2nd to Last Day

Today was the 2nd to last day volunteering in Brazil.  As it is a Thursday there were no children at Madre Teresa, just the ladies.  We arrived and were immediately put to work with chores around the house.  Lydianne and I were giving the task of deep cleaning the floors and scrubbing the walls of the ladies bed room.  We were both sweaty and exhausted after pushing the brooms and mops around the floor.  After that task was over, Karen and I were sent upstairs.  We thought we were going to be mopping again, but instead we found ourselves doing laundry.  It was another very humbling moment.  Picture four cement sinks in a row against one wall.  The first sink was for dipping the dirty clothes and adding some soap.  The second sink was for scrubbing with a worn looking brush and a different soap.  The third sink was for rinsing to remove as much soap as possible, and the last sink was for the final rinse in water.  It took four of us to do the laundry and we were up there for probably 30 minutes.  The clothes were then hung on a clothes line with clothes pins which had to be used strategically because there was not enough.  As I worked the third sink station, I thought about all the times I procrastinate laundry at home.  And how with only 2 people in the house we only have to do laundry once a week, if that often.  I thought about how it takes me no time to sort the laundry, throw it in the machine and then do whatever else I want while the machine does the work.  At Madre Teresa they are doing laundry multiple times a week, if not every day.  And on several days they don't have 4 people to get through the task as quickly.  How differently I will think about the task of laundry when I get home.

As we just had the ladies today, we decided to have a little party for them.  We hadn't realized we would be consumed with so many chores, so unfortunately we did not get to all the activities we had planned.  But we did get to make christmas ornaments out of paper, fabric, ribbon, buttons and glue.  The ladies that participated made more than one, and one made at least 4 or 5.  It was a fun time.  We then gave the ladies some treats we had bought from the market near by.  It was sad not being able to give to the one lady with diabetes, but we understood.  Luckily she was content with fresh fruit.

Tonight we had the opportunity to go to a party at CAASAH.  CAASAH was celebrating 20 years.  Theresa and Bea have been volunteering there for the past 2 weeks, but we were all invited to go to the party.  There were 7 of us that decided to go, and it was a wonderful time.  We were immediately greeted by the kids with handshakes and huge hugs.  It was interesting seeing the placement and comparing it to Madre Teresa.  CAASAH is such a big place, and the children much older overall. Both children and adults that have HIV and/or AIDS live at CAASAH. They had murals painted on the courtyard walls for the event.  Theresa and Bea actually were involved in the painting...we all agreed they did a great job!  The kids were wonderful.  We had four boys sitting with us at our table, and one of them immediately told me my eyes were beautiful.  You should have seen his eyes....he has beautiful blue eyes as well!  Although we didn't understand any of the speeches or the lyrics to the songs, it was a wonderful event to have attended.

Tomorrow is our last day.  Up until now I have not taken any pictures at Madre Teresa as I wanted to just be present and focused on helping in any way I could.  I plan to bring my camera tomorrow, but I am not sure if I will remember to take many pictures as I may just be focused on spending every possible moment holding the hands of the kids, or rubbing their backs or whatever else is needed.  Even if I do bring my camera, I will not be able to share any photos as it is against the policy to share photos of the people at placements on public sites.

Tchau,
Bethany