I Caved

I wasn't sure I would blog about my time here, but I feel I have enough to say, and it will probably be more efficient information-sharing for my friends. 

That said, I will quickly bring this blog up to speed. I graduated with my undergrad degrees from IU in May. I moved to Lauro de Freitas Brazil on July 31. My family has been living here for two years as ex-patriots because of a job transfer for my dad (he works for Ford Motor Company, whose South American headquarters are in Salvador). They live fabulously wealthy lives in this country, because most things are so much cheaper. I don't speak Portuguese, but I'm learning and taking classes. My sisters are now fluent, so anytime I'm with them, they translate for me.


I wanted to find some sort of volunteer opportunity down here in order to make my time productive and worthwhile (but I didn't want to teach English). I recently found exactly what I was looking for. I volunteer three mornings a week with the Missionaries of Charity, a catholic order founded by Mother Theresa. They have a house in a favela in Salvador that functions as a permanent home for abandoned women and a daycare of sorts for children. The women have been abandoned primarily because of physical or mental handicaps and are able to live the rest of their lives in the home. The children are 1-3 year-olds from the favela whose families cannot afford to take care of them or feed them during the day. They come to the home during the day on weekdays for food, supervision, and hygienic care. They have to stay with their families during the weekend, so at the beginning of the week, they are usually rowdier and often sick. I mostly work with the children or doing random cleaning chores for the home. It's hard, exhausting work - most of the time it's just me, one Brazilian woman, and one sister taking care of around 20 children, all 3 and under. Sometimes it is just me watching all of those kids while the others are cooking or cleaning something or taking care of one child's problems. But I love it. I  already love these kids so much (even though I usually get bit at least once). 


My time here is a juxtaposition of extreme wealth and extreme poverty. It's an interesting place to live, and I'm excited to see what the rest of the year has in store.