Day Four of Community Service

This morning we had a slightly earlier departure with Jon Knowles, Mark Denton and I heading to a sports camp for children in a favella about 15 minutes away. We brought all of the soccer uniforms and equipment to donate to this organization which focuses on teaching underprivileged teenagers the benefits of positive participation in sport. They focus on the importance of good values and sportmanship in addition to promoting the enjoyment of sport. The also encourage the participation of girls, which is unusual in Brazil where few opportunities are availabe for girls to get involved in any kind of organized sports programs. The organization operates in three different communities and depends entirely on support from corporate and individual sponsors. Mark and Jon were able to play with the teens for well over an hour in a series of short scrimmage matches.

The rest of the group left shortly after us for a morning capoeira class in the auditorium at the school we´ve been working at. Capoeira was described to the boys as a form of martial arts hidden within a dance. It was developed by slaves in Brazil at a time when fighting was strictly forbidden. Apparently the boys were taught a variety of moves starting from simple ones and gradually progressing in complexity. I´m told that Wes Tiller and Greg Vandemark (the Old Boy chaperones), as well as Aidan Romeril proved to be the most skilled capoeira dancers/fighters by the end of the class. The three of them took on the instructor in a final demonstration.

Jon, Mark and I arrived back at the school shortly
after the capoeira class was finished and we spent most of the rest of the day scraping and plastering. We only managed to get one wall of the auditorium painted, but the rest is all set to go. A few of us may head back to the school on our free day Monday morning to get a bit more painting finished. We figure that in three hours we can get a good chunk done now that everything is ready to go. Whatever we don´t get to can be completed by the other group when they arrive.

Tonight we´re heading out to a local restaurant for a traditional fish dish called moqueca.

That´s all for today. Take care!