The cold water cascading down my face was enough to shock my body awake at 7:00 the next morning. I keep forgetting that Inacia turns off the hot water switches before she leaves at night, and it isn’t until 2 minutes into my shower that I realize why the electric shower head isn’t heating the water. The frigid temperature did its job waking me up, and after I got dressed I quickly prepared my things for that morning. I had to bring the photo printer with me to print pictures of some of the cooperative’s wooden products that morning, which was one of the things I was supposed to get done the previous afternoon.
Uncle Mark, William and I arrived in the Planalto and each headed our separate ways. The hall was coming along quite nicely. Raimundo and Damião had begun tiling the front stairs, and Raimundo was already at work installing the railings for them and the handicap ramp. There were two Lucianos working today. The regular Luciano was preparing to paint the auditorium, and the new Luciano, who was also a missionary from another nearby assembly, was at work preparing the front wall for the gate installation.
Uncle Mark, Neto, William and Luciano (the regular one) loaded into the Comvee to go complain to the granite counter-top guy. The counters had come the day before and it was clear that the person who cut the granite did not follow the template that Uncle Mark had made at all. Everything was off, the most notable mistake being that the sink was in the wrong place. I headed to Luis’s house to pick up the disk of co-op product photos to print. On my way home I got a bit lost and wound up in another slum in the opposite direction of the Planalto. I decided to follow the train tracks back from whence I came, and finally found my way to the church. I set up a makeshift office in the auditorium and began printing the pictures for the co-op and for the Planalto Gambas.
Lillia called to see if I wanted to go over there for lunch, but I declined in hopes that today would be the day that I made it to the cancer hospital. It had been the one thing that I had really been looking forward to doing since I had gotten here, other than blogging of course. When you get into crunch time, like we are in now, you begin to wonder and worry when or if some things will ever happen. I worked on the blog while the photos printed. Alison Dos was there that morning, so I gave him his Planalto Gamba pictures which he appreciated.
Neto was impressed by the printer, which spat out perfect quality 4X6 photos rather quickly. He discussed the possibility of buying both the printer and my camera before we all left on Monday. I told him that the printer was Paul’s so he would have to talk to Lori about that and that I would give the camera some consideration. It was soon time to break for lunch, so William, Uncle Mark and I piled in the Gol and headed back to Ponta Negra to partake in Inacia’s delicious cooking.
Jokes had been made the night before that Inacia and Preta, the woman who looks after Lillia’s house, should have a cook-off. Uncle Mark is invited over Lillia’s daily for lunch, rather than having to drive the 25 minutes back home. He always declines and says that he would rather have Inacia’s cooking.
After a lunch of beans, rice, tomatoes and beef, Uncle Mark and William headed back to the Planalto. Lori, Caroline and I planned on going to the children’s hospital in the city. We were finally on our way as soon as Lori learned where the hospital was with the help of Inacia. We took the beautiful coastal road to the downtown area before we arrived at the hospital. The receptionist buzzed a volunteer to guide us around the facility. As we waited I took a look around. Aunt Lori read a sign to me that was written in Portuguese that stated that all the procedures are preformed at no cost to the patient, and that it was by the support of donations that all of these things was possible. Our guide soon arrived at the door, and me, Caroline, Lori and three bags of stuffed animals finally entered the hospital itself.
Unfortunately, we were told at this point that we could not pass out the animals because there was a chance of disease being spread. The back up plan was to entrust the soft toys to the staff to pass them out when the patients either went home or went into a hospice-like program. We also had some small toys (finger puppets, bouncy balls etc…) with us so we decided we would pass these out instead. A girl was having a birthday party in a function room so we decided that we would “crash” the party. The halls were not very brightly lit. Caroline had a distant look in her eye and I really didn’t know what to expect.
