Boa viagem (Bon voyage)

On our last full day in Brazil we had a very special last session with our new friends and long-time partners at EQUIP. After a tasty meal in the lower level of the EQUIP office the seven Canadians plus Joana, Rose, Tico, Rejeane and Graça of EQUIP and our translator Leo "voyaged" upstairs to debrief on our trip. This movement from downstairs to upstairs was part of our evaluation process and represented our leaving Canada and journeying to Brazil. Upstairs as we sat around the board table Graça singled out each of the Canadians and said a few words about their personalities and gifts. She said that she did this to emphasize that while we are two groups coming together as partners, we are also individuals who bring our individual gifts to the relationship.

Sandy shares some reflections
on our time in Brazil

We were each given a rectangular sheet of paper and some markers and asked to reflect on what we take with us as the seven Canadians leave Brazil. We were to represent our reflections visually on the paper. This popular education technique gave everyone a moment to express themselves and then pass their visual representations on to another person at the table. Everyone - EQUIP staff, D and P visitors and Leo - in turn spoke about what a very meaningful experience the solidarity visit was for them. Joana spoke about the deepening of a partnership  that is much more than a donor - recipient relationship. All of us spoke of the gratitude we feet for a relationship which has given us understanding, renewed vigour and spiritual strength in the knowledge of our togetherness. It was an emotional experience for all of us. One particular highlight was when Kerrianne, who is a trained opera singer, sang a beautiful song about how she (and each of us) has been changed by what the other has given to us. She had a written Portuguese translation of the song on hand so that the EQUIP staff could follow along without having to hear the words translated. It was a tearful moment on top of an already emotional time.

After our evaluation, we got up and walked into another room where we held hands and did a folk dance and song that comes from the island of Itamaracaa (which we visited Sunday). It was a very happy song which all the Brazilians knew the words to. The movement to the other room and the dance represented a Boa Viagem for us as we prepared to leave Brazil. Afterwards there was an exchange of gifts and more formal thank yous. It is hard to explain the feelings we all had in writing, but I trust that anyone who has followed our blog posts can guess at how strongly we seven travellers appreciate the work of EQUIP in putting together a very full itinerary on short notice, for accompanying us every step of the way and for helping to make this a very personal partnership between two mutually respectful groups - D and P and EQUIP.

Tomorrow we are in our van at 6:30 a.m. to head to the airport. So it's farewell Pernambuco and farewell Brazil. We will always remember you.