The Sertão

The sertão is a dry, desert region in the interior of Brazil.  We went there for 3 days this week, to meet the people who live there, particularly families who have been helped by Diaconia, the NGO we are working with for our internship.

On Monday morning, we met to leave at 6.  Then, true to Brazilian standard time (same as taimi faka-Tonga, Dad) finally left a little after 7.  We drove for about 6 hours to our cute little hotel, complete with a pool and spotty wifi :)

We had a meeting with a guy from Diaconia, and he told us some more about the program:  what they do, how they help people, etc.  It was really cool to feel like I understood more about how we were serving and how it could make a lasting impact.  (My Portuguese isn't quite good enough to have understood everything but one thing I did understand that I really liked is that Diaconia doesn't just hand things out to people.  The people they help have to offer to help and be willing to work.  I got the impression that sometimes they aren't actually required to follow through in any specific way, but that the attitude and willingness are the most important thing.  They have to be willing to work hard, and if Diaconia sees that they will work but that there is also a real need for help, then they provide the necessary equipment, money, etc to help the family get started.

Right now they are helping about 15,000 families!

I'm not sure if it's their biggest program or just one that we talked about, but they do a lot with helping families collect water.  It's amazing to think that so many people in the world still don't have access to water like we do in the US, and how much it really affects their life.  At least for me, although I definitely know that having to collect water would be super inconvenient, I didn't realize just how much time it takes.  Precious time, when you're living on what you're able to grow and cultivate in a day, etc. So by taking away the need to be constantly collecting water, the families and people have more time to contribute to other activities; their work or even studies, etc to create a better quality of life.

the meeting/presentation 

 The view from right outside my hotel room

And just a few more postcards from Heaven: