Sunday, November 30, 2008
Keith, Denise, Hannah, Kate, Carl and Paz are all successfully booked in for their 24 hour trip, which starts this afternoon at 3 pm from Curitiba, leaves S Paulo at 9 pm, arrives Amsterdam at 11.25 am on Monday, and finally Norwich at 5.15pm on Monday evening, in the dark and cold!
Ellie will start her work on Monday morning, with english teaching at 9 am!!!
Claire, Richard, Jeff, Mark and Jamie are now winging their way back to Norwich, Glasgow and Bristol, with a job well done behind them, and many hours of relection and stories for their family and friends when they reach the Uk again .. our massive thanks go to all of them for making this team quite a special one, for their very hard work, and for making last Sunday at the Curuitba marathon such a fantastic day for Voice for Change.
Ellie will stay in Curitiba, working with the team here for the next 4 months, so the rest of the team have stayed on for just one more day, to clear up and spend a short time with her before we fly home on Sunday afternoon. We had dinner tonight with Jackson, Tuim, Jhonathon, Kimberley and Jhoninho, and it was a special time for us all, singing Christmas carols on the veranda at casa Branca in the evening warmth!
On Sunday we will go once more to the feria hipie, to buy the goods we have ordered for :the park´s cafe and shop, and then we will fly home.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
The girls later went over to Casa Dourada to spend some time with the Family. Darcy and Luis Claudio made us very welcome and cooked a lovely lunch.
Carolina was amazingly patient while she had her face painted and enjoyed every minute of it.
Johnathan decided he wanted to be painted as 'Avatar' his favorite super hero and thrilled with the outcome.
The Centre looks fantastic with its new coat of paint and really stands out, the Boys did us proud!
The Boys made an excellent job of repainting the entire Vila Centre. Their hard work and determination paid off as they were able to rub down and repaint not only the walls but the doors and windows. Well done boys! Richard revels in their achievement.
On a trip to the City Gallery the Team were overcome with artistic flair!
Friday, November 28, 2008
They have been swimming in the South Atlantic ocean, trekking through the rainforest, seeing traditional methods of fishing, and watching dolphins and sea turtles - all things which we want the children here to experience too, when we can get a house by the sea ...
In the meantime, Keith, Neil and Val have been to Sao Paulo for a productive meeting with the paper producers Suzano, who have promised to look into ways that they might be able to help us achieve some of our dreams. We met three lovely people in the heart of downtown of the city, and had a very useful two-hour meeting with the social responsibility director of the company.
On Friday morning the team is setting off again on its last day at the favela centre, to finish off painting the front facade, and to take part in more activities with the children there.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
The children and teachers will really appreciate having a new clean look by the end of the week.
The ´girls´ - all still sleeping at the moment, are going to go to casa Dourada and casa Branca to do play/therapy with the children in those houses before lunch. Bruna still does not go to school at all because she has no papers yet, to say who she is ... she was lierally picked up in the middle of the city´s ring road last month, and we are still trying to find out more about her. She should start school next year when the new school year begins in February.
This afternoon we are all going off for 2 days to Cananeia, for a short break at the beach, and to see the town where VfC would love to have a house where we can take our children on holidays, provide repite breaks for our staff here, and also take favela kids who have never and might never see the ocean, or beach, in their lifetime.
We are about providing hope for these children in every way, about giving them an incentive to see beyond their poverty to their potential, and to work with them to become all that they can be in their lives, and this trip will not only be a couple of slightly easier days for the team, it will also be an opportunity to walk in the rainforest, swim with dolphins, and see what we want to offer to the VfC children in future too.
Communication there is more difficult than here, so we may go quiet for a couple of days!
On Thursday Neil, Val and Keith are driving up from Cananeia to Sao Paulo to meet with the social responsibilty programme directors of Suzano, a large paper manufacturing company who are expressing an interest in supporting our work here. This meeting could be very helpful to our funding here, and follows the brilliant news this week that the city of Curitiba is renewing our Favela project funding for 2009 at a higher level than this year. Our costs are nowhere near being met by this grant each month, however! So our ´sponsor a child scheme´and other fundraising remains as vital as ever.
We also have an application in for funding from HSBC, which has it´s South American headquarters in this city, and we have been working on this for almost 3 years, so hopefully we will hear something positive there soon.
We have many ways of enabling supporters to buy Christmas cards and álternative´presents in order to help fund our work here - everything from buying a chicken, a pair of shoes or a meal for the favela kids right up to owing your own football club here, with a stadium named after you, and provision of a facility which will transform a community! - you can see all this in the online shop on www.charitygiving.co.uk and we would be thrilled if you would have a look there and see what you can do this Christmas to change the lives of children here.
