Back to your regularly scheduled program
Sorry that I was unable to post to the blog last week. I was pretty busy helping with the Volunteers in Mission group from Randolph-Macon College and the radio internet connection at the Methodist Camp in Nova Almeida was extremely slow--when it was working. I hope to be able to post a few pictures of the group and the summer camp we hosted for the kids in the Nova Almeida Shade and Fresh Water Project, but I first have to install software at the community center to be able to directly download pictures from my camera (my laptop is in the shop for repairs).
This group was the largest Volunteers-in-Mission group that I've helped with to date (24 students, 2 professors and 1 parent), and they were unique in that the students were participating in a class on service. Although their university is Methodist, not all of the students were Methodist or even necessarily Christian. They were coming to help host the annual summer camp for the kids in Nova Almeida plus do some yardwork (clearing overgrowth) and paint the new dormitory (where we were staying).
The team of 10 people (including me) from Belo Horizonte that was traveling to help with the summer camp left Sunday the 14th on the overnight bus to Nova Almeida. We arrived the next morning, and several of us proceeded to walk to the camp, which was about 3/4 mile away. The others with really heavy luggage without wheels waited for the caretaker of the Methodist camp to come pick them up in his car.
You may recall that I mentioned earlier on this blog how the human courier system is very important in Brazil for getting things from one place to another. This trip was no different. Our group was carrying frozen entrees as well as computer equipment to be delivered to Nova Almeida, and the American group was carrying computer equipment, suitcases to be returned to Belo Horizonte, stuff a former volunteer was sending to the folks in Belo Horizonte and stuff my parents were sending to me for Christmas.
The critical phase of the dormitory construction was completed only a few hours before the group arrived, and my supervisor and others were running around trying to clean it up and get everything ready in time. The students arrived Monday night, planning and registration for the summer camp was on Tuesday and the kids started participating on Wednesday. Nova Almeida is a sleepy beach town that wakes up a bit during the summer high season, but it generally does not receive a lot of foreign visitors (especially not Americans) so the group attracted a lot of notice everywhere they went. The residents of Nova Almeida were generally very friendly and curious, asking where the group was from, why they were there, etc.
We were not the only people in town from Belo Horizonte, however, because two large families from my church were renting houses for their vacation. That especially came in handy when we were walking with the group into "downtown" and I had a wardrobe malfunction after pulling on a loose thread in my halter-top. Thankfully, I was able to borrow a top from my friends as we passed their vacation house and re-join the group. The families also came over to the camp to play soccer with everybody a couple of times.
I'm torn at this point because I'm pretty hungry (and have no food at home and need to stop by the grocery store), so I want to keep this brief. I'm thinking I'll post Part Two tomorrow. To be continued...
This group was the largest Volunteers-in-Mission group that I've helped with to date (24 students, 2 professors and 1 parent), and they were unique in that the students were participating in a class on service. Although their university is Methodist, not all of the students were Methodist or even necessarily Christian. They were coming to help host the annual summer camp for the kids in Nova Almeida plus do some yardwork (clearing overgrowth) and paint the new dormitory (where we were staying).
The team of 10 people (including me) from Belo Horizonte that was traveling to help with the summer camp left Sunday the 14th on the overnight bus to Nova Almeida. We arrived the next morning, and several of us proceeded to walk to the camp, which was about 3/4 mile away. The others with really heavy luggage without wheels waited for the caretaker of the Methodist camp to come pick them up in his car.
You may recall that I mentioned earlier on this blog how the human courier system is very important in Brazil for getting things from one place to another. This trip was no different. Our group was carrying frozen entrees as well as computer equipment to be delivered to Nova Almeida, and the American group was carrying computer equipment, suitcases to be returned to Belo Horizonte, stuff a former volunteer was sending to the folks in Belo Horizonte and stuff my parents were sending to me for Christmas.
The critical phase of the dormitory construction was completed only a few hours before the group arrived, and my supervisor and others were running around trying to clean it up and get everything ready in time. The students arrived Monday night, planning and registration for the summer camp was on Tuesday and the kids started participating on Wednesday. Nova Almeida is a sleepy beach town that wakes up a bit during the summer high season, but it generally does not receive a lot of foreign visitors (especially not Americans) so the group attracted a lot of notice everywhere they went. The residents of Nova Almeida were generally very friendly and curious, asking where the group was from, why they were there, etc.
We were not the only people in town from Belo Horizonte, however, because two large families from my church were renting houses for their vacation. That especially came in handy when we were walking with the group into "downtown" and I had a wardrobe malfunction after pulling on a loose thread in my halter-top. Thankfully, I was able to borrow a top from my friends as we passed their vacation house and re-join the group. The families also came over to the camp to play soccer with everybody a couple of times.
I'm torn at this point because I'm pretty hungry (and have no food at home and need to stop by the grocery store), so I want to keep this brief. I'm thinking I'll post Part Two tomorrow. To be continued...
posted by Christine Piggee at
2:56 PM
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