Harvey Scholar Travel- Carmella in Brazil

Carmella- Brazil 2013

Itinerary

Friday: March 8, 2013

Met the rest of the team at DIA in the morning before our flight out to Houston. 9 hour layover in Houston to bond with the team before heading out to Rio de Janeiro.

Saturday: March 9, 2013

Arrived in Rio. We met Blake at the airport, who would be one of our guides and translators for the remainder of the trip. We all took a bus to Copacabana, where we would be staying. Met David and Drew on the beach before lugging our stuff to the hostel. Arrived at the hostel, settled into our rooms before changing and heading down to the beach. We all hung out at the beach for an hour or two before finding some dinner with a beach view. After dinner was our first experience with Brazilian juice stands. We stopped at one near our hostel that would become our nightly ritual. Each day a different flavor!

Sunday: March 10, 2013

Today was our sightseeing day. We woke up relatively early to our first Brazilian breakfast, which was mostly breads, some meats, and cheeses. We rode a few buses around town until we got to the base of the park in which Christ the Redeemer was located. We waited in line and rode buses for about 3 hours before getting to the top, but man was it worth it! Not only was the statue beautiful, but you got a 360 view of Rio from the top and it was breathtaking. Later we visited the "Hippie Market" and picked up some cool souvenirs. Dinner on the beach again after returning to the hostel, and of course juice.

Monday: March 11, 2013

Blake met us at the hostel for breakfast and then we took off on a combination of metro trains and buses to reach "Complexo de Alemão" or "Complex of the Germans". It didn't actually used to be occupied by Germans, it's just that the native Brazilians thought all foreigners with white skin were Germans. The guy who owned the hill was actually Polish. There we visited Community in Action, the local NGO we would be working with. We met Mike, who would be another guide and translator for the week. He explained the work that CIA was doing in the community and gave us a short Portuguese lesson before lunch. We had a "workers lunch" which was basically a box full of pasta, rice, meat, salad, and veggies that a typical Brazilian worker would eat. After lunch we got a tour of the favela via the gondola system. Each separate hill in the favelas had a station, and we rode around, allowing us to see the sights and experience a typical favela commute to work. After we went to Rosangela's house where we would be working on building the second story of her home, and visited Palacio Verde, the school where half of our group would be in the mornings. We also visted CUFA, a day-care type facility where the school group would be working in the afternoon. After meeting everyone and seeing exactly what we would be involved with that day, we called it a night and made the hour-long commute back to the hostel for another beach-side dinner and juice stand visit.

Tuesday: March 12, 2013

For our first day working in the favelas, we split up into two teams: Team Cobra Strike, which I was a part of, worked on Rosangela's house, and Team Potato worked in the schools. For Team Cobra Strike it was a long, hot day. Our supplies had been delivered (almost) to the house. We spent all day carrying cement bags, bricks, and sand up the steepest hill without stairs I have ever walked on. It was quite the sight, us Americans walking up and down the slum-town in the middle of Rio. Most of the neighborhood residents looked at us very confused, but some introduced themselves and asked why we were there, some gave us water, and some helped us carry supplies. It was definitely a great start to the week of building relationships. Rosangela cooked us all up a delicious lunch with plenty of leftovers. Home-cooked Brazilian food definitely makes my top ten meal list. Around 3 or 4 we met back up with Team Potato and headed home for beach time, dinner, and juice.

Wednesday: March 13, 2013

For our second day of work, we finally met José, the local brickmason we had hired. He was about 70 years old and had the wit of a teenager. He was cracking jokes and making fun of all day long, and made the work go by quicker. We were able to set a good solid foundation before it started pouring rain on us. We all got soaked and had to call it a day relatively early on.

Thursday: March 14, 2013

We continued working in the schools and on the house today. Most of the work on the house was very technical on this day and didn't require much assistance, so I went with Team Potato to Palacio Verde and we did a Q&A session with some of the kids. They got to ask us about what our lives are like on a daily basis, and we got to ask them about their lives as well. It was a really cool exchange of cultures. Afterwards we ate Rosangela's amazing cooking again before heading to CUFA, the daycare center. There we got some breakdancing lessons, as well as some graffiti lessons and got to run around outside with the kids for a bit.

Friday: March 15, 2013

We spent the morning putting finishing touches on Rosangela's house before heading down to Palacio Verde for our soccer match with the students. We didn't quite play up to par, but since we mixed up teams, it was a great time! We had lunch at the CIA house to say goodbye to Blake, Mike, and Rosangela before we departed. Before we left, Rosangela gave a thank you speech and broke down into tears and we all gave her a group hug before we headed back to the hostel. We spent most of the afternoon resting up and showering before our last beach dinner and juice stand visit.

Saturday: March 16, 2013

We visited Ipanema Beach today and got to shop for souvenirs as well as enjoy the water one last time. We ate lunch together before heading to the Rio airport and flying back home.

Reflective Paragraph

This trip was absolutely amazing. The culture of Brazil was so different from anything I had encountered before. The people were friendly, helpful, and never in a hurry. The food was delicious and the juice was heavenly. But besides the amazing culture I got to experience, I got to build relationships. While I wasn't interacting with as many people on a daily basis as Team Potato was in the schools, I really enjoyed the people I met. Our team members were all so fun to be around, and our guides Mike and Blake were phenomenally helpful and truly enjoyed having us there.

The most impactful relationship by far was meeting and working with Rosangela. She was so grateful to have us there everyday, working on her roof. She constantly offered us water, and food, and answered any questions we threw her way. When we had our send-off BBQ for lunch on Friday, and she stood up and said her thanks and tried her hardest not to cry, it really showed how much we had done for her. And as much as we had done for her, she had done equally as much for us. She was a shining example of gratitude and humility. She welcomed us into her home, introduced us to her family, and shared her food with us even though she had very little. Her example, as well as that of everyone living in the favelas, stood out.

When we interviewed a few of the kids living in the favelas, one of them said something that will always stick with me. "Even though life may be better in other places and people may have more things, I like it here. Even if I grew up and got rich, I wouldn't want to leave because everyone here is so happy."

I wouldn't have been able to go on this trip without the support of Mr. and Mrs. Harvey. Their passion for international humanitarianism has fueled my own desires, and I am grateful everyday to have such wonderful role models in my life. Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Harvey, for the opportunity you have given me to participate in this program and have these experiences, as well as for giving this experiences to others.