Deliberately not too much to do today to allow the runners some recovery time. A nice lie-in today with breakfast at about 9am ( everyone slept well !) folllowed by a marathon debrief meeting to give thought on the event and any suugestions for future marathon teams. A masseuse was booked and spent most of the day at Casa Branca and one by one eased the runners´ aches and pains.
The team divided off today with Jeff and Ellie going on a tour of a local school for children with learning difficulties and disabilities ( Jeff´s thoughts on the trip will be posted below) and then lunch with the family at Casa Dourada followed by some constructive play with the children ..
Claire, Hannah, Richard, Mark and Jamie spent the morning at Casa Branca playing uno, great fun especially when the rules seemed to change with each round. We then had a delicious lunch of rice, beans, salad and beef prepared by Tuim. After lunch we walked the children to school with Jackson, while we were standing at the school gates Jackson pointed out a boy who had in the past lived with him at the house and had since gone back to live with his family, we asked if it was difficult seeing him again, he replied that it made him feel sad.
Keith, Denise, Carl, Kate and Neil held a directors meeting as they had to interview for a new teacher.
Later that afternoon we re-grouped for a drive down through the rainforest to Morrettes (pronounced mo - hetch-chies !) a beautiful riverside town. Where we all had a chance for some quiet time and then enjoyed a traditional Brasilian Meal of stewed meat with rice.
Jeffs Thoughts....
On Monday 24 November we split into teams. Jeff & Ellie visited a special school attended by one of the children from one of the houses. The care and support at this school is outstanding. The curriculum is broad and balanced. Staff work very hard to support students in improving their literacy skills. The majority of students communicate with confidence. They also make rapid gains in the development of important work-related skills and independence. One student, on our arrival, greeted us with an amazing smile and told us that he was off on his work experience in a local supermarket (well thanks to Ellie’s translation skills – by the way her Portuguese is amazing). Then he rode off independently into the distance.The school has its own bakery and the students work collaboratively to make very good quality bread. They have many opportunities to work together on a range of interesting projects. The ratio of therapists to the number of students is high!!Children from the homes also attend therapeutic centres to support their emotional needs. However, the approach seems to be one of medication.
The house parents do an amazing job transporting the children to a host of different schools throughout the day.
This was three of the runners preparing to set off for the start of their events early on Sunday morning - early on Tuesday morning they are setting off again, this time to paint the front of the favela Centre where they have been working all last week. They are in great shape after running, and they want another project!! Claire is suffering with her knee, and Neil´s hamstring has been sore today, but they are all in excellent spirits, and still on a high after completing their runs!
did Batman just wave to me? only two other competitors in the marathon were dressed in costume! Jamie was cheered all the way around the course!
look who´s running here!!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Wow, what a fantastic and emotional day! Its been tough this morning, as I found it a hard and demanding course, certainly the hardest I have ever ran. The 3 H´s (Hills, heat and humidity) all came into play today. I expect I have been the only person in Brazil praying for cold and cloudy weather for today, due to the fact that I was running in a costume as the caped crusader! Sadly, as I was standing on the starting line, the sun popped out from behind a cloud and stayed out, more often than not for the entire race. I therefore decided to take it a bit easier and run a slower pace, allowing the opportunity to admire the spectacular sights Curitiba City has to offer. I found loads of encouragement along the course, from people shouting out of apartment windows, military police directing traffic to people shouting from passing cars or buses. I found the costume hot and uncomfortable at times, but water stations along the course, gave me the chance to pour some water over the Batman outfit to help cool me down. Some of the hills were tough on the legs, but there was always the other side to run down to get your breath back. Once inside the last 2km, I felt my calves tightening, but the sight of the long straight to the finish line, then the VFC crowd of children from both houses, house parents and other members of the team who had already ran and finished the 10k race was a really lovely sight to push you onto the finish after stopping quickly to give all the children a hug. As this was my third marathon in 8 months as part of a triple marathon challenge which I set out to do earlier this year, it was a mix of emotions completing this final marathon of the set. I was really pleased to have got over the line in 3hours, 37 minutes and 58 seconds, this has been my fastest yet. I have to thank everyone involved behind the scenes of VFC for making this trip possible, I want to thank the team out here too who have all been so supportive and the other VFC runners in both the 10k and the marathon, who all did exceptionally well in taking on such difficult and challenging circuits. Finally I would like to thank my family at home who have also allowed this trip for me to occur and esepcially Joe who caught the attention of so many people.
Jamie aka Batman
I did it!!!!! WAHEY!
