Hard Work Pays Off in Maria Nunez

By Scott Phillips, Regional Development Officer (Great Lakes Region) for Christian Children's Fund

Bom tardes!

After a quick stop at the local supermarket for some apples, and a few items of food for the road, we were back out of Diamantina and heading to the community of Maria Nunez.

Originally a prosperous mining town, the company working here abruptly closed the mines one day and moved out. This left the entire community with no jobs and no real future. The local population went into a depression and developed a problem with alcoholism. While this is usually a disease that tends to effect men more often than women, even the women in this town were hard core drinkers and not much more than that.

Eight years ago, a few of the women got together and decided that they had to do something to change the state of their community. A small group of them decided that they would try to grow some fruit and begin a business. They put together what amounted to little more than a dream and approached CCF to help with selling there fruit and a few vegetables.

After they were up and running they received a grant from Petrobas, the Brazilian gas company, and were able to build a building and expand their land. As we arrived at Maria Nunez, we were met by a group of over a dozen women: the core of the project! These women represented the 37 families that work with this special program. One member of the group passed away this last year, and the woman are amazed that her husband takes her place and works right along side them.

The building has a delivery area, a processing area, a juicing machine and a storage area. They have studied the market and local growing environment and have decided on growing passion fruit, pineapple and a local fruit that is very high in vitamin content.

They used to just have one crop a year, but now they have expanded to two crops a year. However, this year they have had to deal with a recent hailstorm ruining their crops and with discovering a type of blight that infects pineapple plants. While the group is understandably frustrated, they are committed to continuing on no matter what it takes.

As we talk, they each share their painful stories of alcoholism, depression, hope and hard work. As they talk of hope, one woman tells me “compared to drinking, a little hail and disease is not so bad. Thank God for Procaj and CCF.”

Eight years and they are still working hard against very challenging odds. Their biggest challenges right now are the loss of the crop and their husbands’ loss of work. Last year their business resulted in a net to each woman of 106 Reals for the year. Can you imagine all this hard work for the equivalent of only $42.40 USD for the year? But they continue as it is their only future as they see it and they are truly committed to a better future for themselves and their children.

Before we leave to look at the grounds, the women unveil a carrot cake and pineapple juice for us. The juice is literally just squeezed and the carrot cake is the most wonderful tasting cake I believe I have ever tasted. Certainly I have never eaten anything with so much love baked into it by so many with so much at stake in their daily work.

We spend an hour or so looking over the plants in the fields where the women break into song; beautiful voices that harmonize in a most amazing manner. The songs are of love, hope and the future. They are strong voices that quite literally cause me to begin crying.

No one wants to leave. The darkness is beginning to fall, but that does nothing to lessen the voices raised up in hope and song.

Finally our driver makes us move to the truck since he is concerned about driving after dark. We all share hugs and tears and smiles and they all want to know what I think.

All I can say is that I am humbled in their presence, that I now know truly what hard work can bring to a life and that I will carry each of them and their voices in my heart for the rest of my life.

Once in the truck, there is nothing but silence for miles and miles as we make our way back to Diamantina.

Read More......

Meu Cerrado and a Slight Detour

By Scott Phillips, Regional Development Officer (Great Lakes Region) for Christian Children's Fund

Your Place is Meu Cerrado

We started the day at our local organization in Diamantina called Procaj, a fantastic program that works in 21 local communities (1,150 enrolled children with 890 sponsored) outside of this historic mining town.

In the central space of the office, there are racks of items made by the children and parents in these communities, all traditional, and all being sold to help the families earn an income. They also have “Little House of Culture” projects, medical help, schooling, pregnancy education and older youth development activities.

I know when I went to EFA the other day I said the ride was tough to describe; well today it’s absolutely impossible to even try! We passed more people on horseback than in cars and those were few as well.

The project, Meu Cerrado (My Place), is145 km from Diamantina. We have been working in this community since 2002 and UNESCO has been our partner at their local school for two years. This project helps children from two communities, Covao and Algodoeiro. We provide services to 35 families including the community’s 300 children.