We went into the room and Aunt Lori spoke to them all as a group, telling them who we were, what we were doing in Brazil and what we were doing in the hospital that day. The sight of the kids really took me back. To be honest, I was expecting worse, but I still wasn’t prepared for seeing very frail children with 2nd rate IVs in their arms. The hospital didn’t even have portable IV hangers. Each time the kids decided to walk around, a volunteer had to hold the bag above their head to allow the fluid to flow through the tubes. All of the staff was very friendly and helpful, and Aunt Lori took the time to talk to each of them as well as saying hello to each of the children.
Caroline and I had gone to work passing out the finger puppets. I really had been hoping to give these kids the stuffed animals and was slightly embarrassed to only have little finger puppets to offer. I couldn’t believe how the faces on them would light up over a little toy that would probably go for around 5 tickets at Chuck E’ Cheeses. We stayed at the party for a bit and took a few pictures before our guide pushed us forward in the tour.
Our first stop was the infectious disease ward. We had to wash our hands both before and after entering the area. There were two children in there who were in quarantine, one with Tuberculosis and the other with some form of newborn repertory disorder. We were told that the one with TB had a negative prognosis while the child with the breathing problem would likely be alright after three months of treatment. The doctor who seemed to be the head of this department was a very friendly woman who spoke a little English. Most of the children who were at the party were from this ward, and they had returned from their afternoon festivity while we were in still the area. We went back in to take a final picture., and after washing our hands a third time we were on our way.
The hospital reminded me of something I had seen in any number of movies that showed a hospital in a third world country. The appearance wasn’t very clean. The rooms were dark and dingy and didn’t look like anything you would want to be in for a night, let alone a three month quarantine. I probably would have been disgusted and shocked if it wasn’t for the fact that I had been to the Planalto and seen the conditions of some of the homes that these people live in. This hospital was a four star hotel compared to some of those houses. Although we couldn't enter, we peered inside the ICU from the doorway before moving on.
During the time we had been in the infectious disease ward, a child had died and our guide had needed to leave our side to stay with the body. Our new leader was a very peppy volunteer who was so excited that we had come to visit the children. She told us that they had been very sad lately because they hadn’t had many visitors. Many of them are there for very long periods of time, and other than their parents and a few close relatives or friends they had no contact with anyone from the outside world. It began to make sense why these kids seemed so excited to see three American’s who could only offer them finger puppets.
We visited the cancer section of the hospital, and spent a while visiting with each individual patient. Some were very friendly, and others were very shy. Our new volunteer had insisted that Lori hand out the tracts. Up until this point, the pieces of paper hadn’t even been mentioned. We didn’t want to feel like we were throwing something at very sick children, many of which were dying. However this staff member knew each patient and each parent, so with her help we distributed them for the remainder of our stay.
We found a girl in the corner of the ward that was severely ill. Her mother seemed exhausted and just completely lost. Lori talked with her for a while before giving her a hug and we moved on. It wasn’t until I was out of the hospital that I learned the little girl’s story. The mother had been trying to read the Bible, but every time she opened it or mentioned God the girl would go crazy. The child was probably between 5 and 7 years old and looked very sick and extremely frail. My heart went out to her and her mother. It was evident that she had been sitting beside that bed for a very long time. Lori told her, “I am here to tell you that God loves you, but it sure doesn’t feel like he is in this does it”.
Before leaving the hospital we stopped by the in vaccination area. Upon opening the door, we discovered the staff member stationed there reading the Bible at her desk. Lori talked with her and left the remaining tracts and stickers with her to give out to the children and parents when they received their vaccinations. We said goodbye to the friends on the staff we had made and got back in the car. After a routine traffic stop we got to an ice cream place in Ponta Negra where I tried ascie ice cream with banana’s and granola. The food was good and the energy boost was needed seeing we were heading to an artisan center to look for more product next.
Uncle Mark, William and I arrived in the Planalto and each headed our separate ways. The hall was coming along quite nicely. Raimundo and Damião had begun tiling the front stairs, and Raimundo was already at work installing the railings for them and the handicap ramp. There were two Lucianos working today. The regular Luciano was preparing to paint the auditorium, and the new Luciano, who was also a missionary from another nearby assembly, was at work preparing the front wall for the gate installation.
