FLORIANOPOLIS - A Tale of Two Bridges

British spring time continues apace here in Florianopolis. Rain, rain, rain followed by drizzle and a bit more rain. Actually, it´s quite nice to have a bit of a change from the numerous heat centres of the States. And we´ve also had some funky eletric storms. Ands you can´t beat a bit of forked lightning, really. Apparently the weather has never been quite as crazy as this. It´s nice to make an impression wherever you go.


Exciting lightning storm ahoy. Couldn´t quite catch the lightning bolts on camera, but you can always paint them in yourselves. Send me your best efforts: we´ll have a little contest.

Exploring Florianopolis has been worhtwilde. It´s the type of city which has most of the really nice areas hidden away. The pituresque beaches and lakes are really on the nearby Ilha Santa Catarina: Florianopolis marks the gateway between continent and island. And there´s a marked difference between the two sides of the city. The continent, where I live and work, seems to house most of the poverty whilst the reclaimed land just one bridge span away is packed out with highrises and nightclubs. Crossing isn´t really much effort: just a quick bus ride. But the lack of pedestrian crossing space and the presence of large Police towers gives it a weird kind of feeling. Like they *really* don´t want just anybody going to their nice, pretty island. There is a pedestrian bridge: the enormously impressive ironwork Hercilio Luz. Which would make things seem more equal but which, sadly, was never completed and is permenantly closed. Ironic doesn´t even cut it.


Hercilio Luz Bridge. Nice to look at, otherwise kinda pointless. Notice the subtle differences on both sides, I was sitting on the continent looking to the island when I took this one.

Enough social commentary, let´s talk kids. It´s been a quick three weeks at Alfa Gente and we´ve all gotten into the routines of our shiny blue T-Shirts (no shootings yet, but I´ll keep you posted) and many hours communicating with anything but language. Being with the four to six year olds has its advantages: none of them is expecting Oscar Wilde discourse. But, at the same time, they don´t quite understand that "Eu nao fala portuguese" means I won´t understand their in depth instructions for proper Lego block building ten minutes later.

Something which is true of most kids from tough backgrounds, though, is that they´re looking for connection and attention in any form. You notice it a lot more, though, when you don´t speak the same lanaguage. So as long as I remain the best block tower builder in Alfa Gente, I think we´ll do okay. And, for the mostpart, they are lovely. They do want to beat each other up for long periods of the day and often over the most insignificant things. But what´s new, right?

We spend a lot of time in one colourful classroom where teacher extrodinaire, Lucia, manages to engage their attentions with little more than some recycled milk cartons and a glue gun. We did go for our first day trip this week, though. Chatering a bus and heading for Joaquina Beach on the east of the island. In the summer, it´s the place of choice for any self respecting chic Brazilians. In the spring, it´s cold and wet. Perfect for five year olds and British people.


Day tripping to the beach. It´s amazing how kids stand still for photos, they never do at any other time.

We ran around for maybe ten minutes, ate a few small pieces of pie (makes a change from rice) and then went home. The bus ride was an hour both ways and yet every one of the kids had a great time. If it were Brits or Americans, you´d need to be amusing them all day long. It´s pretty humbling how small things can keep small people happy... And if they weren´t with us, no matter the behavior, pretty much every other alternative for their lives is pretty sad. The other nice thing about Alfa Gente is we get sleep breaks every day. To keep everyone sane the kids are put down on matresses for two hours each afternoon. Many other industries could learn a lesson from that.

Three weeks down, eight to go. The question becomes how to move on from just being a new distraction to making a permenant difference. We´ve made some suggestions, and its been groovy seeing the paint come out in one of the other centres at the suggestion of Attiq and Lucy (who, of course, now have a load of painting to do...) and hopefully with a few more Portuguese lessons we´ll be able to do that. I need the Portuguese for "Now let´s stop building swords and put together a nice Lego police station with working cars, shall we?"


Lucia (back left) and the kids of Alfa Gente. They´re ever so sweet when they´re silent and standing still. Sometimes when they´re running about and screaming you can forget that.