Each family lives independently and is quite isolated from each other in the hills.If they are lucky, families live where they find a natural spring. Others live in homes of adobe-style walls, thatched roofs and sometimes in caves between the rocks.

They have no electricity, except a few homes that have a small solar unit, which I was told are not good for the area. The units were provided free, but they do not work very well in the cloudy atmosphere and are metered so the family must pay for the electricity they use. Most are “silent”or unused as the locals say.

The only communication the community has is via a local radio, where they post announcements for one another.

As we approached Meu Cerrado, we saw a few children along the way. I thought these were children going or coming from school, as I was told that our project here provides schooling for students in grades first through fourth. Most students, if they go, must get up at 2 or 3 a.m. to walk for an hour and a half or two hours just to get to the bus.

They don't then return home until 5 p.m. making for a terribly long day. Also they often do not sleep well at night, worrying about getting up for their walk. One father told us that his daughters have to cross the river, jumping from rock to rock to get to school, or if the river is too high they cannot go at all. He worries all the time for their safety.

Children piled into the truck with us as we passed them. The laughter and talking was wonderful therapy after the dangerous drive.

A Schoolyard Full

We turned one last corner and there was the school building, a cinder-block structure, painted white and decorated with small hand prints in red and blue all over. I was shocked to see the courtyard filled with parents and children, children and more children!

We spent a long time in the yard of the school learning about the people and the area. They have no Early Childhood Development (ECD) center or formal ECD programming, but they visit every child between birth and 5-years of age at least once a month for weighing, height, nutrition and health, check-ups. After 5 years, the visits are bimonthly.

The families grow vegetables and fruits in community gardens such as cassava, corn, beans, citrus, squash, fruit and a bit of coffee. The municipal government provides some food for the school, but often it runs out. The drawback is that they must stop planting during the rainy season since it rains so hard that nothing can grow.

A teacher comes out from Diamantina for 15 days, teaches grades first through fourth in one room and lives in a room of the school. The room for the teacher truly makes one question why anyone would chose to live there. They have very few supplies, no desks, only chairs and floor mats, where the children do a lot of their work.

The volunteer cook, a mother, cooks a snack for the children each day. As she explained, “when the municipal government gives us a tank of gas (propane) the snack is warm, when no gas then the snack is cold for the children.”

The children all sang me a song in their classroom. Smiles are everywhere and the children are so intensely thankful that we are in this community and providing crucial services, even if it is at such a minimal level.

The families rely on the men getting day labor jobs in Diamantina for any livelihood that they can. They earn, at best, 15 Reals a day for work, if they can get it, which I am told is rare (the equivalent of about $6.00 a day).

CCF offers older youth programming here too. We met two boys and a girl in this program between the ages of 16 and 18. They are part of a student leadership group of 42 students from 9 different communities. They are dealing with issues about income generation, work skills, business skills and citizenship. They all love this effort and said before this CCF program they really had nothing to do.

A Slight Detour

After a traditional coffee in the school kitchen we had to leave, but not before many photos, hugs and many more questions. We added as many children into the truck as we could, including a baby of less than a month old.

We headed back to Diamantina and on our way dropped children off at their homes, with every parent asking us in to visit.

Finally it was just us in the truck and we continued on our way until we happened upon a Volts wagon Beetle trying to get up a hill with no success. A family of seven was in the car trying to get to Diamantina with a sick 1-year old. They managed to move the VW aside and while the father and older sons stayed behind to fix the car, we took the rest of the family to town with us.

As I listened to the wonderful voices around me speaking Portuguese, I got to thinking how much of everything we do revolves around dignity, hope and learning to give children a better future.

As we dropped the family off, I learned we will now head to the Maria Nunez community to see a family income project. I'll have more this afternoon!

Read More......

E - I - E - I - Oi! from Diamantina

By Scott Phillips, Regional Development Officer (Great Lakes Region) for Christian Children's Fund

Not “oye” as in vey, but Oi!

