December 2012 Newsletter

Carolyn, Fr. Dan & Catherine

Walk for Peace in Brasilandia

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from São Paulo, Brazil.  The weather here is about 90 to 100 so it does not feel too much like Christmas. And yet there are lights and decorations hanging throughout the city.

One theme that has always been important for me especially during Christmas is peace.  This year I am reminded in profound ways of what that really means.  The city of São Paulo has had a surge in violence in the last few months.  The people have seen so much death and now are asking for and praying for peace.  Catherine a Lay Missioner and my roommate, Fr. Dan, a Maryknoll Priest and I participated in a peace walk through the area of Brasilandia, which is a part of the city that has been hit hard with violence.  We all work with folks from this neighborhood.  The peace walk was lead by the World Youth Day Cross, which is traveling throughout Brazil prior to the event in Rio next summer. 

It was a moving experience to walk the roads of a community and to see the faces of the people who struggle everyday with the violence in their neighborhoods.  It was wonderful to walk in solidarity with folks who are willing to take a stand for peace.  Some of the youth wrote the word peace on our foreheads as you can see in the picture above. 

                                                                                  The Two Faces of Sao Paulo    

The periphery                 

                    and the city

   

                         My Ministry & Work

Prison Ministry I have been accompanying Kathy             

Bond a Maryknoll Lay Missioner who works with 

woman’s groups in the prisons.  The picture on the

right is in front of a prison were we offer a health class

for elderly woman.  We also visit another prison and 

hold a health class for foreigners and pregnant Brazilians. We work with the prison ministry of the Archdiocese of 

São Paulo.  This time is so important to the woman 

because it helps them understand their health better 

and it also provides time for us to listen to them, pray 

with them, and let them know they are valued.

Woman’s Prayer Group I participate in a prayer group  

in Brasilandia in one of the parishes that Catherine works

in.  It is an important time for these women to come 

together to build community, discuss topics important to 

their lives and to have some sacred time for themselves.  

Center for Juventude (Center for Youth) I am now 

working with teens in a center that offers the Liberal Arts.  

In Brazil school is for half the day.  The center offers a safe 

and positive environment where kids can come and receive 

education they would not get any other place.  I help with 

courses in Communication, Culture and Language.  I am told 

only 15% of kids are able to go to college in the city.  Without 

the courses the center offers the kids would have no chance to continue their education.  I am so happy to be a part of giving these kids a fighting chance for a future where they can dream and become anything they want.  Also, the staff and teens help 

me so much with my language skills and they teach me as much 

as I teach them.

PLEASE CONSIDER SUPPORTING ME IN MISSION!

Please remember that MKLM funds my travel, medical, and living expenses, and other costs associated with keeping me in mission. I ask that you consider donating to the Maryknoll Lay Missioners so that I, and missioners like me, can continue to serve those in need worldwide.

You can now directly support my mission work with MKLM. Funds donated will either be applied directly to support my work, education, and ministries or used to support the general fund of MKLM. Financial Support can be sent to MKLM, P.O. Box 307, Maryknoll, NY 10545-0307 or online by going to https://app.etapestry.com/hosted/MaryknollLayMissioners/OnlineDonation.html?approach=5936 - Carolyn Trumble&contents=of Carolyn Trumble in mission. Please write “Carolyn Trumble- Mission Account” in the memo line or intention box to support me in mission. All contributions are tax deductible.  Also, if you are able to donate it would be great if you let me know that you have donated.  Since my mission account is new I would like to follow up to make sure all is recorded properly.   Thank You.

Tia

If you know me you know how important it is for me to be a good Aunt.  In fact the only people I have ever let call me aunt our my 7 nieces & nephews.  I have always considered our relationships as sacred.

In Brazil a lot of young people call me Tia, which means aunt.  I have to admit I kind of like it.  I think of the Hawaiian understanding of auntie, a wise, respected woman.  And because it is a different word it feels different to me.

