Finally got a chance to write a bit of an update. I have had no internet for a week and been really busy, so it’s been impossible to write before.

Saturday

Was a great day. We travelled to another city called Itabarito to visit a project run by my friend called New Destiny. It´s an outdoor activity centre run by a scottish lady called Morvan who has lived in Brazil for about 15yrs. She has also worked with Ed & Gio in the past. So this project takes kids from the Favela for camps and gives them an amazing experience. It was a very moving visit for the team and also shows them more of the area as it´s a hour and a half journey.

Then in the evening we had a presentation from the people in charge of the rebuilding of Simones house project. At the meeting was a Journalist, architect, engineer and a Lawyer, all woman. This was a great group of people with a huge committment to the project and to Elias. They showed us plans for the house, how it was all going to happen and also how legally they were going to put the house in Simones childrens name so that if she died no-one could take the house away from them. I then told them of my involvement and the others said why they were there. There was a real sense of us all being a team together. The building will start Monday.

Sunday

We should have had a Baptism at a Lake but it has been raining constantly for over 24hrs! So as well as the rain the lake is flooded. Thankfully they cancelled it! So we spent the morning preparing the English classes we will do next week.

At lunch time we went to the Fazenda of Elias´s former primary school teacher and her husband and daughter. This is a farm but not like a farm we know, its basically cut back jungle with loads of fruit trees, sugar cane, sweetcorn and lots of cows & horses. We were again spoilt to pieces and had lots of food produced on the farm such as Orange Juice, milk, cheese, meat, cake made with Sweetcorn. everything was amazing. They´d made little messages for us in English to welcome us and when we left gave us chocolate with again another message! The couple who own the farm help Elias and the project by donating food, picking up food from the wharehouse, and others things. Then had church tonight. For several reasons today was a difficult day for me, also some cultural difficulties occurred for the team so I appreciate your prayers and support.

Monday

Spent time at the project talking to lots of kids throughout the day. It was a really special time getting to know some of them better. They helped us with Portuguese and we helped them with English! Phil helped with the 1st day of building Simones house. We went to check on the progress and started chatting to some of the men helping they are all from the community and most of them not in the church. They have all been in prison but respect Elias & Ricardo lots. It,s a really good strategy to involve them because as well as it being a way to just get along side them, the community need to accept Simones house without being jealous about it. Suddenly one of them produced a guitar and we had a singsong ha ha. Then straight after Ricardo got one of the young men singing to lift up his tee-shirt. he had a scar from his neck all the way down his stomach. He also had 2 gun shot wounds on his stomach and one right on the back of his neck. They explained he’s been shot by the drug traffickers 6 months ago. I have no idea how he is alive. After that Elias found him a job and he has turned his life around. That incident is a good example of life here, one minute you are singing & laughing, the next hearing the most dreadful of stories. Before Elias & the church arrived 2 murders A WEEK happened in Washington Pires!

Later that afternoon we revisited the elderly man who had the terrible ulcerated leg. We went with a friend of Elias who’s a pharmacist. Since our last visit the man had had an amputation above the knee and was already home the day after the op! This is because the family are expected to care for the patient and also the hospitals are not always very good! I was surprised to see the man was much more alert and able to talk. He was obviously very close to death the first time I saw him. Geraldo the pharmacist was great with him, took his B.P, blood sugar, checked him over, gave some pain relief and explained to the family how to care for the man and his stump. It’s scary to think that only 3 years ago before Elias arrived nothing like this would have happened.

Monday night was a BBQ at Elias house for us and some others we have been getting to know. An elderly guy at the church who has been with Elias since the beginning bought all the food and wanted to cook for us. It’s impossible to convey how much we are being blessed!

So yesterday was a different  day, but then we haven´t had an ordinary one yet. We´ve spent the day mostly laughting until we hurt and crying… actually the crying was just me ;o) I’m ok just get emotional about this place and the people.

Oi Todos,
Firstly, thank you for your kind emails encouraging me; it´s hard to express how much they mean when you are here. I’ve managed to borrow a dial up modem for a few minutes so can email but prayer for more internet contact would be useful please :o)

We are all okay.  Phil’s still a bit off colour and my stomach starting playing up 2 days ago but I can manage to carry on. We had a good day yesterday, with a long team time as there were some things that needed sorting out. It´s amazing how a trip like this makes people feel vulnerable and also not aware of cultural differences. However it’s all part of the experience; we are all ok and we are all laughing a lot as well which I think is a good safety valve!

Yesterday we went to the project and gave out food parcels, then 2 hairdressers came and cut hair for free – they do it twice a month, Loads of people came, especially boys who want a short cut with lines shaved in. The people doing it took a lot of care and gave a great service. We prepared more English classes and talked loads to kids. Phil helped some of the men with some physical work so he was very happy.

Then at lunch time there were 13 for food, as I met Cicero and his secretary who I’d met in April. He is a politician who helps Elias a lot. He was really pleased to see me again, but was a bit confused and asked where Edmilson was for the translation and even more surprised when I said “I’m it”, ha ha. We managed to chat though and he was really complimentary about my Portuguese …. which if you knew how much I knew would confirm God is at work, ha ha. Then we went to look at the football project for a bit. In the evening we went to church for the mid week service which again was great, loud and long! It was a very busy day o everyone was shattered.

We are still being looked after amazingly and escorted everywhere, which is good!  However you are soon reminded that this a tough place. We met a 15 year old yesterday who had been involved with drug trafficking. 6 months ago he was shot by them (not sure why) 5 times, twice in the head and is now blind and traumatised. He also has a huge dint in his head. Very very sad.  It’s so tough to be disabled here.  Elias also showed us yesterday the place where again 6 months ago a 16 year old was killed, it was on the dangerous side of the Favela.

On Tuesday a  TV crew came to record some stories from victims & families and show what needs doing and what the Town Hall are failing to do. It should be on TV next week.  It’s by a channel I watch at home so it might be on in the UK!

The whole area has so much need, but the church has a big vision, a big heart and works with passion and commitment, again reminding me of KK and Metro NY. I do love it here, I can’t help it, I do think it’s God.

A good prayer point would be for some time with Elias & Edmilson together as obviously I need a translator for the very detailed stuff.

Today we are going to Belo Horizonte to try to get more money out of a bank and show the others a quick city tour, then this afternoon there is a women’s church service and then in the evening there is talk of pancakes :o)

Thank you for your prayers and emails.

Message from Bernie in Brazil

Day One
Amazing welcome, we were met at the airport by Elias, Ed, & a couple of others and taken straight to a restaurant!

We are staying with Wendel, who has given up his home for us and has also taken holiday from work to look after us! They arrive first thing to feed us and make lunch for later in the day: the hospitality we are recieving is amazing. Things keep just appearing in the house that we need but have’t asked for! It’s like they can sense what we need.

Everyone is trying to feed us too much!

Day Two
7:30am: 3 people arrived to make breakfast and cook lunch for later in the day!

Then we had a very emotional look around the Favela. First we visited the project centre and saw people being given food packages. They are helping about 100 people a week now.Then we had a walk around and looked at where Elias wants to start with rebuilding people’s houses. He has 5 urgent ones to begin with. First they will rebuild Simone’s house, starting on Monday.  The old house has already been pulled down. The builders will be volunteers from the community – mostly people involved in drugs and with other problems and not attending the church. It will cost double because it needs adapting for the disabled. Then Elias explained they had 5 families they wanted to start with the rebuilding project.

So we visited the 2nd of the list. We climbed up a very steep hill of paths and steps, slipping in mud with a sheer steep drop to one side. In this house lives a mum with her 2 daughters one of whom is in a wheelchair. She only gets out of the home when she visits the hospital; she has no way of going to school. To get out, first the mum has to carry the wheelchair down this very dangerous path, then go back and carry her daughter. We all found the path extremely difficult and have no idea how she does it. The house had no electric light and a huge damp problem.

The 3rd house was a man of 80+years who had many health problems including huge ulcers on his legs. Again he is trapped in the house as he lives on a very steep slope with his daughter and granddaughters. He was obviously in a lot of pain and his surroundings weren’t comfortable at all.

We will visit the other two at a later date. All our hearts were full and it brought it home to the team the scale of the problem and what the project is trying to do. It’s impossible to get a true idea of the area from the photos and the team were shocked at the level of poverty.

Day Three
We are spending the day at Ed & Gio’s with the kids, relaxing and eating, ha ha. Then this evening we will go to church brazilian style, ha ha. We will say a little of why we are there and it will be good for me to connect with the church again, so many amazing people doing so much, with so little!

The first team to go out to Brazil is on the way.

Probably as I write they’ll be between their first and second flight on a marathon journey of (I think) four flights plus some doubtful public transport at the end.  Our prayers go with them for a safe journey – we know that there’s a lot of excited anticipation waiting for them at the other end.  We’ll try to provide updates on what they get up to as they go along.

Well, that was amazing – that Baraka Brazilian Ball went fantastically well, with around 120 people enjoying their three-course meal with live music, auctions (written, blind and live), professional photo-sessions with immediate printing, a prize draw, Zumba dancing and a disco as well.
The money raised is still being counted and sorted but it looks like the event raised over £4,000!

Thanks to all who attended and took part so enthusiastically and many thanks to Bernie and everyone else on the large team of people whose various skills and hard work came together to create such a great night.

Tonight’s the night for supporters, as the Baraka Brazilian Ball gets under way from 6:45 this evening. The band is getting ready, the room is being decorated, the kitchens are being prepared… as the clock ticks down to this fantastic event!

The auction and prize draw are looking brilliant, with many high quality items – so please do come along ready to spend good money to get real value.  We’ve managed to get some amazing donations that we hope will help to raise lots of money but also give the bidders good value for a whole host of items from holidays to presents and luxury items.

So get your glad rags on and come along for the best ball in town tonight!