Here in Brazil the common greeting is Oi! However, just in the state of Minas Gerais they change it slightly to Uoi! One of the fastest growing cell phone companies in all of Brazil has taken the name Oi, meaning simple, easy, no trouble.

We left Virgem da Lapa this morning at 6 a.m. to catch a bus to Diamantina about 100 kilometers away from Virgem da Lapa. This will be our home site for the next two days. The road to Virgem da Lapa is “paved” with red clay, water and potholes. Just imagine sitting in a seat and getting kidney-punched for four hours.

For more than two hours we drove through nothing but eucalyptus groves; mile after mile, as far as the eye could see. Then all of a sudden, the scenery changed to sugar cane fields. And, just as quickly, the sugar cane ended and we saw nothing but miles of beef cattle ranch land.

When we got off the bus we took local transport into town and dropped into a marvelous little restaurant for lunch, where Ana introduced me to Brazilian “sun meat.” Sun meat is a traditional cut of beef steak, very nice and lean, but with a traditional strip of fat along one side for flavor. It is seasoned with a rub and set in the sun to cure.

Originally this was used to preserve the meat; now it is a local favorite and a significant traditional meal, served on a steaming flat rock with lightly fried cassava. Naturally after the meal we had the traditional shot of Brazilian coffee.

In almost every restaurant we have been in you find the coffee urn next to the cash register and alongside the urn is a stack of demitasse cups. As you pay your bill, you take a shot of the coffee. If you are Brazilian you add perhaps a touch of cream and a huge amount of sugar.

We then scouted town for a Pousada, or inn, for us. We found a terrific small historic place, Pousada Capistrana, right in the heart of the colonial section of town just steps off the main square bordered by the main Catholic church in town.

The Pousada had three floors; the main two above ground were the family’s rooms and the basement rooms were where the slaves were housed. This is typical of homes in this area that are still intact from the 1700s and 1800s. Diamantina reminds me of Oro Puerto. While both are UNESCO World Heritage Cities, Diamantina seems much more of a common town that preserves it history, unlike Oro Puerto, which is geared more toward tourism.

We headed off to go shopping and as we were browsing it began to rain again, so we sat and began talking with the staff. A nice man who had been helping us, Gilson, heard Ana say Fundo Cristao and he started to tell us his story.

Gilson was a sponsored child in a tiny village about 150 kilometers away from Aracuai. His mother abandoned him and he relied on gifts from his Padrinha (sponsor) and the services of CCF. He said sponsorship was the most important thing in his life and still recalls the milk he tasted at the project was “the sweetest thing I tasted in all my life.”

Now, Gilson has a job as a salesman at what is considered the best gem and mineral store in all of Diamantina. He helps the local project by making rosaries out of seeds and local stones for them to sell.

Over and over, Gilson told us that sponsorship was the only thing that “saved his life.” We finished our day early and will be joining our colleagues at the local office to see area projects for the day tomorrow.

Read More......

Hands-On Learning for Life at the Family Agricultural School

By Scott Phillips, Regional Development Officer (Great Lakes Region) for Christian Children's Fund

I know I said yesterday might have been the quintessential day for me to understand why I love to work for CCF, but I lied. Today was definitely the day!

Wet, rainy and soggy

We began in soggy Aracuai. I have to keep telling myself that this area and these people have been in dire need of this rain, so I should be happy that it is pouring, mud is everywhere, it’s hot and humid and I am constantly sweating like the proverbial stuck pig!

I was concerned the rain may impact our travels and sure enough, over breakfast I get the word that a trip to see the Agricultural Family School (EFA) would not be possible due to impassable roads.

I wasn’t too surprised, but inside I must admit, I was almost crying. EFA is the primary reason I have come to the Jequitinhonha Valley. This is the program I was most interested in learning about so I could do a better job of relating the needs of the children back to our donors. But, as the French say so well, “C’est la vie” – so close yet so far!

We took a taxi to Virgem da Lapa to meet with the local organization of CCF-Brazil.

While in Virgem da Lapa, we were given a review of the “Little House of Culture” that I mentioned yesterday, and the program that this unit operates. I also met Valmartin, who had been working at EFA for a few years and now is the program technical director for agriculture and water.

Valmartin was once a student at EFA and a former sponsored child. Now, not only is he the program technical director for EFA, he also works as a mentor for a group of students there.

The tutor/mentor program is extensive and works with groups of 8 to10 students. Each mentor meets with their students every two months for non-academic evaluation, study support and a huge range of additional support, such as personal planning.

After lunch and a tour of the local dentist office we went back to CCF Brazil and were met by Gilberto, CCF senior program specialist for education. He works with all the projects in this area of the Jequitinhonha Valley. Gilberto was talked into taking us to EFA in his 4x4. Valmartin also accompanied us on the trip.

Making our way to EFA

On our journey, Valmartin explained that the school has a bus to take the children to and from EFA. However, often when it rains, they cannot make the drive so the teachers and students must stay where they are. If they are at school, they stay at school. If they are at home, they must stay there until the roads are passable.

A hundred yards outside of town, the cobblestone streets ends and the clay begins. The road often cut into the land so the walls towered over the truck. Eroded rivulets, some often 3 to 6 feet deep, on each side of the road also hem us in, but Gilberto is a masterful driver and we finally saw the first sign to EFA -- still 7 kilometers away.

EFA has 130 students this year, about one-fourth of them girls. The children study 11 subjects. Six are academic consisting of math, Portuguese, literature, penmanship, science and health. The other five are agricultural subjects.

All materials for students at EFA are adapted to their unique needs. The students must contribute 5 Reals (comparable to $1) per month, while the rest of the tuition is covered by CCF and a small amount of assistance from the Minas Gerais Secretary of Education.

The school has a three-year course of work/study through a method locally titled “Alternance.” This means part of the month students are at EFA and part of the month they are at home to put into practice what they’ve learned.

When we arrived at EFA I was immediately struck by the noise. The voices of the children were everywhere; students were walking around, cleaning up after the rain, talking, singing and all were smiling.

It was evident that Valmartin is well liked by the students. As he got out of the truck he was met by some of the biggest smiles I have ever seen. While there was some good natured ribbing going on, there is also a great amount of sincere admiration for him.

We were met by the director, Jose Mario, and a majority of the staff. Staff members also live on campus all week and go home weekends – roads permitting.

The school is laid out to resemble a local community complete with a central area to gather. More students want to attend than EFA can accept and each potential new student must stay for a week to see if they like the concept. EFA really wants to expand into offering high school as the closest high school is 600 kilometers away!

The agricultural work and teachings focus heavily on water conservation through the newest methods available such as no-till, drip irrigation and genetics of crops.

Bananas, cattle and sugar cane, oh my!

The children grow their own food, food for the animal and sell any extra, which currently provides for 25 percent of their income. They want to raise that percentage substantially and become completely self-sufficient. However, to do so they need to work with the renowned expert in this field to help produce a business plan. They know they need to expand beyond their current size to have more products to sell at recognized local markets.

EFA owns a small parcel of land in partnership with the local CCF entity in Virgem da Lapa, so they could use this as a sales location if they had the product and they had a vehicle for transportation on a regular basis.

EFA has a basic layout for citrus trees such as mangos, papayas, oranges, cashew and bananas. They also have expansive areas for a wide variety of vegetable gardens; however they cannot grow vegetables in the rainy season because it kills the plants.

The students have an experimental greenhouse for year-round vegetable gardening, but this an expensive operation that they are just trying to start and also have a honey operation.

Students are also raising rabbits and guinea pigs since they reproduce rapidly. While rabbit and guinea pigs are not local foods, they are seeing an increase in acceptance of this meat in the local market as they take it there for sale.

EFA also has a goat, hog, sheep, cattle duck and chicken operation, but each of are too small to be adequate to provide more than just a small amount of product beyond EFA’s needs.


They have excellent land husbandry efforts to teach about crop rotation and grow sugar cane for food and animal feed. The school is working in partnership with Auburn University on how to re-forest damaged land and conserve water. Auburn is also working with CCF on a wider program for water usage, conservation and collection.