Uncle Mark, Neto, William and Luciano (the regular one) loaded into the Comvee to go complain to the granite counter-top guy. The counters had come the day before and it was clear that the person who cut the granite did not follow the template that Uncle Mark had made at all. Everything was off, the most notable mistake being that the sink was in the wrong place. I headed to Luis’s house to pick up the disk of co-op product photos to print. On my way home I got a bit lost and wound up in another slum in the opposite direction of the Planalto. I decided to follow the train tracks back from whence I came, and finally found my way to the church. I set up a makeshift office in the auditorium and began printing the pictures for the co-op and for the Planalto Gambas.
Lillia called to see if I wanted to go over there for lunch, but I declined in hopes that today would be the day that I made it to the cancer hospital. It had been the one thing that I had really been looking forward to doing since I had gotten here, other than blogging of course. When you get into crunch time, like we are in now, you begin to wonder and worry when or if some things will ever happen. I worked on the blog while the photos printed. Alison Dos was there that morning, so I gave him his Planalto Gamba pictures which he appreciated.
Neto was impressed by the printer, which spat out perfect quality 4X6 photos rather quickly. He discussed the possibility of buying both the printer and my camera before we all left on Monday. I told him that the printer was Paul’s so he would have to talk to Lori about that and that I would give the camera some consideration. It was soon time to break for lunch, so William, Uncle Mark and I piled in the Gol and headed back to Ponta Negra to partake in Inacia’s delicious cooking.
Jokes had been made the night before that Inacia and Preta, the woman who looks after Lillia’s house, should have a cook-off. Uncle Mark is invited over Lillia’s daily for lunch, rather than having to drive the 25 minutes back home. He always declines and says that he would rather have Inacia’s cooking.
After a lunch of beans, rice, tomatoes and beef, Uncle Mark and William headed back to the Planalto. Lori, Caroline and I planned on going to the children’s hospital in the city. We were finally on our way as soon as Lori learned where the hospital was with the help of Inacia. We took the beautiful coastal road to the downtown area before we arrived at the hospital. The receptionist buzzed a volunteer to guide us around the facility. As we waited I took a look around. Aunt Lori read a sign to me that was written in Portuguese that stated that all the procedures are preformed at no cost to the patient, and that it was by the support of donations that all of these things was possible. Our guide soon arrived at the door, and me, Caroline, Lori and three bags of stuffed animals finally entered the hospital itself.
Unfortunately, we were told at this point that we could not pass out the animals because there was a chance of disease being spread. The back up plan was to entrust the soft toys to the staff to pass them out when the patients either went home or went into a hospice-like program. We also had some small toys (finger puppets, bouncy balls etc…) with us so we decided we would pass these out instead. A girl was having a birthday party in a function room so we decided that we would “crash” the party. The halls were not very brightly lit. Caroline had a distant look in her eye and I really didn’t know what to expect.
We went into the room and Aunt Lori spoke to them all as a group, telling them who we were, what we were doing in Brazil and what we were doing in the hospital that day. The sight of the kids really took me back. To be honest, I was expecting worse, but I still wasn’t prepared for seeing very frail children with 2nd rate IVs in their arms. The hospital didn’t even have portable IV hangers. Each time the kids decided to walk around, a volunteer had to hold the bag above their head to allow the fluid to flow through the tubes. All of the staff was very friendly and helpful, and Aunt Lori took the time to talk to each of them as well as saying hello to each of the children.
Caroline and I had gone to work passing out the finger puppets. I really had been hoping to give these kids the stuffed animals and was slightly embarrassed to only have little finger puppets to offer. I couldn’t believe how the faces on them would light up over a little toy that would probably go for around 5 tickets at Chuck E’ Cheeses. We stayed at the party for a bit and took a few pictures before our guide pushed us forward in the tour.
