voice for change quick hit diaries

wooden houses in November 2005

here are some more pictures of the children we are looking after, the fishing in Cananeia and of the houses in the favela where we work taken over the past couple of days. below this is a record of the opening of the new room in the vila, whch was a brilliant occasion for us all. we have just one day left on this trip, and we will still fit more in, but it may be diffficult to post more information on the web until we return to the uk on monday lunchtime, because our access to computer faciclites will be limited. the team has been great, and we have all worked so hard, we are going home for a rest!! everyone has been brilliant, and it is thanks to every person that so much has been achieved here on this trip. If you want to know more about coming on a trip, or supporting voice for change please write to bex@dovetrust.com or call on 0845 1303 832.

the new room is great for every type of dance!














priscilla, carla and audrey -profesoras de danca














the ballet class - so professional














leigh-anne and keith at the opening of the new room















some of the people watching the dance show














the children loved their new dance floor

we opened the new 'sala' (room) at the vila today with a festival of dance and music. first , we spent a minute's silence and reflection in memory of Paul Hunter from Nottingham, who tragically died in September, but whose life had been touched by voice for change. Donatons kindly given by his family and friends have made all the work on this room possible, and now so many activities for the children of the favela can now take place there. it was a very moving ceremony, especially for those on the team who knew Paul, and all the voice for change brasil staff are really excited and thrilled at the transformation which has taken place over the last two weeks. The team's work at the favela is now over, and we have just given the children at casa branca a paddling pool to keep them busy over the long summer holiday which is just about to start here. The weather is cooler today, only about 28C!!!!

Leigh-Anne with Rafaella, who has started to speak this week, having come to casa dourada with trauma after serious abuse

Carla with the new duplo set
Margaret with Lucas, Carla and Juliana

team at local school open day with our children

kate painting at casa branca under carl's ladder
ellie working!!!

right denise and jhonathan at casa dourada

kate and carla at casa dourada

Narendar at Joinville on Wednesday

Here are some pictures showng the progress of work in the favela centre this week .......

The children at casa branca have just gone to bed, so peace reigns in the house for a few hours before they are up and about again. They have been singing and dancing all evening,and we have really enjoyed their company as they have sung the brasilian national anthem, jingle bells (is it really nearly Christmas in 33C degrees?) and lots more!! They have many learning difficulties and behaviour regulation problems but they are amazingly full of life, and affection, considering what they have been through in their short lives. The painters at casa dourada (Ellie, Carl & Malcolm) have finished their transformation of the outside of the house today, with the final coat having been applied. Before school today Denise and Kate made paper chains for Christmas decorations (Christmas trees are too expensive here) and the children enjoyed this, even though their attention span is so short. The main part of the floor at the vila centre has been laid, and Steve has begun to build a 'shed' for storage, with the help of Adilson, the local d-i-y merchant who loves our visits. Tomorrow Jackson will work on the border ready for saturday's dance performance by the vila girls who are coached by Audrey. They have been preparing for this and their show will make a great opening for the room. Margaret, Debbie and Ann, who have completed the team at the vila today, took a walk into the deepest favela at the end of the day - ánd have come back with a new view of what conditions here are really like for the poor ..... Sarah and Leigh-Anne were chefs du jour today and went shopping in the meat and veg markets to produce a superb batch of home-made burgers, chicken, guacamole, and salads, followed by mango, apricot and coconut crumble with ice cream! They also did housework, and gardening in the morning! We have just had a shower of rain this evening to freshen up the atmosphere! We have had very good weather this 2 weeks and we are quite tanned, not looking forward to British weather next week!

On Wednesday the team left Kate, Sarah, Carl and Debbie behind to carry on work at the vila (more of which later) to travel to Joinville, 90 miles south of Curitiba, to visit vfc's new project there, which has been started by Narendar Adkins. She moveed there in September, and is doing craft classes in the poorest area of the city every week, teaching how to make useful tems from recycled milk and juice cartons, used coffee filters, vegetation and anything else really!!! She is doing a very good job and the girls who come really enjoy ther time with her, it s really creative and therapeutic for them each week'. Narendar came to Brasil 3 years ago after visiting on a quick hit team, and started the vila work in Curitiba, which is now flourishing. It is still early days in Joinville, but she has started well there too, and we will look forward to its growth. The house where the class is held is a wood house with rotten timbers and a hailstorm recently made holes in the roof the size of tennis balls, so it is very uncomfortable when it rains there - most days from March to November. Ana lives there with her two teenage daughters, all sleeping in one small room. She also recently lost a third daughter, who died aged 3. She is a remarkable woman. The class meets there so that those who attend have no cost to get there. It was also very humid in Joinville, being at sea level, so it was a very tiring day for the team, which arrived back in Curitiba at 11.30pm! The rest of team which included Sarah, Debbie, Carl and Kate went to the Vila and helped Darla teach English. This included conversation with the children who asked many questions some of which were a little disturbing such as do we have lots of cross fire in England? Perhaps a normality for them! Karl was helping Jackson tile the new floor, worked very hard! We also fixed the net outside, which was extremely hot in the sun! We also had a walk around the farvella, which was somewhat of a shock. The housing is very basic and made our garden shed look luxurious. There is a lot to do here.

