Brazil

In the spring of 2010, JourneyPartners will facilitate the first cultural and mission immersion journey to Brazil, with two teams – one comprised of members of the Alliance of Baptists, and another of student service-learning volunteers from colleges in the southeast.

      The excerpt below, from a reflection written by Bonnie Dixon, Executive Director of JourneyPartners, after our first visit to Brazil, describes the situation.  The full excerpt may be accessed by clicking here.

We visited in the grotas, communities hidden “under the hill,” just below but out of sight of multi-million-dollar homes of wealthy urban dwellers, hidden from view of luxury beach homes.  Houses are connected by a maze of countless paths – some narrow horizontal “shelves” cutting across the face of the mountain, some steep vertical chutes carved out by millions of footsteps of those who trudge up and down the mountain to find firewood or food or water or work.  When it’s dry, these paths are challenge even for the most surefooted; when it rains they become treacherous conduits and culverts, certain injury for many, death for the unwary or unlucky few.  These are invisible people – thousands of families trying to scratch out a living doing anything they can to earn a day’s wage.  They’re squatters mostly, so unregistered and “unnoticed” by the government, and unrecognized for health and education services.  Public schools are too few to accommodate far too many children, and too far for access to all but a few.  Lack of running water or sanitation facilities or indoor or outdoor toilets means illness and infection and disease for children already compromised by poor nutrition.  The cycle of ignorance and poverty and poor health grinds out generation after generation of under-development and early death and wasted potential.

      Working in partnership with the Alianca do Brasil, JourneyPartners will assist in rebuilding homes in the grotas of Maceio, in northeastern Brazil.  Tiny shacks of cardboard and scrap metal will be replaced with small but sturdy block and brick houses, providing sanitation and water hook-up to city services.  Water purification systems can be installed in neighborhoods and communities, allowing access to clean water, and improving the health of all the residents. 

      Travelers will be hosted by Brazilian families, and participate in the life of congregations and communities in Salvador, Maceio and Recife.  For more information, see the Journeys webpage, or contact JourneyPartners at 919.494.2033.