Page de gillesmillecam

Belgian Team GSE Brazil May 2010

Rotary District 1620 - Belgium visits Rotary District 4760 - Brazil.

Patos de Minas par Livia

Jeudi

Après 4 heures de route, nous sommes arrivés à Patos de Minas. Ville du maïs !
Nous commençons donc par visiter le musée du maïs… Nous avons pu voir les techniques de récolte ainsi que l’exposition sur l’événement local fenamilho (fête du maïs) qui a lieu chaque année. Plus de 100.000 personnes participent à cette fête qui dure deux semaines; artistes connus, attractions, fête de rue… tout le monde participe au festival.

L’exposition retraçait l’événement depuis 1950 à aujourd’hui, on a vu les photos des Miss Milho ainsi que leurs robes somptueuses et les chars (en miniature) sur lesquels elles défilaient.

Après cela, nous avons été accueillis par le directeur de la CEMIL, grande usine dans le secteur laitier. Ils reçoivent le lait des producteurs et le mettent en brique ! Ils sont leaders sur le marché du lait. On a d’ailleurs pu gouter leur lait et ses dérivés (lait à la papaye, lait soja pêché, lait fruit de la passion, lait ananas,… mmmhhh !!!!!)

En soirée, nous nous sommes présentés au club, la fête était assez formelle mais nous étions très fatigués par le voyage.
Vendredi

En matinée, nous avons visité un orphelinat tenu par des sœurs (Casa das Meninas). Le centre accueil les filles en situation difficile, certaines sont orphelines d’autres y restent pour une période déterminée. Elles reçoivent un enseignement et des activités extrascolaires, le centre essaye de garder un contact avec leur famille. Elles y restent jusqu'à ce qu’elles puissent s’assumer financièrement.
Le centre abrite aussi un home pour personnes âgées abandonnées ou sans famille et une crèche pour les petits dont les parents travaillent en journée.

Après cela nous avons visité la commune et la Bourgmestre de Patos de Minas, et rencontré la première bourgmestre femme dans cette ville. Il faut dire que Patos est particulièrement bien entretenu ! La ville est très propre et bien organisée. Petite anecdote : samedi matin, les rues du centre sont nettoyées au savon et ensuite parfumée à l’essence d’eucalyptus. ;-))))))

Plus tard dans la matinée le Rotary de Patos nous a présenté un de leur projet « Procura-se Foundaçao » c’est un de leur plus grand défi, transformer un ancien asile laissé à l’abandon en centre de revalidation pour les personnes atteintes du cancer. Ils en sont seulement au commencement du processus, pour récolter des subsides ils vont, entre autre, créer un club de ventes aux enchères de bovins (principale activité dans la région).

Dans l’après midi, nous avons visité un autre projet «social » le Sest senat, sorte de syndicat qui fonctionne pour les travailleurs du secteur du transport. Les employés et ouvriers des entreprises qui cotisent au Sest Senat reçoivent toute une série d’avantages sociaux, soins de santé, formation, club de sport. L’organisation acte aussi dans toutes une série de projets sociaux. Il était difficile de comprendre qu’une entreprise publique fonctionne sans subside et fasse ce qui devrait normalement être géré par les services publics.

En fin d’après midi nous avons été reçu par le directeur de l’université privée Unipam. Les discutions était très intéressante. Il nous a expliqué les problèmes lié à l’éducation au Brésil, c’est ainsi que la meilleure école secondaire est l'école privée (très chère) qui prépare nettement mieux les étudiants à l’examen de fin de cycle : le vestibular (le bac). Tous veulent entrer dans les universités fédérales (gratuites) très concurrencées car elles sont paradoxalement les meilleures et sont avec un numerus closus. Les élèves de l’enseignement supérieur qui n’ont pas les moyens de fréquenter l’enseignement privé vont dans les écoles publiques et n’ont quasi aucune chance de passer leur « vestibular » puisqu’ils ne sont pas bien préparés. Ils peuvent alors faire une « cursinho » (rattrapage).
Cependant le gouvernement a adopté un nouveau programme pour « les enfants de pauvres », c’est le système des quotas, il y a donc un pourcentage des places disponibles pour eux dans les unifs « gratuites ».
Il reste cependant les universités privées (entre 500 et 1000 reals par mois) pour ceux qui ne réussissent pas à entrer dans l’unif publique et qui ont les moyens…
Très fatigués par cette journée chargée, Philippe, Ilse et moi rentrons dans nos familles pour nous reposer enfin !

Gilles et Britt partent pour la Festa do Milho, et profitent d’un concert.

