Cultural Learnings of Brazil for Make Benefit Crazy Children of Salvador

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Cultural Learnings of Brazil for Make Benefit Crazy Children of Salvador

Firstly, apologies for the blogging delay. I moved house for a completely different part of the city and have been occupied more than usual the last few weeks. I can assure you that the lapse in blog is due to being very busy (and perhaps slightly lazy) rather than having nothing of interest to write about. Being in such a vibrant place with an incredible array of activities is not conducive to regular blogging I'm afraid.

This multitude of different things to do has dragged me to the conclusion that I will not be able to fulfill every ambition I have in Salvador and make a significant contribution to my project at the same time. A year is just not long enough and unless I can bribe someone in the Visa office or simply marry a Brazilian, a year is all I have. With learning capoeira, Brasilian jiu-jitsu, samba, forró, surfing, language fluency, obtaining a physique to match the Brasilians and making a worthwhile contribution to my project all jostling for a place in my daily timetable; I've reluctantly come to realise that some of these goals will not be realised.

With this abundance of activities on offer and of course the cheapness of beer, I admit I was probably guilty of losing sight of my principal reason for gracing this vast and beautiful nation with my Gringo presence. Although the initial period of excitement and wonder is slowly subsiding after six weeks here, I'm still very much susceptible to drifting into states of dreamy appreciation. My friend asked me the other day via instant messaging what I was up to and I casually replied, 'Just went surfing for a couple of hours this morning and going to a reggae festival on the beach for the sunset later'. Quite a standard Saturday but seeing the words written down brought home a guilty sense of smugness.

This six week period has seen a dramatic rise in my level of Portuguese but an even more spectacular plummet in every other language I ever claimed to speak. However, I must say this is a trade I can live with. It never fails to amaze me the opportunities available to you when you can converse with a decent level of fluency in the native tongue of another nation and I only regret not learning more Portuguese before coming. Without question, this would have enable me to get to grips with the country and of course the womenfolk that much quicker. Asides from being 'cute', there is only so far you can get with stuttering, unintelligible dialogue.

More importantly perhaps, I'm also now able to make a much more telling contribution to my school and have a great deal more responsibility there. I truly believe I can achieve something now whereas for the first few weeks I found it difficult to remain positive when I was unable to do anything other than stop fights and be asked to speak so that the children would be entertained by my accent. At least I was amusing them I suppose. Many of them really have no idea why I cannot speak like them as they've never come across a non-Baiano before. There is only so many times you can be asked by a chortling nine-year-old 'Sir, why do you speak so strangely?' before there is a significant drop in morale.

Of course, this will happen the whole time I'm there but I feel like they're becoming more used to me and I am certainly becoming accustomed to my clown-like status amongst them. Regarding my increased level of responsibility, I give English lessons on Mondays and Thursdays normally, assist with various year groups and generally supervise the P.E classes. Of course, when I say P.E I mean to say football and when I say supervise I mean show off to pre-pubescent kids. A reasonable ability on the football pitch gained me instant respect amongst the older boys which I'm keen not to lose as it's my last scrap of dignity amongst the kids. When I can't be bothered to deal with the hassle, I either chat to the rest of the workers there, a couple of whom are really good friends of mine now or just go to the creche. The children there are only three or four, absolutely adorable and speak worse Portuguese than me, thus providing welcome respite.

I'm in the process of starting a football team amongst the oldest children who would be in the under-12 age group. There is a rudimentary football court and several punctured balls at the project and the ability shown is at times astounding given the age and poor equipment on offer. This is going to be a long process to set up but is a source of great enthusiasm for me and happily the organisation I'm working for but there's a lot to sort out before I can provide anything newsworthy.

At least now, I hope you have a better idea of what it is I'm doing here with the majority of my time, stopping violent children from killing each other. I start at 8am and finish at 4 every day except Wednesday when I have Portuguese lessons. These only last for 2 hours so I make the most of Wednesday with surfing lessons and I've also acquired about 20 Brasilian guys to play football with, all from the School of Engineering at the local 'Federal University of Bahia'. The beautiful thing about the beautiful game is that it enables you to meet people wherever you go in the world, something I've benefitted from many times.

The football on offer is futsal which is entirely different from the 11-a-side I'm used to. The Brasilian game is entirely different. The ball is much smaller, probably the equivalent of a size 3 and very hard so that it rarely leaves the floor. Compared to intra-mural football on a bog at the University of Leeds it's almost non-contact and the smallest push is often interpreted as a foul, something I'm struggling to get used to. After playing this style of football, joga bonito, it's easy to see why Robinho only lasted several months in the Premiership before being shipped off to Italy.

As ever, I feel obliged to bring this blog to a close after having regurgitated only a fraction of what the esteemed writer wanted to share with the attentive reader. Topics for my next blog will include a more detailed account of my new living situation, the living situation of the children I'm attempting to teach and an account of Candomblé. For those of you unaware of Candomblé, it is best described as an Afro-Brazilian religious cult originating from various West African religions which were later mixed with Christianity to conform with the religion of the Portuguese masters. This concept of African customs modified to pacify the Europeans is responsible for almost all the most fascinating aspects of Brasilian society, whether it be music, dance or religion.

As it happens, I was invited to a Candomblé ritual last Sunday which was an experience I will never forget. I will save my observations for another blog as there is so much to say, especially when taking into consideration it lasted for roughly six hours, of which I was only able to stay for four, leaving at midnight. Four hours of incantations, dance and possessions were enough for one Sunday night and I'll try to provide a worthy description of the spooky celebration in my next 'publication'. Always leave them wanting more...

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Comments

[Auntie Ali]

Missing you from Catford!
Hi Marc, wow what a time yo are having love, glad to hear though that you are a little more organised on the living situation, are you really? Was also pleased to hear that you are doing some teaching and i suppose you are really making a difference to some childrens lives. Surfing lessons as well hey, at least you can think about a job in Cornwall over the holidays when you get back! Was interested to hear about your Candomble ritual, sounds spooky and yet I want to hear more about it! I will read up more about the Candomble cult and other interesting facts I have never heard about it before it sounds facinating. Other than your varied and interesting time in Brasil we are doing much the same, school and activities etc, I am now trying to do my learning support so spend one day at St. Dunstans with year 3 and one day at another state primary school doing mentoring and one day at college, this is enough to drive me crazy with everything else , but enjoying it and getting on, Jake has start trampolining and drumming lessons and he enjoys both like mad, Abby is due to leave for school journey for a week in a couple weeks time and can't wait, she has already told us she will not under any circumstances be attempting the zip line! Lony has an inset day on Wed so is off with her mates to Thorpe Park, they are making their own travel arrangements etc so lets see how they go! Big mum is here with me and sends her love and says please be careful and she also hopes you are getting enough to eat!!! Will send some photos soon, send me your skype address we can call you then, be good love and miss you - all in Catfordshire! xx