Our first stop was the infectious disease ward. We had to wash our hands both before and after entering the area. There were two children in there who were in quarantine, one with Tuberculosis and the other with some form of newborn repertory disorder. We were told that the one with TB had a negative prognosis while the child with the breathing problem would likely be alright after three months of treatment. The doctor who seemed to be the head of this department was a very friendly woman who spoke a little English. Most of the children who were at the party were from this ward, and they had returned from their afternoon festivity while we were in still the area. We went back in to take a final picture., and after washing our hands a third time we were on our way.
The hospital reminded me of something I had seen in any number of movies that showed a hospital in a third world country. The appearance wasn’t very clean. The rooms were dark and dingy and didn’t look like anything you would want to be in for a night, let alone a three month quarantine. I probably would have been disgusted and shocked if it wasn’t for the fact that I had been to the Planalto and seen the conditions of some of the homes that these people live in. This hospital was a four star hotel compared to some of those houses. Although we couldn't enter, we peered inside the ICU from the doorway before moving on.
During the time we had been in the infectious disease ward, a child had died and our guide had needed to leave our side to stay with the body. Our new leader was a very peppy volunteer who was so excited that we had come to visit the children. She told us that they had been very sad lately because they hadn’t had many visitors. Many of them are there for very long periods of time, and other than their parents and a few close relatives or friends they had no contact with anyone from the outside world. It began to make sense why these kids seemed so excited to see three American’s who could only offer them finger puppets.
We visited the cancer section of the hospital, and spent a while visiting with each individual patient. Some were very friendly, and others were very shy. Our new volunteer had insisted that Lori hand out the tracts. Up until this point, the pieces of paper hadn’t even been mentioned. We didn’t want to feel like we were throwing something at very sick children, many of which were dying. However this staff member knew each patient and each parent, so with her help we distributed them for the remainder of our stay.
We found a girl in the corner of the ward that was severely ill. Her mother seemed exhausted and just completely lost. Lori talked with her for a while before giving her a hug and we moved on. It wasn’t until I was out of the hospital that I learned the little girl’s story. The mother had been trying to read the Bible, but every time she opened it or mentioned God the girl would go crazy. The child was probably between 5 and 7 years old and looked very sick and extremely frail. My heart went out to her and her mother. It was evident that she had been sitting beside that bed for a very long time. Lori told her, “I am here to tell you that God loves you, but it sure doesn’t feel like he is in this does it”.
Before leaving the hospital we stopped by the in vaccination area. Upon opening the door, we discovered the staff member stationed there reading the Bible at her desk. Lori talked with her and left the remaining tracts and stickers with her to give out to the children and parents when they received their vaccinations. We said goodbye to the friends on the staff we had made and got back in the car. After a routine traffic stop we got to an ice cream place in Ponta Negra where I tried ascie ice cream with banana’s and granola. The food was good and the energy boost was needed seeing we were heading to an artisan center to look for more product next.
We didn’t stay in the center too long, and after getting a few small things and 5 kilograms of cashews we were on our way back home. It was about 7:30 by this point and we relaxed with some snacks and watched Seinfeld for a little while. Uncle Mark and William got home at about 9:00 that night. It had been a long, but productive day. Since I had left that afternoon they had done some more tiling on the front stairs, and Luciano had completely finished painting the auditorium. Uncle Mark had finished all the shelves that he was building, which left him with a few finishing touches to do the next day. I was exhausted and ready for bed before 11. I had hoped to go to the beach for an hour or so with William the next morning, but he told me he was going to the Planalto. Plan B, which I seemed to be resorting to a lot lately, was going to be a book poolside. Sometimes even the best laid plan “B”s of mice and men often go array...
Raimundo Working on the Hand Rails 
Uncle Mark Giving the Bookshelves a Final Sanding Job
Aunt Lori and I with the Kids and Volunteers at the Birthday Party
Aunt Lori Communicating with Some of the Kids at the Party
Aunt Lori and I With some of the Volunteer Doctors, Nurses and Helpers 
A Young Child (Probably Three Years Old) in the Oncology Wing of the Hospital
The Volunteer Running the Vaccination Center Was Reading Her Bible When We Arrived
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