OLMatters

 

 

 

     Almost a year after the institution Casa São João Batista closed, one of its supervisors got in touch with Ms. Souza, giving OLM a new opportunity to work with children. Gabriela explained that she had been invited to work at an institution, which only works with children between 1 and 3 years old, in the Santa Marta community. Many of these children live in an extremely delicate situation in their homes.

 

     Ms. Souza came up to the 9th and 10th grades with the idea that each student should become a big brother or big sister of a child in the new Santa Marta institution. How did it work? Each student chose a child from a list of names and donated R$ 10.00 to buy them white t-shirts and a chocolate eggs for Easter. The students felt that this would be a fun activity that would make the children happy, and that could repeat itself in other occasions such as Children’s Day or Christmas.

 

     However, not everyone got to meet his or her little child at the same time; it’s impossible to take everyone in the trolley to go up the slum. Only five sophomores went to take the gifts: Luciana Borri, Carolina Dâmaso, Maria Clara Fabrini, Maria Haniya, and Victor Pérez. They went with Ms. Souza, Ms. Xavier, and Ms. Menezes.

 

     On Friday, May 16th, the teachers and the five of us went walking to Santa Marta after school with baskets full of the wrapped gifts and donations of DVDs. When we got there, we waited a while for the trolley to arrive, while listening to funk music and picking up the scent of barbecue. When it finally arrived, we all boarded and enjoyed the view of Christ the Redemeer looking down upon Santa Marta’s colorful houses and Rio’s green mountains.

 

     The institution itself is small, but well organized, clean, and decorated. We could see for ourselves how well it is taken care of. When we got there, all we did was sing and dance and play with the children. Everybody had a lot of fun: the kids, the students, and the teachers.

 

     “I was very happy to be part of this activity because it was the first time I had been to a slum and because I loved seeing how happy the children were. I hope I get a chance to do it again.” This is Luciana Borri’s view of the experience. Maria Clara Fabrini said: “I felt uneasy at first but then I saw there was nothing to be afraid of. I had fun and I loved the kids, they were all very sweet and well-behaved.”

 

     Overall, the experience was something very different for all of us, and we felt satisfied in making a difference in other people’s lives, no matter how old they were or how big that difference was. We definitely feel that everyone came out as winners from this experience.  This type of community service helps us realize that a happy society needs love and generosity among its members.

Maria Haniya - Class of ´16