Kelly update part2

Kelly’s Update on week 2

Well if we thought week one was busy, week two was even more so. Having arrived in Manaus, we stayed in a hotel for five days. This was a nice opportunity for the team to be together and we have all been getting on really well, I believe we will all remain close friends forever having shared this experience together.

 We have had the pleasure of meeting and spending the week with the most wonderful family, the Aoki family who have been with us every step of the way, arranging trips and ensuring we had everything we need. William Aoki is the district representative for Rotaract and one of the most adorable people I have ever met in my life. I actually want to adopt him as my little Brother, he could not do enough for us. His Father Gerson is the assistant governor for Rotary District of Manaus and is an extremely kind and helpful gentleman who made our visit to Manaus an unbelievable experience. I can’t believe how much I have learnt since I have been here. We have undertaken a number of visits in Manaus including watching a demonstration by the River Police followed by going out on the river with them, a visit to a school, a visit to a project for disabled people which included people from the community of all ages engaging in fun activities together, and a visit to a zoo and many more. One of my favourites visits was to Casa do Criancas, this was a project set up to provide childcare to people who were financially limited to enable them to work. Although the project appeared to be pretty basic, the children were unbelievably happy and so welcoming to us. I have never seen so many beautiful little girls in one room and they were all so excited to see us. I wanted to bring them home with me but Steve wouldn’t let me! Seriously  though the projects we have visited have been so inspiring, people  are so committed to work here and seem to be so busy, working through the day and studying at night. I thought I had a busy life until I came here.

We also went to a TV station and to see the new football stadium being built. Our tour around the football stadium was approved by Liz’s Health and Safety standards as we wore hard hats and huge boots, Steve did make reference to us looking like the village people!

We have delivered three presentations in Manaus, two lunchtime meetings and one evening meeting. All presentations went really well and the Rotarians were really interested to hear about District 1180 and gave us an excellent reception. We even got a few laughs although not sure whether that was just at our Portuguese. Everyone loved the Union Jack shoes especially as Steve now has a pair too.

The food has continued to be amazing in Manaus, everyone seems to want to feed us. There are so many different fruits here, my favourite is Capacu, we have eaten it for Breakfast in smoothies but its best inside chocolates!  There’s lots of different types of fish too, its been a real treat being able to sample the different types of Brazilian food, although as I mentioned last time I blogged, its no good for the diet. I have already said that we had sampled chocolate soup in Manaus, well we have now also ate Chocolate Pizza, which was delicious!

Our last day in Manaus was very busy, we managed to fit in six different visits which were all very interesting. The last visit was to an orphanage where disabled children who had been abandoned by the parents lived. This visit was very difficult for all of us and we did get quite upset. But it was amazing the reaction on the children’s faces when we gave them the football shirts that Steve had brought over, they were absolutely delighted. After a busy and an emotionally difficult day, we had a farewell BBQ meal at the Aoki family home. It was a lovely evening and the family were perfect hosts. All us girls actually cried leaving them, particularly William who we had spent so much time with.

After very little sleep we left Manaus and flew to Rio Branco. As we walked through the airport, I saw a huge welcome banner and a large group of people taking photographs as we walked through. It was quite surreal and we all felt like celebrities, I loved it! We met our new Rotary families, I am staying with Getulio who has been very kind and welcoming. We have only been here for two days and already have visited two universities and today we have been to Bolivia.

It’s really difficult to put into words this experience. I am loving every minute of it. I am so inspired by the people we have met, the new things I have experienced, the projects we have visited and the kindness we have experienced from the Rotarians. I am very excited about what lies ahead for the next three weeks, particularly with our new celebrity status!!
a selction of more photos !!