Tuesday, Week 2

As usual Darla had heer group of children at the villa, Leigh-Anne and Sarah went to help. A lot of stitching was done today on the netting to keep balls at bay. There was also some tiling that started off. At Casa Blanca the children spent the morning threading, playing with play dough, this carried on well into the aafteernoon when Erica and Fernanda provided us with lots of preteend goodies to ''eat''. Painting continued and the barbeque is nearly finished. Keith who has a bad sprain, is hobbing around and is forced to sit - unusual for him so has spent time with Casa Daurado children. Group painting, paper tearing and sand play were among the activities the children enjoyed eventhough the team nearly melted in the heat. The painting team are again in action and hope to complete at least one coat on the last wall.

An update on today's events. The team at the Vila did well with their painting. The team at Casa Dourada got on well with their painting despite the intense heat and being hampered by the workmen replacing the guttering. The children played with play dough and picture lotto. They particularly enjoyed making mobile phones and cameras out of play dough and pretending to use them. Even Raffa the two year old, got involved. The team at Casa Branca helped the children to do string paintings. The children here have a much greater attention span and are really enjoying the varied craft experiences that are being introduced. Kate is feeling much better and is up and about again. Rosie got thee last seat on a flight to Heathrow, and Keith has finally agreed to go and get his ankle checked out as it was quite swollen. As a team we are working very hard, but getting on very well together, for which we are very thankful.

we have had the weekend off from workng, everyone was very tired by friday, and needed a rest to recharge the batteries ready for this week's work. so we have beeen to cananeia for the weekend,aand this has been aa greeat success. the weather has been prfect, warm aand dry (except for one massive thunderstorm on saturday night). we will try to download some pictures later. a few people have been bitten by 'moutaka'' - a specially nasty mosquito, and a few are sunburnt, but kate has unfortunately been struck down again wth a migraine, and keith has twisted his ankle and is hobbling around at the moment. much worse, we are arranging for rosie to fly home today, where her grandmother has been taken very seriously ill and she needs too see her urgently. rosie is very upset, but hopefully she will make it in time. she can travel alone but it will be a long and lonely journey. she is due to spend 5 months here after we left, so her plans are in disarray. the rest of the team is working at the vila, putting on a second coat of paint to the walls they have plastered (steve, ann and debbie); at casa dourada the team (sarah, margaret, malcolm and carl) is working with basic skills for the children (whose teacher has not turned up at school today, so they dont go!! - this is a common problem); at casa branca they are doing alphabet and number work, as the children we have here are so far behind with their learnng, they all have special needs - denise, leigh-anne, keith, rosie will paint this afternoon when these children go to school. then they will prepare food for the team tonight. the vila team will go deeper into the favela today to see the worst conditions which people are living in. we hope to send some pictures this evening.

the weather here today is hot again and very sunny.

Hi
Hope you enjoyed your weekend away? and are fit and ready to start work again today, on the different projects.

Norwich City 2 - 0 Luton town Hudges and Huckerby scoring. good game moved up to 15 in table. Thought i'll let you all know.

Look forward to hearing some more news soon.

Becky

Today everyone has been working extremely hard and nearly everyone was covered in paint by the end of the day! In Casa Dorada the children were busy having polaroids taken and making necklaces of their names, very well behaved today. The rest of the day we were painting the house, which is quite a big job but almost half way. At the Villa Steve managed to put two new windows in the new extention and everyone else learnt how to make cement. In Casa Branca the BBQ area has almost been totally painted and the children were playing with lego again...... they really love it! Again the food has been amazing but unfortunately the weather was quite miserable, lots of rain, but reminded us all of home and what we are missing. Off to Cananai (spelling wrong, oops!) tomorrow, which should be amazing! Will write when we get back.
Lots of love Quick hit team xxx

Hi, this is Kate, up and about again. It has been very hot and sunny for the last few days. Yesterday (Tuesday) was National Day - a public holiday. There was no school for the children, so plenty of time for playing. There was also a good opportunity to work at the favela while no children were around, so Carl, Steve, Ann, Malcolm, Debbie, Sarah and Rosie spent the day there demolishing the old toilet, now that a new flush toilet has been installed. Work continues today, rendering the interior walls ready for painting tomorrow. Also today, as on every Wednesday, Ellie has been teaching English, so the rest of today's team have been helping with conversational English.

At Casa Douorada, Denise, Leigh-Anne and Ellie spent Tuesday morning in creative play with the children, and at Casa Branca Margaret and Keith did the same, producing a banner for Darla's brthday party. Then in the afternoon, there being no school, all the children from the two houses were taken to the zoo. It was extremely hot and very crowded, but everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Later on the team had pizzas on the balcony, and for pudding - chocolate pizza and banana pizza!

