A little bit of the language is a dangerous thing....! On Thursday (8th July) P came back from the office at lunch-time and announced that the house next door to The Salvation Army hall was up for sale. I was so excited - every time I walk past that house I pray that we will be able to buy it one day (I also pray for the land behind the hall as well). I went round to the house in the afternoon and got a telephone number. One of our soldiers phoned the owner on Friday and sent a disappointing e-mail to us. Apparently, we had completely misunderstood the sign - they are selling a mobile home and not their house. This isn't the first time we have got things wrong.
On 26th June we were invited to a wedding. It was a lovely way to spend our own 11th wedding anniversary. After the service we spoke to the father of the groom. I said to P wouldn't it be good if we could say something like, 'You must be so proud of your son'. We try to keep conversation simple as we are not at all fluent in portuguese yet. P was confident he knew the word for 'proud' so he spoke to the father of the groom who gave him a strange look and said, 'No' in a kind of embarrassed manner. Fortunately, P realised that he had got his words muddled up and correcting his portuguese spoke again to the father of the groom who then looked very pleased and agreed wholeheartedly. I am so relieved P was able to correct his mistake because he had originally said, 'You must be very ashamed of your son' - which would explain the rather gracious but embarrassed response.
This week we have applied to start a portuguese language course in Sao Paulo.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Day trip to Niteroi
When I wrote my last blog on May 6th I had no idea that I would have the opportunity to meet some of the survivors of the disaster in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro. A few weeks ago I was invited to attend a training course called, 'Developing Tools for work in the Community' and during the week we spent a day in Niteroi. My group visited an old barracks where 415 people from Bumba (the favela that experienced the mud slides and gas explosion in April) are currently living until they are re-housed in more permanent accommodation which the government has promised to provide.
While I was there I had the opportunity to talk with a lady, J, who was sitting on the steps of one of the accommodation blocks. E and P were with me and P helped me with translation. I learnt that just providing shelter, food and toiletries is not sufficient although it is a good place to start. Each family living there is given R$ 400 a month from the government. They do not need to pay rent and all their meals are provided. This may sound like a good deal to western ears but living in community brings with it many issues. They have to eat meals together at set times and one of my colleagues spoke to a man whose work (taxi driver) meant that he often missed meals and without a kitchen of his own he was not able to cook his own meal.
J was worried about safety for her 11 year old adopted daughter and she said that she felt more secure living in her house on the favela than she does living in this community. She has considered returning to her home because only half of it was destroyed - the other half is still standing. She still feels very sad and often cries. She thinks about the children who died whilst waiting for their parents to collect them from the school - the children who were collected early are still alive. On that day J was at the bar with her husband when someone came and told her that somethng had happened to her house. Before the disaster happened she had told her friend that she thought something bad was going to happen and after the mudslide her friend remembered this. She said that she believed in God so we prayed with her before we left. After the prayer she thanked us for listening to her story and she asked if someone could come back to see her. This is possible because the officers and soldiers of Niteroi Corps were heavily involved in the emergency operation and have a long term goal to work with this community. On the same day we had the privilege of attending a public ceremony with the Fire Department where the DC of the Rio de Janeiro Division received a medal on behalf of The Salvation Army for the work of supporting the emergency services at the disaster area.
Please pray that God will open doors into this community for Niteroi Corps and please pray for J and the 415 people living in temporary accommodation.
While I was there I had the opportunity to talk with a lady, J, who was sitting on the steps of one of the accommodation blocks. E and P were with me and P helped me with translation. I learnt that just providing shelter, food and toiletries is not sufficient although it is a good place to start. Each family living there is given R$ 400 a month from the government. They do not need to pay rent and all their meals are provided. This may sound like a good deal to western ears but living in community brings with it many issues. They have to eat meals together at set times and one of my colleagues spoke to a man whose work (taxi driver) meant that he often missed meals and without a kitchen of his own he was not able to cook his own meal.
J was worried about safety for her 11 year old adopted daughter and she said that she felt more secure living in her house on the favela than she does living in this community. She has considered returning to her home because only half of it was destroyed - the other half is still standing. She still feels very sad and often cries. She thinks about the children who died whilst waiting for their parents to collect them from the school - the children who were collected early are still alive. On that day J was at the bar with her husband when someone came and told her that somethng had happened to her house. Before the disaster happened she had told her friend that she thought something bad was going to happen and after the mudslide her friend remembered this. She said that she believed in God so we prayed with her before we left. After the prayer she thanked us for listening to her story and she asked if someone could come back to see her. This is possible because the officers and soldiers of Niteroi Corps were heavily involved in the emergency operation and have a long term goal to work with this community. On the same day we had the privilege of attending a public ceremony with the Fire Department where the DC of the Rio de Janeiro Division received a medal on behalf of The Salvation Army for the work of supporting the emergency services at the disaster area.
Please pray that God will open doors into this community for Niteroi Corps and please pray for J and the 415 people living in temporary accommodation.
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