Saint Francis´s Trip to

Brasil

Mr. Marrion, Ms. Wilson, Owen, Christina, Clarinda,

Kelly, Heidi, Diego, Rohan, Isabel, Aidan, Kelly,

Franchesca, Lisa

The rest of out day was full of games, dances,

music and food. From musical chairs to a

game of futebol. The day was full of laughter

and joy and the drowsyness we fely coming in

was gone by the time we left. The short nap

we took after lunch helped too.

What I will rememebr from this day for

the rest of my life is how music, dance, games

and laughter can connect even the most

diferent of cutures. Dancing toghhther,

singing, playing games that are similar to ones

in our culture, there is no difference between

any race, skin color, way of life. Laughter is a

universal language, and we battling through

the language barrier brought plenty of it. We

are all one race of huiman beings on this

planet, even if we are seperated by oceans and

thousands of miles.

Exhausted, we begin the short walk over to

CECOIA, a progran for local kids before or

after they go to their clsases. We had just

gotten no more than three hours of sleep after

a grueling threee days traveling to Sao Paulo.

The moment we step into CECOIA, however,

the whole outlook changes. The kids gather

around to see us, and a few grab a

mircophone and excitely ask, “Hi, how are

you?” Then we are sat on the ground, and

some girls perform a lively dance

performance . It is fair to say that at this point

we are fully awoken by the energy these kids

were displaying. The language barrier proved

hard, but no difficult enough to stop us from

connecting with the kids and having a

fantastic time with them.

CECOIA

I was very excited to see Notre

Dame, because I had never been to

another Holy Cross school. I have

always thought what Holy Cross

schools would be like across the

world.

The campus was beautiful and

large, and reminded me a lot of my

school, Saint Francis. It amazes me

that the school has kids as young

as two and as old as eightteen on

the same campus.

Notre Dame Campinas

Futbol is huge here, as evidente by

their six or seven futebol feilds.

Back home, we have only one!

Another beautiful thing about the

school is all the plants and trees in

their quads. It is really a sight to

see.

The students had a band perform at

their break and they were fantastic.

They all were extremely talented

and played some great music. One

of my classmates Rohan even

joined them and jammed out to a

Metallica song. It was a lot of fun. I

am very appericative to all the

students and faculty at the Notre

Dame for being so welcoming,

With your precense and smile, you

can make their suffering more

bearable and brighten their mood

for a long time. The woman I talked

with told us all about her past,

growing up by a lake. You could tell

she was excited to just have

someone to share stories with,

about her childhood she still

remembers clearly.

We were treated with a

delicous meal at the parish and are

We, and several Notre Dame

students went to the Santa Clara

parish to vist several sick parish

members to provide spiritual

support. This was a very powerfuill

experince, and one that I will never

forget. We learned that sometimes

we may not be able to provide life

saving support for someone in need,

But sometimes the most powerfull

thing you can do is just be there in

the moment with them.

Santa Clara Parish

all very thankful for the Brothers,

cooks and Notre Dame students for

helping us along this expericnce.

We went to Lar Doa Velhinhos to

work with some elderly to play

Bingo. We had a fun time and

learned a lot about Brasilian culture.

It is a lot more affectionate than in

America, which was a big jumo. We

were hugging and holding hands

with the inhabitants of the home,

unlike in America where it is a more

hands off experince. I had a great

time and loved hearing many of the

stories the elderly had to tell. They

lived amazing lifes and it was a lot

of fun to hear about it. Bingo is

differnent in Brasil too! But we

figured it out and had a blast. The

hot chocolate was fantastic.

Lar Dos Velhinhos

Festa Junina is a huge deal in

Brasil and I can see why. We don´t

have anything really like it in

America. Full of food and festivies

we all had a blast. The highlight of

the festival for me was the candles

and fireworks at the end. It was so

powerful and unifying when we all

were holding the candles toghther.

The bonfire was very imprreseive,

The fireworks...

I love fireworks and this was one of

the best firework shows I had ever

seen. It was so close and and

exciting and was a thrill to watch.

Sorry for spelling mistakes, this was

written quickly

Thanks to everyone who made this

tríp possible,

Festa Junina