Prayer with the homeless

Last Saturday Noemie (she helped at the Reforço Escolar during the holidays) and I visited Eric who had lived with the homeless in the streets of Salvador. After these experiences he got permission to use an old and abandoned church to house the homeless people there. They all sleep in the church, the men in the left and women in the right aisle. We had dinner together and afterwards we participated in a short prayer evening with songs from Taize which the homeless people prepare every Saturday. It was moving to talk with them about their lives and how they learn to live in a community again. They even invited us to stay overnight!

Igreja da Trindade

Cloths, food, books and other items are distributed here.

Walk through Salvador

Merry guided tour with Vinicíus, a history student, of the Centro histórico. I enjoyed it particularly - the continuous rain, the uneven, steep and bumpy roads and my two-year-old flip-flops turned the walk into quite an adventure and into an even greater enjoyment for bystanders.

View of the Port (Uruguai is situated at the right)

Ordem Terceira de Sâo Domingos de Gusmâo

Pelourinho

What a view...

...with a favela right behind.

Elevador connecting Cidade Baixa and Cidade Alta

Palacio Rio Branco (once the Governor's Palace)

Padroeira

On July, 7th 1980 Pope John Paul II inaugurated the church “Nossa Senhora does Alagados”. The parish celebrated the 30th birtday with a special nine day program which included all church groups. It’s quite normal to encounter some problems during such festivities : malfunctioning speakers, heavy rain, mass starting with 45 minutes delay...

"Nossa Senhora dos Alagados"

Procession through the district

Fidesco Volunteers

Evening for the Children

Praise and Worship

Offertory

Holy Mass with Dom Dominique

Dom Dominique (former parish priest) with parishioners

Holy Mass with Archbishop Cardinal Geraldo Majella Agnelo

Concluding mass

... after the Agape

Copa do Mundo

Deserted roads, closed shops, supermarkets... usually one would be alerted but not here, not now because this is the normal "state of emergency" when the "Seleção" is playing soccer during the world cup. People get together and decorate the streets (the predominating colors are green and yellow), flags are attached to cars, houses and roads are painted in green and yellow as well and pretty much everyone is wearing a T-shirt of the national team. You can find detailed information on the internet about what closes when during the world cup. Rule of thumb: "When Brasil is playing, nothing's open". This is true for shops, shopping center, authorities, schools etc (O país para!).

Unfortunately the Brazilians find it hard to lose. Their reaction to a defeat is as emotional as to a victory (they scream furiously and throw glasses out of the windows).

Well I'm sure they will do better in 2014 when the world cup will take place in Brazil!

Brazil scored!

Long weekend in Aratuba

The three inhabitants of the presbytery - Uillians, Benoit and I - unanimously decided to leave the loud and dirty district of Uruguai behind us and to move (temporarily) to the island of Itaparica. Hence we bought three tickets for a 'lancha' (motor boat) which is cheaper and way more exciting than the ferry. The strong wind makes for a very shaky and rough ride, sometimes water gets into the boat. All in all the crossing was quite boring - last time more people screamed, two people who sat next to me vomited and children wanted to be taken on their parent's shoulders. From the port we took a station wagon to the village of Aratuba (quite an uncomfortable ride due to the "never-full-approach" which is characteristic of all forms of Brazil's public transport).

Island Itaparica

"Our" weekend home

Finally we made it to our residence which is owned by a woman from our parish and who generously let us use it for the weekend. Before we could relax we had to clean the house which was quite a task because the floor was covered with small pieces of wood (thanks be to the termites in the roof), not to mention the dust and insects. After that we could finally lean back and enjoy Caipirinha that Benoit had prepared out of sugar cane schnapps (which due to a whole in the bottle soaked all food we had brought with us). A local had also provided coconuts from the palm trees in our garden - we were unable to get them from the top without a ladder.

Uillians and his favorite hobby

Chef Benoit

Caipirinha (my glass was almost empty from the very start)

DVD-Session slash everyone ready to sleep

Waking up without mosquito bites

The next couple of days were very relaxing. We enjoyed the beach, the waves, ice cream and in particular the silence which we lack a lot in Uruguai where pretty much everyone has a weakness for firecrackers and megaphones. The three days flew by but Uillians and I are already planning our next vacation...

Benoit and moi

Beach in Aratuba

Looking from Itaparica to Salvador

Corpus Christi

It is common knowledge that the Brazilians like to celebrate in style and this holds also true for the Catholic feast of Corpus Christi. The open-air mass was celebrated by the Archbishop of Salvador in the center of the city. Several thousand people participated in the mass and the following procession, which has been taking place since 1549.

Homily of Archbishop Cardinal Dom Geraldo

People praying at the Praça Municipal

Procession through Salvador's center

Volunteer get-together

Each month all Fidesco-Volunteers meet up to have lunch together and to share their experiences of the past 30 days. For the first time the French couple Flore & Aymeric, who had arrived a couple of days before me, and I participated as well. The Fidesco-Salvador-Force is comprised of 3 French couples with 3 children, 1 seminarian from France, 1 consecrated sister from Portugal and 1 Austrian.

Mathilde & Sébastien Perrier, Anne-Thérèse & Pierre-Michaël Blanchard, Flore & Aymeric Warren, Angèle, Benoit, Moi, Ana Maria, Maguelone (f.l.t.r.)