was so surreal, it was loud and the children were out of control in their classrooms and randomly kids were walking around the school. We were able to look inside the rooms and one small room had about 50 kids all crammed around the sides of the walls sitting down just talking, yelling and messing around, after we left we were told that is where kids from the AM classes go all day when their parents cannot get them because they are at work. All day from 7 am to 6 pm they sit in that class room and wait for their families. After touring the school we saw three or four small kites (pipes) flying in the sky,  we were then informed that those kites were showing the drug affiliates where we were and they had been following us all tour long. Flown by boys around the ages of 9-13 they were scouts recruited by the drug gangs to just see what we were doing and where we touring while out. No harm was ever going to come to us while with locals and we were given permission - by whoever - to enter this well guarded community. We were not allowed to take pictures while in the school, just fyi.

The steps people have to climb to get to their houses

The favelas that over look Joao XXIII

This tour was the highlight of my trip so far and really showed me what our whole project was about - getting the community involved in enriching the lives of it's citizens and children. Through our beautification project we hope to inspire, even it is just one or two, people to realize the importance of community in the positive sense of the word and to be invested in what is happening and who is in control. Again, this is just a hope, but through the reactions from our project already, I can foresee it becoming a reality!
Tchua, Tchua!
Alexis

Happy birthday Tom Tom!

Today is my Tom Tom's birthday. He is one of the greatest men I have ever known and I am so thankful to have him in my life! I love him so so much and I wish him a very happy birthday all the way from Brazil!