Students are in desperate need of materials for their academic programs. They are operating with minimal supplies and are in need of all the basic school supplies, especially books. Eighty percent of EFA students graduate to high school and 5 percent go back to work on the family farm.

We ended our visit over coffee and local bread – a local tradition in Brazil and one you do not turn down – and as the rains began again, we loaded back up and held our breath as we made it back to Virgem da Lapa.

Everyone I spoke with considers EFA a key effort of CCF Brazil and holds it as a high priority. Valmartin said he believes it is the most important thing we do.

While the demands are high, the resources scarce and the physical/geographical impacts significant, this is an amazing project of CCF Brazil and in my experience perhaps one of the most important and impactful programs I have ever seen.

Read More......

Venturing in to the Jequitinhonha Valley

By Scott Phillips, Regional Development Officer (Great Lakes Region) for Christian Children's Fund

Bom Gia, or good morning, from the Jequitinhonha Valley of Brazil. I am spending a few days visiting projects and programs that CCF has in this intriguing area of Brazil, which I have been told are some of the best CCF operates.

After arriving at 4:30 a.m. in Belo Horizonte, the capital city of Minas Gerais, Brazil, I met up with Dalton Said of CCF’s national office in Belo. Dalton introduced me to my traveling companion, Ana Paula, also from our office in Belo. Ana is charged with fundraising from companies in Brazil.

We set off on a 12-hour bus ride from Belo to the town where we will begin our adventure, Aracuai, in the Valley, and arrived to steady rain.

The entire Jequitinhonha Valley is chronically without water and is currently struggling with the worst drought anyone there can recall. Needless to say, residents are happy with the rain, even though it may be too little too late.

We went from the bus station to the Association office in Aracuai and from there to the town of Alfredo Graca. This is a community of 400-plus people. It’s so small it doesn’t even show up on any local maps.

The town refers to their difference in property as “water land” – land close to the river – and “land” – for everywhere else; a nod to just how important water is.

The community has a water distribution system for the river water, but it’s so polluted that it is rarely drinkable. Pollution stems from the lack of community municipal waste collection and, therefore, sewage being drained into the river.

Our visit to Alfredo Graca was centered on the “Little Houses of Culture.” This space is utilized to foster the local culture, to promote the socialization and integration of different generations, the practice of good citizenship, and the Family Income Generation Program (MEDI).

We met a group of four women from MEDI called the “Seed of Hope.” These four also come from a group of 22 families living on government provided land.

For 10 years they will pay a single fee to the government, after which they will finally own the land together. The families also have a piece of “water land” for cultivation work.

In this group’s “Little House of Culture” there is an oven to bake a local cookie made of flour and cheese that is almost in the shape of a pretzel. There also is a wood-burning stove on which they cook their fruit and vegetables for jellies, candy and a juice-based drink, a sink and a large open pan like a huge wok.

From nothing, these four women now have a license from the government to prepare and sell their food products. They sell at the local market in Alfredo Graca, a fixed location in Aracuai, the market and at festivals in other communities in Minas Gerais. They now even have a spot at a market in Belo.

Before their next license inspection, the “Seed of Hope” has big plans to fulfill. They must move their hand-washing sink into a new room in order to make a new clothes-changing space and add an impermeable layer to the roof. They also want to add a room with a gas industrial stove, a refrigerator and better work space for food preparation.

The group also insisted we see their “water land” and as we walked through the town of Alfredo Graca, I got a better feel for the community. In the center of town is a pretty church with a small square in front. The streets are all simple dirt roads and the homes along the roads vary in their condition and size.

Many women can be seen sitting in their homes, looking out the windows on the town and chatting with anyone who happens to come by. These women are the living embodiment of the fofoqueria dolls I see everywhere.

Fofoqueria means “gossip” in Portuguese. A doll made locally out of clay mimics the women who sit in their windows and gossip to pass the news of the community along. I see no cars in town, but note one motorbike (or moto as residents call them), and lots of horses!

