KIDS Worldwide South America

The most recent articles from this year have been written by Pia, Alba and Belén .

Leaving Casa Do Caminho, every volunteer has the opportunity to give written feedback to the Casa coordinators after their stay at the orphanages. According to the volunteer's wishes the information is treated confidentially or may be discussed in public.

Even though I (girl in the middle) worked for other orphanages before, the time I spend at Casa do Caminho was a whole new experience for me. It was the first time that I worked in a not English speaking country. I was afraid that my Portuguese would not be sufficient. But as I was mainly around local people, I picked up the language fast and after a short period of time I did not have problems expressing my self. In my opinion Casa do Caminho is a very good organized organization. I felt totally comfortable in the volunteer group in which I found some very close friends. Also I enjoyed very much to meet people from all over the world.

The first time I arrived at Casa do Caminho, the nature and the area that it is situated in amazed me. The House that I lived in with three other volunteers was simple and basic but I got used quickly to the room and the cold showers.

Of course the first days were a little difficult and it takes some time to get to know the people and the whole system. But as soon as I knew my way around there was no more time for getting home sick.

I enjoyed very much to work as a medical coordinator. In this job position I was mostly working on my own. I was in charge of my own schedule, of making decisions and finding solutions. This working independence and the responsibility that I had was a great new experience for me. Another interesting part of my job was that I had the opportunity to meet a large number of local doctors and hospital staff. It was a great deal for me to represent Casa do Caminho and to find new doctors whom were willing to help the organization. The fact that I could spend a lot of time with the children alone (while waiting for the appointment at the dentists or in hospitals) was a great way to build relationships with them. Besides all the positive things, there were of cause times in which I was annoyed and exhausted of waiting 6 hours in an overfilled waiting room, or by doctors that -in my opinion- did not do a firm job. Coming from a bureaucratic, strict and well-organized country, it took me quite a time to cope with these cultural differences. By understanding the Brazilian medical system, I learned to show persistence, assertiveness and patience.

Another part of my work was doing shifts in the ambulatory. Again it gave me the opportunity to bond with the children and to have a certain routine almost every evening. Because I am a medical student, this time of the day was very special to me, as I was able to help the children right away when they were in pain (mostly small things like cuts, splinters, warts, headaches, lice, etc.) and to comfort them. The children used the time to tell me about their day, to ask me questions about the human body (there were educational posters on the wall with medical pictures) or they just enjoyed having my attention. Again it was a good experience for me to have the responsibility for all the medical supplies and to learn to be strict with the children, for example when ever they wanted medicine or bandages without needing it. Of course the life in such a big community brings problems with it as well. Often there were times when I had the feeling that nobody listened to me nor did the things I asked for. I understood though that this was only because everyone in our group had a lot of work to do and everybody felt lost sometimes. In my opinion it would help to bring the volunteers closer together, to have more group dynamic and family atmosphere. Another fact that was irritating for me was that I never really got any kind of feedback. I just assumed that as long as nobody was criticizing my work, they were pleased with my work. It would have been nice to get some ideas on how to improve.

 The six-month I spend at Casa do Caminho went by very fast. For me, every day was an adventure and until now it was for sure the most special and powerful experience I have ever made. If I have had the chance, I would have stayed longer. It was very difficult for me to leave and even now-two month later- I think about Casa do Caminho almost daily and I miss the children very much.

It was wonderful to be part of this big community and to live a totally different life for a change. I hope instantly that I can come back to Casa do Caminho again one day.

 Pia Engelbracht

We are Volunteers from La Rinconada, a small town of Sevilla, in the south of Spain. We volunteered at Casa do Caminho last November until May, an experience that will help us see the world in a very different perspective than what we have seen while living in Europe. When we arrived we weren’t sure where we were going to work, and we didn’t speak Portuguese.

At first we wanted to work with the small children, but the teenagers needed more help, they were more problematic and always had difficulty with the volunteers. Night and day we lived our life in a half constructed house with 12 teens. Our task was not easy: we had to convert it into a home!!! In the beginning the girls we very kind to us, but within a very short time the difficulty of our task became clear. We had a mission to educate these teens and it wasn’t always easy. We battled with the girls to be punctual in school, to accomplish their tasks, to be more responsible with their extracurricular activities, etc. Needless to say in a short time we went from being awesome volunteers to being awful ones in their perspective.

Although after time we began forming a deep, loving friendship between us all. Little by little we learned to speak more Portuguese than the girls could understand our Spanish and our communication improved. We don’t know if we were able to teach the girls very much, but we do know how much they taught us. However we are certain that it was a positive experience for everyone. We were not limited to only working with the teens at Casa Cam, our duties consisted of much more: helping in the garden, repairing the house, searching for donations, accompanying the children to their doctor’s appointments... It was a 24 hour job, and in little time it became our new lifestyle.

In general, we can conclude that our experience was very enriching, not only for the time we spent living with the girls, but also having the opportunity to see how the people live in a rural community in Brazil, who are quite poor, and to share our experience with marvelous people that give all they have and more for these children. People like Verónica and Renato, Tuca, Bart and of course the rest of the volunteers that come from all areas of the world. Thank you to everyone who helped create and continue this project.

Alba+Belén