Here to write about another successful week to put into the books. Monday morning Tom and I headed off to my project ready to finish painting out wall and figure out how we were going to get all the supplies we needed for our future fence. The gardeners continued to tell us that they were going to get a truck from their friend and we were going to buy things. The day continued on and there was no truck. Then by lunch time they told me after lunch we will go buy the items. So I headed up to their house to wait for this truck. I was overwhelmed by how kind they were to me while I was with them. They gave me something to drink and fed me lunch. All of it was amazing and I could not stop saying thank you. Then they showed me their Michael Jackson DVD that they had which made me laugh. We then somehow ended up listening to the Blues music channel they had on their tv (only large item they owned) so they could show me what English they knew. Now let me take a second to zoom out of this situation ------- I have worked with these people for the past couple weeks and have gotten to know fun facts about all of them. But then here I am sitting in a favela (slum) where they live looking around at how little they had. For the first time I got to see how they lived their lives which was a true honor. I couldn’t help but smile at how simple and happy their lives are. They are the most grateful, joyful and humble people I have met with barely anything. Sometimes I wish I could take this moment home on video to really show people what pure joy is. You won’t find it in all the things you own, or the clothes you wear. I think it comes from waking up every day and being thankful to start another day with your friends and family and not worrying about tomorrow.----- Long story short the truck never came and I was able to spend a couple extra hours with my new friends and even go meet Dora’s mom, which I still don’t know how I got myself into that journey to meet her ha. I walked home with a smile on my face and realized I am really going to miss them when I leave.
On Tuesday we finally finished the wall! Tom got some paint in his eye which was almost a bad situation but with perseverance we were able to finish the whole thing. The rest of the day was the usually picking weeds and watching Antonio clear weeds on the far side of the garden which gave me hope that the fence was still going to happen. On Wednesday it started to rain as soon as we got to the garden which brought our spirits down. We tried to get an update on the truck that they were going to have to get supplies but the communication barrier was not making it easy for everyone. I was trying not to get frustrated on how hard it was to complete tasks around here but I felt like we were running out of time to get things done. Tom and I ended up leaving the garden early and decided if we wanted to help them build this fence then we needed to find the supplies on our own. We started walking around the town going from shop to shop asking for wood in Portuguese. We finally found one that had wooden stakes in the back of their shop and they were perfect. We told them we would be by tomorrow to pick them up. We then found wire and were ready to build a fence the next day. I somehow lucked out on Thursday and had my friend Sophie who spoke Portuguese come to my project to help for the day. With her there everything went a lot smoother because we could all communicate and work together to get the supplies. Oh and guess what… WE STARTED BUILDING THE FENCE! I was super excited and cannot wait to continue this on Monday.
The weekend consisted of visiting places like the national museum, Maracana (stadium for World Cup 2014), zoo, beach, and a cable car through a favela. I got to check a good amount of items off my to do list which was good J It is now Sunday night and I am ready to start my last official week of volunteering. I say official because I will be around next week waiting for my travels to Peru to start so I will probably go to the Garden next week as well but not through the volunteer group. I am excited to finish the fence and pictures Tom has started on our newly painted wall. Thank you all again for the support with the Garden! Things are really coming along!