Many of the homes have been painted with sand art. The women discovered that while they could not afford paint for their homes, they could use sand. With some native coloring agents they create different color sands and then mix them with an adhesive and paint their homes with the mixture to make them unique.

After we arrived at the “water land” we were able to tour a school that is a partnership with CCF Brazil, the community, the local government and the parents of the children. Among other efforts this school feeds 100 high-risk students (special needs and at risk for malnutrition), ecology efforts and efforts at educating about dengue fever.

They have a community garden in the back for their nutrition programs and they also have a classic rooftop rainwater catchment system to gather rainwater. These catchments are a basic idea, but a good one. And while CCF has placed many of these around the country, residents tell me they need thousands more, especially for individual homes.

On the way back to the inn we stopped at a fair trade handicrafts store. This store is staffed by students in the area and they specialize in art made from recycled parts. The art is amazing.

If they would only have been able to ship, I'd have a new dinner table made from wonderful wood recaptured from old homes with iron work in the center from recycled industrial parts, or at least a spectacular iron angel (sigh).

Tomorrow I’m on to Virgem da Lapa and the Family Agricultural School.

Read More......

Cidade Maravilhosa and the Foz!

By Gary Duncan, Assistant Director of Marketing

It is still very dark as we leave our hotel in Belo Horizonte at 4:30 a.m. for our flight to Rio de Janiero. We are nearly at the end of this Study Tour, but the energy level of our CCF sponsors remains high and positive. How could you not be positive when you know you are going to visit one of the most beautiful cities in the world and then fly down to the Brazilian/Argentine border to see a spectacular waterfall that makes Niagara Falls look puny? Our excellent guide in Belo Horizonte had arranged a group check-in at the airport and we were soon going to taking off into the sunrise with high expectations for today’s adventure in the cidade maravilhosa!

Just an hour of flight time and several people in the group have already excitedly spotted the Christ the Redeemer statue as our plane banks to the north for landing at Rio’s international airport. Landing in Rio on a clear morning almost takes your breath away… the mountains, the bays, the beaches, and the sweet Pao de Acucar (Sugarloaf) just waiting to greet us! There is excitement among the CCF sponsors as we claim our luggage and meet Marcelo-- tour guide par excellance! Marcelo grew up poor in the slums of Rio with a single mom who taught him the value of education--he is now working on his PhD and speaks four languages fluently. Marcelo has a wonderful knowledge of Rio, its’ history, local culture, and politics. He has also been the tour guide for every CCF group since the beginning of Study Tours to Brazil about five years ago.

Boarding our large and comfortable bus, Marcelo remarks that there is a lot of luggage and smiles knowingly that the sponsors have been shopping at every stop over the past 10 days. Although CCF does not have an office or projects in Rio, the city serves as an example of urban explosion and all the problems that go with a city experiencing steady growth, high unemployment, and lack of adequate housing. We leave the airport and Marcelo is very candid in explaining the good, the bad, and the ugly of living—and visiting Rio de Janeiro. Most of the news reports in the United States when we hear about Rio’s crime are exaggerated and taken out of the context of life in a big city. Just ask Brazilians about visiting New York City or Miami, they are terrified of what they read and sincerely fear going to those cities.

From the airport, we pass one of the largest slums (favelas) in Rio and notorious for drugs, robberies, and murders. We are soon passing the old colonial part of downtown Rio de Janeiro with its’ beautiful Portuguese-style churches, the opera house and other stunning municipal buildings. Marcelo remarks that we will be having lunch tomorrow at one of the oldest traditional ‘tea rooms’ in Rio called Colombo. After passing the middle-class apartments and condo communities of Flamenco and Botafogo, we pass through a long tunnel taking us to gorgeous Copacabana Beach. The oohs and aahs from the sponsors when they see the beach is typical for anyone on their first visit to this famous beach. Our hotel on Avenida Atlantica is ready for our arrival as well as a large group of street vendors selling everything from jewelry to license plates, they are not pushy, but a lot of fun which is so typical of the Cariocas, which is what Rio residents are called.