Despite a cold and a very early start (which isn't really my thing) I really enjoyed the run and did it in a reasonable time - 69.07 mins, which means I beat the boys by a grand 15 seconds! Generally the support is nothing like the London Marathon, but our team were GREAT!!! They made so much noise that I sprinted to the finsh line, speeding past 'proper' runners! What a feeling!
Right, time for a sleep - Hannah x
The run itself was good fun, the highlight was seeing Luiz Claudio and familly about 2km from the end with all the children in VFC t shirts and hand made signs. Then seeing them and all the Casa Branca children and ALL our team.
Also seeing Clare cross the line with the whole gang of VfC chasing her down the road, that was really emotional.
By the way this is me leaping over the finish line
Jeff felt great at the half marathon stage (good time too). Then good for 5 more miles. About 18 miles, legs tightened everywhere. Then images of the kids in the favila came flooding into my mind - I had to finish and finish I did.
10 years ago I vowed that I had run my last ever marathon. But, the opportunity to do something for these kids - makes me think I might start running a few more. So pray that I can find the time to train. Training for a half is easy - finding time for 2 to 3 hr training sessions required for a marathon around at times a crazy work schedule is another matter.
Thanks to everyone who sponsored me - it´s not to late to do so. If I could do what I wanted I would like every child in the favela to have a proper pair of shoes in the short-term and in the long-term an education to give them the opportunity to succeed in life. This week I have shed many tears. Work in partnership to make my vision a reality!!!
There is an invasion of the course when Claire arrives on the final straight!! She teamed up with a lovely gentleman who went all the way round with her, and had a few adventures on the way ... but then, this is Claire!!!
The children who have waited for her rush to join Claire for the final 100 metres
The end of the end of the maratona!!!
Claire crosses the line with her new friends. Everyone has done it!!!!
Hi everyone - we are really proud to be running today in the Curitiba marathon and 10k run, to raise money for Voice for Change, to help the children we have met this week.
We want to thank you for tremendous support so far, and assure you that we will do our best to finish the course.
We are really grateful to you for reading this blog, and we have so many stories to tell you when we get home ... we miss you and you can be really proud of what has been achieved this week by the whole team ... so here we go to the big day!!
love from
Claire, Hannah, Jamie, Jeff, Mark, and Neil
Saturday, November 22, 2008
The day began in more leisurely fashion than we have been used to, with some going for a pre-marathon massage at 10 am (the others are having a massage on Monday, after they have run!).
Then the maratonistas were taken around the course, so that they could get an idea on the challenges ahead, and they were satisfied with their trip, apart from saying that it seemed a long way!! Hopefully on Sunday it will seem not as long!!
We also had lunch at the fruit and vegetable market, the ´mercado municipal´and bought a few souvenirs.
Kate hasn´t been out today but is out of bed and is much much better than yesterday, she should be ok for tomorrow, which is excellent news!
The weather forecast is still looking pretty good for most of the runners, and they are in very good spirits. They have gone to bed now, ready for getting up at 6 o´clock in the morning!
Claire goes off at 7.30am, and is ready for running, she has enjoyed her day today and even visited Dreamland too!!
Jamie and Jeff are very focussed, and the 10k runners are tucking into a chinese meal as i write (well, Mark and Neil are, and Hannah has declined, saying it may sit too heavy for her to run), so all is well with them too! We have an ankle support for Neil, and everyone is very excited now.
This is the last blog before the run, so we will report back as soon as we have completed the various courses tomorrow, and we will try to get everyone to say a bit about how it was for them!!
We had an excellent and emotionally-charged 'last' day at the favela center yesterday, when we reviewed all the work we have been doing all week, danced together, sang together and wrote letters to all the children of Mundesley schools who are supporting individual children so brilliantly! They will all get a letter in 10 days' time!
Kate was suffering from a migraine today and couldn't come with us, she is trying to sleep off the headache.
Claire has picked up a bug and isn't feeling too great, and everyone is tired but very satisfied with the week's work, which has been stretching and fulfilling at the same time ...
Last night we took the runners to the marathon check-in centre, where we were all very excited to be given the running numbers, and the countdown to Sunday's run really began.
Jamie caused quite a stir at the check-in as Batman went to the counter and was given his kit for the race ... he was announced on the public address system "Batman has just checked in for the maratona" and other runners started asking for photos with him.
There was a general air of excitement there, even though the majority of runners will book in today.
Our team will rest as much as possible today, be driven over the route of the marathon to get an idea of the course physically, and will then go to the Coritiba v. Santos football match, which kicks off at 6.30 this evening - perfect timing for an early night, ready to start the day in good time tomorrow.
The ladies marathon starts at 7.30 am, and the men at 8 am, then the 10k run starts at 8.20/8.25 am. All the children from our houses will be at various points to cheer on the runners, and the start and finish for all the events are in the same place, so we will be able to see them all out and back in!