Samedi matin, nous nous sommes baladés le long du fleuve Paranaiba où on nous a expliqué le projet Margem Verdes soutenu par le Rotary, la commune et les écoles de la ville. C’est un projet de verdurisation des abords du fleuve, qui avait jadis été exploité par les entreprises et les habitants. Une nouvelle loi stipule qu’ils ne peuvent être exploités au delà de 50 mètres. Un autre but de ce projet est de sensibiliser les élèves au respect de la nature et de l’environnement.

Après cela, nous avons rendu visite aux pensionnaires du Home Vila Rosa, la construction des lieux a été en partie financée et construite par le Rotary. Une vingtaine de personnes âgées abandonnées ou sans famille, y sont accueillies. L’endroit ressemble à un havre de paix, il est construit comme un enclos, avec une petite place fleurie au milieu ou les membres du Rotary organisent des événements avec les pensionnaires le weekend. Un vieux monsieur me montre avec grande fierté son logis, modeste d’une superficie de 25m²… il me dit qu’il est très heureux d'être là, que c’est un cadeau de Dieu… avant il vivait dans un quartier difficile et avait peur, maintenant il peut vire en paix. Des infirmières viennent aussi régulièrement en cas de besoin.

Dans l’après midi, nous nous sommes rendu dans un restaurant « Aginaldo da Pamonhia ». Mais qu’est ce que la Pamonhia ??? C’est sans grande surprise, une spécialité culinaire faite à base de maïs ! biensûr ! Là, nous avons visité ses techniques de préparation, Aginaldo prépare et vend plus de 1000 Pamonhia par jour ! Ce qui est énorme quand on sait qu’il a démarré son commerce en vendant des pamonhia sur un coin de table à l’entrée de l’autoroute… cette année il construit un nouvel espace qui sera aux normes de production pour les grandes surface et l’exportation ! Chapeau bas Agivado ! Muitos Parabens !

Samedi soir une sortie enfin !!!!! Et pas des moindre car nous avons pu voir le concert de Luan Santana ouaaaawww dont le dernier single est le morceau de Gilles en ce moment…

Après le concert, Gilles et Britt sont partis « para Gandailla »… et qu’elle guindaille !

Pirapora

(Britt writing in the van on the road to Januaria)

Very early on Friday morning we said goodbye to our host families and the Rotarians in Paracatu. A couple of hours later, we arrived in Pirapora. We met our new host families at the prefeitura (municipality) of Pirapora. We had an encounter with the mayor of Pirapora. He received us in his office. He told us a little bit about PIrapora. Pirapora is a little town counting about 60000 inhabitants. Tourism is quite important for the city. The river San Fransisco which crosses the states of Minas Gerais and Bahai attracts tourism and businesses. There are beautiful waterfalls and a beach. There is also some industry such as a jeans factory. The mayor explained as well that the universities or branches of some universities in the town are expanding and this attracts more students. He showed us a short film about Pirapora. He also asked about our professions and was amazed by the fluency of our Portuguese.

After visiting the mayor, we all went home for a rest. At 3pm we had another meeting with the mayor of the town Buritizeiro on the other side of the river. The mayor used to be a priest and was elected because he is well known by the community due to the social projects of the church. He also showed us a promotional film about the town. We talked a bit but unfortunately we could not stay very long, because there was another visit planned.
We drove back to the other side of the river using a bridge that was donated by the Belgian government. We arrived at the building of the marine, situated at the bank of the river. Here we participated in the ceremony of the descending of the flags. This ceremony is held every morning and every evening. Afterward we got to see another film about the marine`s expeditions and tasks in Brazil. We received gifts: an official marine cap! The captain explained some problems they can encounter on the river and how they deal with these.

In the evening, we had another presentation at the Rotary club. We were allt tired and went home early to sleep
Saturday morning was the first morning in 3 weeks that we had some free time. I slept till 8 am (which is late here considering our heavy program). I went running in my neighborhood and took my time to have breakfast and shower. It felt good not to be in a hurry. My guest mother showed me also her furniture store.

At 2pm we all gathered at the bank of the river to sail on the river with the historical steam boat named Benjamin Guimaraes. Carlos Mucida surprised us with his presence and we were happy to see him again. There was a live band playing popular Brazilian pop songs. We really enjoyed the beautiful scenery, the sun, the music, the beers, the dancing and of course the company. It was a relaxing afternoon. Around 5pm we went back to our houses and rested a little bit. At 9pm we met in the club Caca. We all wanted to dance but eventually we were too tired and went home around midnight.

This morning we had to get up very early again. Once more, we said goodbye to our families. We want to thank the Rotary clubs of Pirapora and especially William, the GSE coordinator, for their warm welcome. The ride to Januaria will take another 4 hours.