Sponsors are asked to proceed immediately to the rooftop pool area where they are given a registration card to complete, served complimentary ‘caipirinhas’, and welcomed to the hotel by members of the management team. Immediately, the sponsors look over the low wall of the rooftop area to get a breathtaking view of the entirety of Copacabana Beach, the Sugarloaf, and a good view of the Christ the Redeemer statue perched on a mountain behind the hotel. It is as if the sponsors have been physically immobilized by some secret mist for they don’t move and continually murmur words of wonderment at what they are viewing. One sponsor jokingly says, “I plan to stay right here on the rooftop for the next three days! You guys can do whatever you want!”

After a quick trip to our rooms, we meet down in the lobby to leave for a beach pizza party, what a relief from all that meat and fish at the traditional churrascaria restaurants on this trip. I have reserved tables for our group at a nearby sidewalk café facing the ocean that serves delicious pizza Brazilian-style. The views of the ocean and palm trees seem to hypnotize our sponsors as they ‘chill out’ and realize they are really in Rio de Janeiro and eating lunch at Copacabana Beach. Soon the street vendors spot our group and the show is on! I try to manage the street sellers but our sponsors are eager to buy their wares, it is an open-air Macy’s basement sale! Many of the street vendors are eager to share their stories and I do my best to translate what they want our sponsor group to know. They are a poor, but industrious group of sales people with a great sense of humor, their marketing of their products is done with humor, class, and a splendid show of entertainment for their customers. Aiiii, how Carioca and Brazilian is this display, and the sponsors love it.

The afternoon soon arrives and we are off to Sugarloaf Mountain for some awe-inspiring views of the city, rivers, bays, mountains, and then back to the hotel to prepare for our short trip to an excellent restaurant in the Leme section of Copacabana. Marius Restaurant is a happening circus, a bonanza of mirth and laughter, a wonderful place to relax on your first night in Rio. We recognize all of our sponsors for their sponsorship of needy children, but give special recognition and a small gift to four sponsors who have been sponsoring children throughout the world for over 25 years! We also recognize sponsors who sponsor more than one child, including one gentleman from Minnesota who sponsors 17 children! CCF is blessed to have such a loyal base of sponsors who are truly part of our international family! We finish dessert and then back to the hotel-- well, not everyone. There is a great little street market on a section of Copacabana Beach which a group of us must explore. It is a 16 block walk back to the hotel late that night, but no one seems to mind given the beautiful moon over the ocean, the cool breezes through the beachfront palms, and the atmosphere of joviality that integrates the rhythm of this cidade maravilhosa. Boa noite or sweet dreams dear sponsors…..and welcome to Rio de Janeiro!

It is our second day in Rio, and everyone is already for breakfast and eager to leave for our visit to the Christ the Redeemer statue or Corcovado. It stands on a very high peak in the middle of the largest urban rain forest in the world called Tijuca. We have arranged for our CCF sponsors to go on a safari adventure this morning, so there are six open-air Jeep type vehicles waiting for our group. They will transport us through the city until we reach the cog-wheel railway station in the northern part of the Botafogo neighborhood. It is indeed strange to ride around Rio in these safari vehicles and watch the reaction of Cariocas on their way to work when they see us --how strange this group must appear to the residents of this city, but the Cariocas smile and some wave a cheerful good morning to us. So Brazilian!

We arrive at the little train station and immediately see groups of other tourists standing in line for the next trip up the mountain… there are Italians, French, Germans, Brazilians, and some folks from the USA all waiting to climb up the mountain side through Tijuca National Forest until we reach the majestic Christ statue at the top. As we wait, some of our CCF sponsors are off to buy souvenirs and take photos of the surroundings. Soon, we board our little train and start up the mountainside through the forest where little signs note the types of trees and plants we are passing. There are two stops as we go up the mountain to let locals on and off the train, at the first stop, a quintet of samba school players get on the train to play and sing for the tourists. It is a scene out of a Fellini movie as we steeply climb the mountain on a little cog-wheel train while joyful samba music is playing and several people are dancing in the aisle of our bonde car.