If you would like to support the work and encourage the team, you can still do so, and leave a message for them if you follow this link
http://www.charitygiving.co.uk/giving/donate_b.asp?method=sitelist&charityname=969&charitynamebox=&charitynumber=&next=Next+%3E
We are so grateful to you for reading this blog and supporting us in all we do. We will communicate as much as we can over the next two days .. and we are hoping that Kate and Claire will be feeling better, and that all will be safe this weekend as they prepare and run. The weather forecast is probably as good as it can be for most of the runners, 20-24C and some cloud tomorrow.
Have a great weekend - we hope it will be a great weekend for Voice for Change too!!
Friday, November 21, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
We shared a lot of information in a short space of time, and here is part of the morning group listening to Jamie´s introduction to the London scene! we gave everybody souvenir pictures to take home, and many children were really chuffed to have these to put on the bare wooden wall of their house.
In the background are some of the snowflakes which were made the day before.
Emerson ponders how to fit 6 people into a London taxi ..
Kate teaching the group to sing London´s Burning ...
A section of the Brasilieros choir singing their hearts out!
Working on the questions in the London quiz requires concentration and attention to detail!
Communication between the children, who range in age from 6 to 13, is excellent, and although they have a short concentration span, many can read really well, and can take in the information quickly. However, others struggle to know their colours, and can´t read. It is quite a challenge for the teachers who are working with all these children every day, coping with the wide spectrum of age and ability.
The games outside were popular - an opportunity to release some energy and let off steam ...
In a quieter corner Ellie and a small group of children get to play a game of Uno while others are playing outside in the sunshine - yes the clouds are lifting and we are seeing some sun now!
The marathon runners don´t want it to get too hot, though, until next week!!
Claire prepares to skip with the 3 girls Carolina, Jhuliana, Bruna) at casa Douradas barbeque evening, with Gabriele and Jhonathan waiting their turn to join in. The food and hospitality was just great!
We left at 10 pm to get some sleep!
Claire loses her head while skipping with Jhuliana at casa Dourada!
Jamie was master of ceremonies for the day, and Richard took on the job of his translator for the sessions, and they worked well together. Mark explained The Great Fire of London in 1666, and the whole group learned to sing ´London´s Burning´, as a round, conducted by the doyenne of the Leicester Philharmonic Choir, Mrs Kate Love ... and all the children joined in and sounded wonderful!
We exchanged national anthems with the Brasilian children, and all in all the day went very well, with a great atmosphere, the children relaxing with us and we also with them! Due to our shortage of Portuguese speakers, we still struggle with group work and verbal communication, but we all have a good time anyway!!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Hannah and Ellie met Jhuliana and Bruna at casa Dourada on Sunday afternoon, with the rest of the team, and Richard finally made it from Glasgow after missing his plane on Saturday. He arrived in the ´wee small hours´of Monday morning so is catching up with his lapsed portuguese as quickly as possible!
On Monday we were up at 6.30 am for preparing breakfast at 7, ready to leave for the favela at 7.45 am to do our first day´s real work .. we are doing a week-long programme of ÚK Culture´and information, which is being enthusiastically received!
We had 25 children manage to turn up after the brasilian bank holiday weekend in the morning, and 40 more made it in the afternoon, so we expect numbers to grow as the week develops!
Here is Karem, one of the regular teachers, with Jamie and Keith working at the table with one small group of children. We are usng all kinds of methods of communication, including music, drama, art, craft, video and group discussion to share with the children. Ellie did an amazing job at translation all day, the day was led by Denise, and the topic was the seasons and the countryside of the UK. On Tuesday the leader will be Jamie ..
The day lasted until 6.30 pm when we left to go ´home´, everyone is in the groove and firing on all cylinders, runners are having ´loosen-up´ runs when not at the favela, so there is a lot going on for the team!!
Juan was enjoying making his name badge .. remembering 100 new names in one day is too difficult, so the first job was to make the badges!!
Learning about snow (no-one has ever seen it for real) and then ´making´ snowflakes was a very popular activity, and produced some beautiful designs, every one different, of course!
The children concentrated hard and worked well together..
Mark (new brasilian name Marco) and Kate wait for the train to pass so they can cross the line .. everyone uses this point as a crossing from the favela to the school and shops of the next township .. the newly built favela junior school is the red roof in the background .. where armed police guard the children while they go out to play at breaktime!
Jamie and Denise wait to cross the railway line to go for lunch, with a more developed part of the favela in the background. We didn´t see too much sun on Monday, it was cloudy all day, but the forecast is to get warmer as the week goes on, up to about 27C..