More news will follow the coming days.

Um ambraco
Britt

Paracatu

(Ilse writing in the van to Januaria)

Tuesday morning we said goodbye to our lovely host families in Joao Pinheiro. The drive to Paracatu took about 4 hours. We arrived there around noon. We met our new host families, dropped our suitcases at their houses and immediately visited a cooperative bank called CREDIPARNOR. The director Darcy da Silva Neiva Filho welcomed us and explained the internal organisation structure. This time we got our drinks (suco, coffee) and food (pao de queozo) in advance. ;-) After the visit we ate at the restaurant and got a rest.
In the afternoon we visited the COOPERVAP. A dairy factory where they make cheese, wrap milk and yoghurt. We saw the production of different kinds of cheese.
In the evening we had a wonderful BBQ with life Brazilian music at the house of the local Rotary coordinator Geraldo Janio. The music was very good and the food delicious.

The next day we ate breakfast at a beautiful hotel, Pousada da Vila. A completely renovated building with a wonderful garden. Then we went to Kinross, a gold mine. This plant is a Canadian company and gives employability to hundreds of people in the neighborhood. I had a meeting with the HR director which learned me that there is no much difference in the structure and way of working with people, dealing with careers between Kinross and the american company Hudson where I work.
After lunch at the plant we went to Conscienciarte Foundation (an organisation recognised and supported by UNESCO with plants over all Brasil) and saw how happy children are when they are at the centre after school. It keeps them away from the streets and criminality. At the time we arrived they were watching a movie of a young African boy who takes care of his community. After the film the children talk about the content and learn. In Brasil these days there are a lot of actions through the country to make people aware of their African roots and to make them conscience to accept and respect this. During our meeting at the headquarters of the Foundation we had an interesting discussion about this topic and racisme. They showed us an African dance with African drums. Gilles plaid with the drummers and I danced with the 3 dance ladies. Wonderful feeling !
In the centre worked a few belgians who were meaningfull for the foundation.
At night we had a good presentation. Introduced by a Capoeira band. Britt joined them !

On Thursday after breakfast we went to Brasilia to have a short visit of Brasil's capital. The Rotary Gouvernor welcomed us at the parlement. He showed us the building. After lunch he explained us how Brailia is structured and built. We drove along the main road surrounded by buildings of the architect Niemeyer and stopped at the cathedral and museum of contemporary art. There was an exhibition on AFRO BRASIL. It contained even a photo of the African museum in Tervure - Belgium.
At night we ate fish at the Bar do Joquei.

Moments in the city of Joao Pinheiro (Gilles is writing & Britt checking the grammar).

On Sunday morning, we left Patos de Minas for the city of Joao Pinheiro. Waking-up was a bit difficult for Britt and me because we partied late the night before at Festamilho, the corn festival of Patos de Minas... (a short night and a cachaça shot too many).... During the journey to Joao Pinheiro, we slept an hour in the van.

My hostfather in João Pinheiro is a banker and is the president of the Rotary club of the city. He's 27 years old and works in the federal bank "Caixa". This bank is specialized in "housing credit" (crédit hypothécaire in french). This It reminds me a lot the old ASLK-CGER we had in Belgium in the past.

After lunch, we visited 2 farms (fazenda in brazilian). The first was specialized in cows for the meat and the second one in the production of milk. We all tried to milk the cow. It was a pleasant afternoon. We spent time with 2 youth exchange students from the Rotary. One from Alaska and the other one from Germany. This Sunday was very sunny and hot so at the end of the afternoon we went swimming in the swimming pool of Britt's host family. We had dinner in a pizzeria and ate brazilian pizzas. There is a lot of cheese in Brazilian pizzas !!!! Just amazing !!! Cheese everywher, even in the crunch !!!

On monday morning, we visited a distillery of sugarcane. This company distills sugarcane to produce ethanol. This ethanol is used in Brazil as fuel for cars. Nowadays, in Brazil, 30% of these cars drive with this natural product. You can use this ethanol in its pure form but you can also buy a mix. So, at the gas station you can choose between petrol, ethanol (natural product from the sugarcane) and a mix called. This visit was really interesting because we could see the entire process of fabrication.

In the afternoon we all visited different organizations correlated with our different jobs.

I visited 2 banks. Creditpinheiro which is a cooperative bank for farmers only (a kind of Credit Agricole in Belgium). This bank is a part of a bigger group which is SICOOB. They now work only for farmers but they want to open the market for everybody in a near future. It was intersting to see how here in Brazil they are so specialized according the work-sectors and to see that they want to generalize their activities.