As we approach the top of the mountain, there is a sudden break in the thick forest and a giant gush of oohs and aahs is heard from the passengers as they catch a glimpse of the beautiful scene several thousand feet below -- Ipanema, Copacabana, and Lagoa. There is not a cloud in the sky on this beautiful day. From the last stop, we either walk up over 700 steps or take an elevator to the base of the statue. From the top of the mountain, the view is unbelievable; it is no wonder people do not want to leave this almost sacred place of beauty. As one sponsor remarked, “this is almost a spiritual experience for me.” No one could deny the peacefulness and exhilaration of seeing Rio de Janeiro from the base of the Christ statue.

We descend the mountain by bonde train until the first stop and then hopped back into our safari vehicles for an exciting ride down the winding road that goes down the mountain through Tijuca Forest to a section of the city called Santa Teresa --which has become an artist colony and place to live for the noveau rich in Rio. We have the afternoon free until dinner at a great little restaurant called ‘Mio’ in Ipanema. CCF sponsor Steve from California is crowned King of Cheesebread and given a Rio fake license plate that reads ‘Sr. Pao de Queijo’. Back to the night market at Copacabana Beach tonight before returning to the hotel for some last minute packing of luggage for the flight to Foz de Iguassu in the morning.

We are flying south to the border of Brazil and Argentina this morning to spend a few days at one of the largest waterfalls in the world, the Foz de Iguasu or Big Water in the native language of indigenous people who still live in the area. It has been almost 30 years since I last visited the Foz and I remember Iguasu being this small town with no paved streets and you had to pay a fisherman to row you across the river to the Argentine side of the waterfalls. No more! The Foz de Iguasu region is a giant international tourism destination with modern facilities on both sides of the border and a booming eco-tourism business. Our group is staying at the historic Cataratas Hotel which faces a portion of the falls on the Brazilian side. During the next two days, we hike around the falls, walk gingerly along catwalks over a portion of the falls, and take a really fun boat trip to the base of one of the falls, yes, we all were drenched but laughing the entire time. It is really good to see Brazil and Argentina develop a healthy industry of eco-tourism that protects the sub-tropical forests, assures the integrity of the falls, and gives employment to so many local people.

You always know when a study tour is almost completed (besides being tired and sometimes a little cranky.) The sponsors showed an emotional display of complete satisfaction with what they have experienced on the study tour and a little sadness that it is all ending within 24 hours, we have to say our goodbyes and return to our home communities. The bonds of friendship formed during a study tour is indicative of a group that has come to Brazil for a common mission, to learn more about Christian Children’s Fund, to visit CCF projects and sponsored children, and to learn more of the history, culture, music and arts of this vast country called Brazil.

As we wait for our flight connection in Sao Paulo, Brazil, international airport, to get to Miami, I see sponsors talking quietly to one another, laughing at some of their digital photos, and making plans to return to Brazil on a future study tour. They will return to the States more bonded with the mission of CCF and eager to recruit new sponsors in their community. Many of them will raise funds from their churches, business associates or civic groups to fund needed projects in Brazil or perhaps a project they visited during this Study Tour. I look forward to receiving copies of their favorite photos from this trip and perhaps visiting with them this year as I travel throughout the United States. Emails, phone calls, and letters will be exchanged for many years to come. Most of all, we have shared a common experience throughout this trip to Brazil that none of us will forget. We have gained so much knowledge of Brazil and its people.

I will miss this group of unique individuals! CCF is fortunate to have them as sponsors and loyal supporters helping needy children throughout the world. I hope to see them again in the near future on other study tour trips! We will continue our CCF Study Tours this year with a trip to Ecuador in July (sorry sold out!) and a fantastic study tour to India in late October. Next year, we will be going to Zambia, Bolivia, Brazil, and maybe even Thailand. There will be more countries announced later this summer!

Thank you to the sponsors and fellow travelers on this Brazil Study Tour. I will never forget you! gary d.

Read More......