Day 15
Today was a very emotional day. When I originally signed up for this field program, I was supposed to be going to the zoo with children that have leukemia and don’t have enough money to seek treatment. But this morning when we got on the bus we heard that we weren’t going to be going with these kids. Their doctor didn’t clear them to leave. There was a virus going around and he didn’t want them out in the public. Luckily there was a backup plan in case this happened. We ended up going to the zoo with children with special needs. Not all of them had a handicap disability; some of them were mentally abused. Before we went to the zoo we went to go see where they live. The children weren’t there; they were already on their way to the zoo. When we got to their house they told us that it wasn’t called an orphanage, they called it an assistant home. These kids were abandoned and this nonprofit home takes in the kids. The workers work at a very low rate and they do it to help others. Some children were still there, the ones that weren’t able to go to the zoo and of course the small babies. We saw the nursery, which brought tears to my eyes. We met a baby named Gabriel, his mom tried aborting him many times with drugs, but he was a fighter and is still living. Other small children were hooked up to breathing masks because they were unable to breathe on their own. This home was very well kept and homed about 35 kids ranging from the age of 2 months to 35 years old. When we got to the zoo the children arrived shortly after us, when they got off the bus you could just see the excitement in their eyes, they had never been to the zoo before and they were just so excited to see us. Of course none of them understood what we were saying but the eye contact and hand gestures allowed us to communicate. First we were able to give them hotdogs and FF, an American tradition and then we walked around the zoo for about an hour and a half, and did whatever the kids wanted to do. At the end we got a few pictures together and the translator said that they were so happy and we have made an impact on their life. Hearing this brought tears to my eyes, knowing that those 2 hours together has changed this young person’s life for the better, especially after knowing everything that they have been through. It’s sad, but it feels good to know that I can put a smile on some ones face by doing something so small.
After returning to the ship and eating a quick lunch a bunch of girls got together and went out shopping. We shopped around town for a while and then found a local pizza place, we went inside looking for a refreshing beer and ended up having a ‘Skarloff’ which is a Smirnoff in the US. After sitting around for a little we decided to try a dessert pizza. It was so good, it was pizza dough with cheese and then chocolate sauce, sprinkles and strawberries, as gross as that sounds it was delicious. Coming back to the ship for dinner and a 3 hour girl session of how we all miss our family, it was getting late. Of course we had an ice cream cone on the ship, SO GOOD then called it an early night.
Day 16
Today wasn’t anything special, it is the last day in Brazil and we didn’t have anything planned besides going back to that pizza place for some lunch. We all met up at 11 o clock and walked to the pizza place looking at a few stores along the way. Everyone at Semester at Sea seemed to be at this pizza place, there were so many of us, but luckily our table was waited on first. We all got a slice of pizza and a few drinks. I had a veggie slice, it was weird, none of the slices came with sauce, but it was delicious. I ended the meal with a nice cappuccino; it felt good to have a good dose of caffeine. Walking back to the ship for an on ship time of 1500, aka 3 o clock, we stopped at a touristy shop and got a couple last souvenirs. Now its time to start the work load for the week and prepare for a long ride to Ghana, 9 days on the ship is going to be the death of me! Let it begin!
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