Secunda feira (Monday) & last day in Curvelo

(Gilles is writing and Britt is checking the grammar)

Monday morning, we visited a cachaça distillery. Currently the distillery is not producing cachaça since they produced enough last year and their stocks are full. Neverthless, it was an interesting visit because the friendly owner explained us the entire manufacturing process from the sugarcane plants to the bottle ready to sell. Drinking cachaça around 9 a.m. isn't the easiest thing to do but we enjoyed it ;-) Once more, as everywhere, they offered us food...

During the afternoon, we went to a project for children in Curvelo initiated by the Rotary club of Curvelo. The objective of the project is to avoid that children hang around on the streets after school time while their parents are still working. In this poor suburb of Curvelo the risk to end up in prostitution or to start using drugs is high; especially for these children coming from non-educated and poor families. The center was created to avoid this as much as possible. We had a great time dancing and playing with the 25 children and the people working there... After the GSE programme, Ilse will stay in Brazil for 3 weeks and will spend one week in Curvelo again to work as a volunteer and give english courses and dance classes to these children.

In the evening, we presented Belgium and ourselves in the Rotary Club of Curvelo. We felt a bit emotional when they sang the Brazilian national anthem. We could read the lyrics of the anthem on a screen in Portuguese but also in English. We also received gifts and at the end we enjoyed the musical slideshow of the pictures taken during our stay in Curvelo. What a surprise !

Back home, mum & bro gave me more gifts...it was so cute. Such good memories to take with me on the road... I spoke with mum for the rest of the evening. She showed me her picture albums of her family 15 or 20 years ago...It was very interesting to see and hear because it is exactly this that enhances our understanding of the people we are meeting. It was also great to see that my mum was a real pionneer because she started making scrapbooks 20 years ago. It's during these kinds of moments that you can really feel the Brazilian people, their habits, their way of life and you begin to understand the roots of the country. Our journey will last 1 month in the region of Minas Geiras in Brazil...the main goal of a such long journey is to understand thoroughly the county, the people and its culture.

Resumé Curvelo par Livia

(Posted by Gilles but written by Livia)

Apres avoir laissé un peu de nous à Belo, nous prenons la route pour Coldisburgo.

Là, nous rencontrons enfin Carlos Mucida (organisateur du GSE) et Ilder, qui nous accompagne à la maison de Joao Guimaraes Rosa. Ecrivain de très grande renommée originaire de cette ville. Il a écrit beaucoup d’ouvrages sur le Sertao, qui une région spécifique du centre du pays, terre rouge, chevaux, vie rurale… Il avait la particularité de décrire les faits de manière extrêmement précise et profonde.

Après cette poétique balade, nous nous rendons aux Grottes de Maquine.

Nous repartons de ce splendide endroit pour aller à la rencontre de nos familles qui nous avaient préparé une surprise à l’entrée de la ville. Banderole, ballons, feux d artifices et des groupe de musiciens étaient réunis pour nous accueillir !!!!!

En soirée, nous sommes allé à la ferme de José Mendes pour une fête ou on a pu démontrer nos talents de danseur de forro !

Le lendemain, nous sommes partis pour deux jours dans la ville de Diamantina.
Au programme : visite de la ville, visite du Galimpo, carrière de diamants, ou le galipeiro (le chercheur de diamants) nous a fait découvrir sont fabuleux métier en totale adéquation avec les 4 éléments : la terre, l’eau , le feu, et le soleil. Il nous a appris les techniques et parlé de la difficulté de leur métier. L’endroit était fabuleux, mais les explications qu’il nous donnait rendraient la visite incroyablement authentique !!! Il est apparement très rare d’avoir accès à ce genre de visite, nous avons eu de la chance de vivre cette rencontre. C’est fatigué, mais riche (pas en diamant car nous n’en avons trouvé aucun) que nous repartons vers le centre ville de Diamantina.

Le jour suivant, nous allons à la découverte des peintures rupesques et des chutes d'eau et cascades, véritable beauté de la nature dans cette région, nous avons d’ailleurs pu nous baigner dans ces piscines naturelles.
Nos familles d’accueil étaient pour la plupart du voyage.

Le dernier jour à Curvello était riche en émotion (enfin pour ma part). Nous avons d’abord visité une petite distillerie de Cachaça, dans l’après midi, nous nous sommes rendus au centre « Ser Crianças » (être enfants) c’est un projet qui a été crée par le rotary de Curvello en 2003, et totalement financé (avec le peu de moyen il faut le dire) par le club. Ce centre accueille 50 enfants qui vivent dans le quartier très pauvre de la périphérie. Les enfants qui fréquentent le centre sont agés de 7 à 10 ans. Ils sont pris en charge par deux animatrices qui les occupent le matin ou l’après midi ils ne vont pas à l’école, cela permet qu’ils ne soient pas livrés à eu même dans la rue car leurs parents travaillent.

