Thursday 8 April 2010
Translated into English
Friday, 29 October 2010
It is easy enough to go to the Chemin Neuf Community internet site, then to JET (overseas service for young volunteers), and finally to JET News; there you will find a series of articles that we have received from JET volunteers in various community missions. These are always interesting and often very instructive. So here we are giving an extract of the item sent to us in February by Claire, describing her vision of what she has been experiencing in Belo Horizonte: The Community. There are ten of us: Two priests, (one French, one Swiss), two community members who have just arrived (a sister from Martinique and another from La Réunion), a Brazilian couple with two children and a young Brazilian (the son of a community family). In addition to these, there are other Brazilian families living nearby who come to share a part of our daily life with us (notably the times of prayer and mealtimes)... We live in the heart of the parish, so we receive many visits from parishioners and young Church members. At present, there is no routine here, nothing fixed, the timetable is variable, and so is the programme. Just now, the community members are on holiday, whilst I'm immersed in learning Portuguese with a Portuguese family (in a huge magnificent house). After this I shall follow a two week course with a teacher, and then, I shall start my mission, working with children in a favela (they call it a vila here...). My first impressions of the Brazilians The people here seem to express themselves differently from us French. In fact, we use our heads a lot (maybe this is a legacy of all those great 18th century thinkers)? Here it's the body that seems to take precedence as a means of communication. The words seem to be secondary. So it is not such a problem to speak badly, and so if I use my arms, my body and my emotions to communicate, I can fit in quite easily. The profession of psychometrician would therefore be a good preparation for coming to Brazil! The Brazilians are very welcoming, very gentle and very respectful towards others, so far as I can tell. They show affection very naturally (when I want to hug you, I take you in my arms, when I want to give you a kiss, I give you one...) without any ulterior motive. Obviously you have to be very careful to set limits. There is little intimacy, which can be disturbing and oppressive at times. So, people use their bodies a good deal to communicate. And so also, the high level of crime does not seem surprising to me. This is because, here, someone who has been hurt, will need to express this, and will do so using their normal means of communication, their body. And in this way, a violent or painful experience will lead to a violent or painful action. We French are more inclined to internalise things and are therefore more prone to depressions or to work to put things into words... With regard to the way that I shall be doing my work, things will have to evolve. In France I used to work essentially on expressing oneself using one's body. There is no need for that here. On the other hand, I think I shall need to learn to be more structured, to give clear orders, to concentrate. So now it's time, finally, for me to start my mission, and to put my observations into practice. Perhaps I shall find that I'm completely wrong about the Brazilians. Don't judge by appearances...