Today I visited a house/organization that works with kids who have HIV and have been abandoned.   Some of the children have physical and mental disorders as well.  We were told a few of them had been shaken or thrown across the room so now they were paralyzed or had brain injuries.  Hearing this sent chills up my spin.  I know this happens but it is one thing to know it and another to be standing next to the crib of a little one who has been hurt.

One little boy was about 2 and he was so excited to see us and he kept saying Tia, Tia, Tia, almost as if to say do you see me, do you see me?  Another little girl was showing me a church brochure and she was showing me Mary and saying Mamae em ceu.  Which means mother in the sky.  But it was another little one who had the most impact on me.  We walked in the tv room and there was about 6 kids under the age of 7.  Mostly toddlers.  It seemed to me they all had some sort of mental challenge.  One little girl around 7 years old kept looking at me and then looking down.  I went over and just bent down next to her and started talking softly.  I did not want to touch her because I was not sure of her condition and did not want to scare or upset her.  She came over to me and put my arm around her and pushed me to the floor so she could take a seat on my lap.  Then she wrapped my arms around her.  I figured out she was ok being touched.  She settled back with her thumb in her mouth and continued watching cartoons.  She never said a word, I still don't know if she could speak.  But for a moment today I felt like Aunt Carolyn again.  It was a precious moment and it made me miss my nieces and nephews.

I will never be Aunt Carolyn here in Brazil because my family is not here.  But in the moments that I get to be Tia Carolina I touch a special part of my heart.  I am discerning whether I will be able to go back and work with those children.  It took me 1 1/2 hours from my house to get there this morning.  So if I can find time in my schedule to travel 3 hours I will go back if only to sit on the floor and watch cartoons.

I love being Aunt Carolyn & Tia Carolina

Brazilian Prisons

Two days a week I visit woman in prison in Brazil.  On Wednesday we have a health class for elderly woman at a prison called Santa Anna, the woman in this class are all Brazilian and are moms and grandmas.  Friday we have a similar health class at a prison called Capital, the woman in this class are young.  Four of the woman are pregnant, one woman is from Bolivia but does not even speak Spanish, she only speaks her own tribal language; three woman are from Thailand, a handful are from Brazil, and a few are from South Africa.  One thing that not all but most have in common, drug trafficking.

The three woman from Thailand are so sweet.  They don't speak Portuguese and only know what little English they learned in High School.  Last week they told me they had been prison for 1 month & 10 days.  The class we do is in Portuguese and English.  Because many of the foreigners understand English and may not have picked up Portuguese yet.  The other missioners lead the class because I still cannot teach in Portuguese.  But I have really enjoyed being able to help the English speakers in the group.  Sometimes I translate the Portuguese for them and sometimes I need to break down words in English to make it easier to understand.  After our last class I was speaking with my friends from Thailand.  The woman were joking with each other and hugging each other.  I asked them if they knew each other before they came to Brazil.  They told me they had met in the airport when they were each being arrested.

One thing we don't do is ask them about their crime,  if they offer information we can talk to them but we don't begin that conversation.  They did not tell me anymore, however, I assumed that they were being arrested for drug trafficking.  Later, one of the other missioners told me a little more of their story.  All three had been hired in Thailand to come to Brazil.  They took different routes here but arrived on the same day.  They each stayed in different hotels for one month.  Then they were given drugs that they swallowed or put in their body cavities.  They arrived at the airport at different times but were booked on the same flight home.  One was arrested around 8am, another 9am, and the last 10am.  This pattern leads us to believe that they had been set up.  Many times drug traffickers set up decoys to be arrested so someone who has more drugs can get through security while the authorities have been tipped off about the decoys and are busy arresting them.

The woman now will spend several years in prison, yes they are guilty of drug trafficking but from what I know of them I would guess they come from poverty.  These are the woman we meet in the Brazilian prisons.  Very poor, simple woman who broke the law as a means of survival.  We don't meet the major drug traffickers, or the rich who buy the drugs, only the poor.  I am sure that some of the others do get arrested but I have not met them yet.

Catherine & Katie holding the
names of the men who were
killed at Carandiru Prison.

