14th day - Dom Orione

Today we had our first day at the Dom Orione educational center, a facility similar to an after-school program in Germany. Here, mainly children from disadvantaged backgrounds come before or after school to learn important values and escape the dangerous life in the favelas. The center was named after Don Luigi Orione, an Italian priest from the late 19th century who dedicated his life to the poor and orphaned children and founded many charitable organizations. They work there following his example. In total, about 150 children aged 6-14 come to the center daily. The topic of violence is particularly present, as most of these children are confronted with it daily. To prevent them from ending up like their parents in the cycle of violence, the center organizes projects on various topics that engage the children. In the next few weeks, we will take on this role in a team of five people, including three Germans, one Frenchwoman, and one Peruvian. On our first official day today, the main focus was on collecting ideas and setting goals that we want to achieve with the children. Since none of us speak Portuguese, the language barrier will probably be our biggest challenge. Nevertheless, I am very motivated and extremely excited to work with the children. It is obvious that no work is done here on Mondays and Fridays (almost like in university), which is why we only work from Tuesday to Thursday - but always from 7 am to 5 pm. That's why we're going to the beach again tomorrow (after all, there isn't much else to do on an island, but I can't complain about it :D)
Because the weather was so nice today, we went to the pool after work and then to a bar at the university with many other AIESEC people - of course with a lot of Caipirinha (half a liter costs the equivalent of 3€ here). However, bars at the university are already a challenge. Basically, you don't get what you ordered unless you have ordered the same thing at least three times. If there's one thing I've learned so far, it's to have a looooot of patience here.