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!

Less than 3 weeks before the first team goes to Brazil to encourage, support and practically help in the vision of the local church. Among other things, they will be helping to rebuild this favela (shown below), giving the family a chance to live in decent conditions that they deserve.  What a great gift that we are all part of giving.

Bringing hope into people’s lives. Watch this space to see how they get on……

Excitement is building as the auction list grows for the Brazilian Ball.  A small selection of the donated goodies includes:

• Travel including narrow boat trips, Cumbrian B&B and Thorpe Park nights
• Treat yourself with professional haircuts, pampering products, spa treatments, massages & facials
• Entertainment including tickets to dance, theatres, Doncaster Dome and paintballing
• Jewellery including a designer necklace, chain
• Foodie treats including luxury chocolate, Nibbles and Demouchel
• Loads of other items, even including a pink ukelele!

Please do come ready to join in – in one night you could sort your next holiday, early Christmas presents and treats for yourself as well as getting ‘brownie points’ with a significant other… and all benefiting this really worthwhile cause.

More news on the way soon – if you haven’t bought your tickets, the time is rapidly running out!  If you have ordered tickets, please make sure you have also passed on payment, if you haven’t already.

A big thank-you to the 100 or so people who have already booked into what looks like the event of the year!

The Genesis garden party was held on the 31st of July and was a great success with good weather encouraging around 90 people to join together for a huge barbecue, games and food stalls plus a bouncy castle.

Many thanks to those who came and those who helped.

The event raised £650, which is fantastic and will be used well.

Next stop… we get posh at the ball!

Washington Pires

Be one of the lucky 120 people to join us for a special evening of Celebration and Fundraising at the first…
Baraka Brazilian Ball!

Flyer for the Ball

The Baraka Brazilian Ball is raising money for the Genesis Community Project. Working in Partnership with our friends living in the Washington Pires favela/slum in the city of Ibirite in Brazil.

Get your glad rags on, Friday 7th October. 6:45pm-Midnight.
At the Thorpe Park Hotel events suite, Leeds 15 (map).

The evening includes a dazzling array of treats!
Drinks reception, 3 course meal & coffee
Live music, Charity auction, Zumba, DJ & dancing, prizes and more!

Tickets are £35 and are available from Garforth Bookshop
or email ball@barakaonline.co.uk.

Also see Baraka’s website.

If you aren’t sure just where Washington Pires is, watch this video.  It isn’t very good, but gives you an idea.  Alternatively, you can search for it in Google maps or Live maps.

Anyway here it is…

or if you want it in a new window… Zooming in on Washington Pires

Welcome to the website of the Genesis Community Project

We are a voluntary organisation based in Leeds in the UK and our aim is to work to improve the lives of people in favelas in Brazil. Specifically we have links with the Washington Pires favela just outside Ibirité, near Belo Horizonte and Contagem.
We will be adding more information and features to our website very soon, including details about the upcoming fund-raising Ball.

In the meantime, please feel free to get in touch with us at info@GenesisCommunityProject.org.uk or visit our Facebook page.