What a Start!

Wow. Only 3 days into our trip and I already feel like we have done so much, where to begin! My family here in Campinas is AMAZING, a true Rotary family. On both Saturday and Sunday I had dinner with my host 'parents', Carina and Junior, their adorable daughter Gabriela, Carina's parents, brother and his family...a lot of names to learn quickly! Carina's mother was the Rotary District Governor in 2004 and Carina was the GSE Team Leader to North Carolina in 2007-they know Rotary! I feel so lucky to have such a welcoming and supportive group here, they have made adjusting to live in Brazil quite easy.

Today was our first vocational day and I am so inspired by what I have seen. The first half of the day today was spent at UNICAMP, the University here in Campinas. The campus was beautiful and we were given a great informational session on the Univeristies in Brazil. The major difference between University here and in the US is cost, college is free here...yes, FREE!! UNICAMP receives 605million a year from the State each year, and they are only one of the State run schools.

After a great lunch on campus the team split up and I was off to 'Cidade dos Meninos', or City of Youth. City of Youth is a place were abused, abandoned, homeless and at risk children are given a second chance. The youth live on the campus where they receive both schooling and vocational training. The first youth I met were the youngest, about 7 years old, and they were in music class. When I walked in they all lit up and came to give me hugs. They then played a beautiful song for me on their recorders, accompanied by their teacher on the guitar. Next class I visited was 'food prep and safety', where I was forced to try a delicious chocolate pastery the kids had just made, followed by more hugs. The spirit of these youth was unreal and they were so happy to have visitors. One girl especially touched me, mainly because she reminded me so much of my own mentee in San Francisco. She was in the hair salon class and when I asked her, through a translator, if she wanted to be a hair dresser when she grew up she said 'No, I am going to go to law school in America and be a lawyer.' I realized she did not say she wanted to be, she said I'm going to be.

Todays experience and visit to Cidade dos Meninos is why I came on GSE and while I feel so lucky to b a part of this program. I am thousands of miles from home, but the work that I do and am so passionate about in San Francisco is being done here as well and there is much I can learn from these organizations.

More stories to come, thanks for reading and for your support of Rotary GSE!

Abracos,
Christine