Last week was the 20th anniversary of a massacre at the Carandiru prison.  111 prisoners were executed by the police after a riot.  Reports show that the prisoners had surrendered and that no one had tried to escape.  Yet the police were ordered to enter the prison and kill many of the prisoners.  Carandiru was destroyed in the 90s.  Now there is a park in its place.  This park separates the two prisons I visit.  Carandiru was a men's prison and the men were moved elsewhere.   You can watch the movie of what happened on You Tube (however it is in Portuguese) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn4HYrt1-sM or I got a copy from the library and watched it with English subtitles.  It is very violent so don't watch with kids. You can also skipped to the end on You Tube and just watch what happened and not get the back stories of the prisoners.

Many of the Maryknoll Lay Missioners in Brazil attended the memorial for the prisoners killed at Carandiru.  7 out of 8 of us work in prison ministry.  Our work is about human rights and human dignity.  A person does not deserve to be killed simply because they are a prisoner.  A woman deserves to give birth to her baby without her hands and feet handcuffed to a bed, and everyone deserves food, water and basic shelter.  I believe that all humans beings have the right to life, even the prisoner.

Me @ the memorial

Heidi being interviewed about
the massacre at Carandiru.

My New Apartment

Many people have asked me to post pictures of my new apartment so here they are.  My roommate Catherine, is a Maryknoll Lay Missioner who arrived in Sao Paulo about a year and a half ago.

Dining Room/Living Room

Bathroom

Living Room/Dining Room

Kitchen/Laundry Room

Kitchen/Laundry Room

My Closet!!!

My Bedroom

The apartment is starting to come together. We still have a few more things to do but we now have cabinets and I have my room mostly set up.  It is starting to feel like a home.  After 8 months of moving around from place to place I am very grateful to have my own space.  It was a great experience getting to stay with the Maryknoll Community in Brazil, Brazilians and at language school.  But I am ready to unpack and be in one place for awhile.

Taking Things for Granted

So tonight I entered the bathroom and began to play the game Catherine and I do with the light switch.  We have 2 light switches but they don't turn on at first so we flip them both on and off about 10 times trying to get the right pattern and the right pressure to have the lights come on.  In one of the apartments I stayed in for a while it was a similar experience trying to turn on the lights in the bedroom and at times when cooking in the kitchen the lights would just go off.  It was really no big deal we would just wait for them to come back on which they would eventually do.

Tonight after I got the lights on I turned on the shower and waited for the warm water to come which it never did.  Eventually Catherine helped me turn a button on the shower head which made the water hot.  I did not know about that button and I stay away from touching the shower heads because with most of them you can be shocked if you touch them.  Ours does have the shock thing too but at least now I know about the button.  Also many showers do not have a shower box so the water goes all over the bathroom, after we are done with the shower we take a big squeegee and mop up the floors.

All of these things are just a normal part of life for many Brazilians.  For me, they just add to the adventure of living in another country.  However, this week I have been reflecting on the things I have taken for granted in my life in the U.S.  Lights and a warm shower are part of those things.  Also, a clothes dryer and perhaps one of the most important is heat.  I do miss being able to turn on the heat when I am cold. The houses don't have heat here.  I am going to buy a little heater but have not done so yet.

I started thinking about this topic last week when I was visiting the woman's prison.  We have a heath group with senior woman on Wednesdays.  As I sat in the circle of about 9 woman who are moms and grandmas I noticed they have such a desperation when it comes to their families.  Last Wednesday I listened to their stories and their desperate pleas for help and I thought about all that they have lost.  These woman have nothing and yet it is not the conditions they live in that they care most about it is their families.  I thought about the fact that when everything is stripped from a person what is the greatest need and desire, family.

I can understand this somewhat because there are times when I really miss my family and friends.  And yet my situation is different because I can skype or email or call my loved ones.  If necessary I could get on a plane and go home.  I have the freedom to make choices these woman do not.  And yet when I think about how my life will be different because of my choice to live as a missioner I believe that I may not take things for granted like I might have in the past.  Yes, water, lights, heat, peanut butter, those will all be things I will notice.  However, the most important thing I believe we should all not take for granted are our family and our friends.  Those people who stay with us in good times and bad and stand by us because they love us. I ask myself  if everything was strip away from me what would I miss the most...family.