Today at Casa Dourada, Margaret and Rosie played with the children this morning, whilst Carl and Malcolm prepared the courtyard for painting, and after the children had gone to school they all painted together. At Casa Branca Denise, Sarah and Leigh-Anne helped the children to put Darla's birthday banner together and did some painting with the children before continuing the painting the barbeque area. Fernanda, who is too young to go to school, spent the afternoon playing Lego with Kate.

This evening we are planning a surprise birthday party for Darla, wth fireworks, but more of that tomorrow....

Hi

Glad you are all working hard we too are working hard!
Weather in england is cold and wet and may snow. So telling us it's hot over there does'nt help.

Everyone how knows Darla in England wishes her a happy birthday for today.

look forward to hearing more news and seeing some photo's very soon.

Becky

Tuesday is the main national holiday here in brasil, so it is unusually quiet on the roads, and nobody is working - except for us!
most of the team are at the Vila today (favela) where the new classroom is needing plenty of work to make it really usable for the many children who come through here each week. So we are making space and mixing cement for filling holes - in 30C+ temperatures - which is very tiring.

Some others have taken the children from our casas to the zoo, as they are off school today - a trip they always really enjoy, an an opportunity for english and portuguese to be mutually exchanged through the names of the animals they are seeing.

Kate is feeling unwell with a migraine, which she is sleeping off, Carl has excelled in his Play-do modelling skills, Sarah is amazing at Lego, Margaret keeps cutting up coloured paper for sticking, and the whole team is getting along really well.'
Its Darla's birthday tomorrow!
More later with pictures too!!!

It is the end of our first day in Brasil and everyone's in good spirits. Half the group were at Casa Dourada while the other half here at Casa Branca.
The groups spent the day getting to know the children. At Casa Dourada Anne, Margaret, Ellie, Leigh-Anne, Malcolm and Debbie made modelling clay and had a rawcus time in the paddling pool, and despite the heat they took a while to dry off! The group really enjoyed the childrens company and vice versa. This group got creative making tissue paper pictures.
Whilst at Casa Branca Denise, Steve, Carl, Kate, Sarah and Rosie spent the morning with modelling clay, the kids created some very imaginitve pieces.
After lunch we introduced the children to Lego which they enjoyed immensly for the whole afternoon.
We had a barbeque this evening with the whole team and were pleased to be joined by Skip and Debbie. Everyone has got involved with the skipping this evening which is very popular amongst the kids.
We are all ready for a day of practical work in the Vila tommorrow. it has been a great start to our trip

We are here!

A group of us is sitting on the newly refurbished veranda in the hot sunshine after a long day and night travelling across the Atlantic ocean.

However, we wouldn't like you to think that we are just sitting here doing nothing we are busy planning our schedule over the next few days.

The houseparents here have a full time job caring for the children so we are looking forward to providing some creative opportunities and giving the children lots of fun experiences.

The rest of the team has just returned from team building at a football match looking rather sunburnt!

Our journey to Brazil was made eventful by a plane fuel problem at Heathrow causing a 2 hour delay. This in turn caused us major problems getting our connection at Sao Paulla eventully we had our own VFC bus out to the plane!

It has been a delight to meet the new children and workers at Casa Branco they have made this home so welcoming for those who live here but also for those of us visiting to.

During the afternoon we visited all our old friends at Casa Dorada. We were greeted with hugs and kisses and invitations to play and do the hokey cokey! Later tonight we are visiting church and then having a meal together. It feels such priviledge to be here.

So the waiting is almost over and the team heads off to London Heathrow tomorrow afternoon for the 11 hour flight to Sao Paolo, arriving there at 7 am local time on Suday morning. Then it is a short flight to Curitiba, arriving 10.30am. Brasil is 2 hours behind the time in the UK at the moment, and will remain so for the next two weeks.

The weather forecast is for sun and 25c temperatures next week, so it should be pleasant to work in. We have many tasks to accomplish, and everyone is ready, so here goes!!

We will have different reporters each day, and our first blog from Brasil should be on Sunday evening, so log on to find out about the journey and our first day in this country of contrast, where the rich live alongside to poor and hardly notice they are there ....

Most of the team are apprehensive about how the trip will affect them, so you will be able to find out how they are feeling as we go along. Thanks for looking out for us on this trip ....

Some of our team members in Brasil -

Rosie and Ellie on their Gap Year project

with Darla, who heads up the work which Voice for Change does in the favela


Our team will go out in a few days' time, flying from heathrow on Saturday evening, 12 November!



This is the community centre in the favela where we started working four years ago ........

..... and here is our new community centre ready for painting by our last Quick Hit team in September. This team will be working in here, laying a floor, putting in windows and demolishing an old toilet to create play space for the children who visit us every day.


the log of the last team is on this site, you can read about their work and see the finished result below ....






As you can see, Curitiba is a modern city, of 2 million people. This is the Botanical Gardens (jardim botanico) not far from Vila Uniao, the favela where we work.






here are some of the kids in the favela, waiting to go into the Voice for Change centre, for a lesson. They are always early for classes, and keen to learn .....