Children of Poverty

She arrives early every week.  When I arrive she looks up to see if I notice her.  As I say her name she lets herself smile, but only a little.  She pretends to go back to sleep but I think she is watching everything that is happening.  We all move to a large, cold room with a table.  Seven other girls take their seats at the table.  The girls range in age from 14 to 20.  They all have unique qualities and personalities.  But they also have a few things in common.  The first is what they hold in their arms.  Each one cradles their baby.  And each one lives in poverty.  Poverty I don't know that I could ever imagine.

Today as I sat at the table I thought about all the teens I have worked with in the US.  I thought of how in so many ways these young ladies are similar to so many groups I have sat with for so many years.  And yet their lives are so different.  Today we did a tree of life where we placed our values, our abilities, our dreams, our desires and the names of those who support us.  This was like so many activities I have done in the past and yet the outcome was so different.

When it came to writing abilities a few of the girls said they had none.  They were not being modest, I think they really believe that have no abilities.  When it was time to write about the future the girls said I use to have dreams for the future but now I don't any.  I have a baby.  And when it came time for dreams the girls dreamed of having money, and one said I hope my baby has a house some day.  She was not hoping for a big fancy house she just wanted a house because she has none.  She bounces from place to place and she fears that the next time she has to leave the place she is now she will be on the streets.  She is 14, has a 3 month old baby, and is pregnant again.  Her mom is in prison and when she stays with her grandmother her uncle beats her.

These girls lives are full of violence, drugs (the girls don't necessarily do drugs but others in their life do), sex, and uncertainty.   The group they go to is an attempt to help them to see beyond their circumstances and dream of a different way of life.   Very difficult when you are 15 have a sick baby and are not sure where your next meal is coming from.  After the session the girls get something to eat.  As they ate I held one of their babies.  I held the 5 month old boy in my arms and I wondered what his life would be like.  Like his mother he is a child of poverty.

Poverty is dreaming of a house no matter what it looks like.

What's Next?

My first goal as a Maryknoll Lay Missioner is done.  I have finished language school.  I have a piece of paper that says I have been trained in Portuguese.  I am thinking about carrying it around with me so the next time someone does not understand what I am saying I can show them my certificate (the reality is that will be tomorrow when someone does not understand my Portuguese).

So what is next for me?  Right now I am in Joao Passoa, Brazil which is in the North.  We are visiting one of the Maryknoll Sister's home.  It is a wonderful home within walking distance to the beach.  It is winter now so it is not hot but it is warm.  Today we had a lot of clouds, nonetheless, it is wonderful to be here.  We will be taking a break after a lot of hard work this year and visiting the ministry of the Sisters.

On June 3rd I will return to Sao Paulo.  The plan for now is that we will continue our orientation by living with Brazilians, learning more about ministry opportunities, and working on our Portuguese.  One way that I will do this is by volunteering in a few ministries.  What we have planned now is that I will accompany a social worker who works with young, single mothers on Monday, on Wed I will visit the woman's Prison with another Lay Missioner to work with woman over the age of 55, and one other day a week I will visit a homeless center.

I am planning on living with another Lay Missioner.  We think we will find an apartment around August. Until then I will continue to move around to other Lay Missioner homes and live with Brazilians to understand the language and culture better.  I will not lie, moving a lot is a challenging experience but also a rewarding one.  The generosity of all those to open their homes to us is overwhelming.  I am grateful to all of those who offer me the gift of hospitality.

So that is what is next for me (at least today, things change from day to day but that is the plan for now). My next plan is to go to bed so I can be ready to go the beach at 6:30AM tomorrow.  I know some of you might have your mouths open right now because you cannot believe that I will be up that early.  But for the beach in Brazil I will get my......out of bed.  Boa Noite.

My fellow language school students from all over the world