Au delà de l’aspect « garderie » il est évident que ces enfants vivent dans des conditions précaires, et manquent de repères éducatifs. Les animatrices leurs apprennent donc des jeux didactiques qui les aident à recevoir une certaine éducation (hygiène buccale, lecture,…). La plupart de ces enfants, sont issus de familles de plus de 10 enfants et certains rencontres de graves problèmes familiaux.
Nous avons été acceuilli les bras ouverts, avec beaucoup de tendresse et d’affection, mais la dure réalité ne me laisse pas insensible, le centre manque de manière flagrante d’infrastructure et d’équipement! Il n’ont pas de frigo, pas de distributeur d’eau, le centre est fait de 4 piliers et d’un toit en tôle qui transforme le centre en four dès que la température monte, la cour est en terre et ne permet pas aux enfants d’avoir une pleine de jeu ou de foot pour se divertir… Leur besoins ne représentent pas grand-chose pour nous et je m’engage personnellement dès mon retour à pouvoir aider ce type d’action sociale, même s’il est évident que ce ne sera qu’une goutte d’eau dans l’océan et que cela ne résoudra pas les problèmes de ces quartiers, leur travaille représente déjà beaucoup pour ces enfants et la moindre petite chose sera un plus pour eux. Pour ma part, le GSE ne s’arrete pas au porte du Brésil, des aspects touristiques et culturelles, la continuité fait partie de la responsabilité citoyenne que nous devons intégrer dans ce type de voyage.

De retour dans nos familles, le cœur chargé en émotion, nous nous rendons à au centre de Rortary Curvello norde, pour notre présentation, remerciement, et pour les aurevoirs aux personnes qui nous a accompagner… et là, encore une surprise, une vidéo avec nos photos durant ce passage à Curvello, des mots tendres et chaleureux, un cadeau pour chacun (une pierre précieuse) et des larmes de bonheur….

Merci Carlos Mucida, Rotary, familles et pour ce magnifique programme.

Obrigada Carlos Mucida, Rotary, familles et pour ce magnifique programme.

Weekend in Diamantina

(Gilles is writing)

Our really first full weekend in Brazil. On Saturday morning, we went to the city of Diamantina. This is the city of gold and diamonds. There is an interesting story about this town to understand the mix of cultures in Brazil and moreover the diversity of the skin-colors in this country. In the past, in this city, for the first time an important white rich man who had power in the city decided to have a relationship with a black slave-woman.

We started the day with an exceptional visit of a site where people are searching for gold and diamonds. The visit was very interesting because the man showed all the process of finding gold and diamonds. The natural site where they work is really nice. Until now, this is perhaps the best visit I did here in Minas Geiras.

We had lunch in the center of the city of Diamantina. After lunch, we did a small walk in the center of the city and visited a church.

We took the van to reach such a nice place in the countryside in the middle of the hills. That's where we will sleep for the night.

After good time and rest-time at this place, we had dinner there and some of us came again in the city center for a walk by night.

Sunday morning was wonderful. We went to natural waterfalls in the middle of nowhere in the countryside and we swam there for more than a hour.

In this surrounding, we also discovered natural prehistoric paintings on hill's walls. We had lunch in a lovely place called Bibi-biri. This Sunday was very hot and sunny so, it was pleasant to eat under the shadow of the trees. Also a good moment to learn how to appreciate cachaça. The way to go back to Curvelo during the afternoon was pretty long so we arrived in Curvelo, it was already the night... I watched the second part-time of soccer with my host-family and also had great time with conversations with sister Luiza and mum. My mum is really interested with Belgium and wanted to understand much more our history and what we are living now with the BHV problem...So I explained her the roots of our country and why the situation is like that today.

Leaving Belo Horizonte for Curvelo with step in Cordisburgo

(Gilles is writing)

This 14th May, we left the city of Belo Horizonte. We said "Adeus" to our host-families and took the road for next city with our new hostilities and new adventures.

Before our arrival in Curvelo, we made a step in the city of Cordisburgo where we visited the house of a popular Brazilian writer : João Guimarães Rosa.

This visit reminds me the visit of E. Hemingway's house in Key West (Florida, USA). Understanding his work and his description style is an easy way to understand from where Brazil comes and the reality of nowadays.

After this visit, we went to have lunch in a lovely place where we visited a cave during the afternoon. This visit was interesting but so hot and wet inside this natural cave.

We left Cordisburgo at the end of the afternoon for Curvelo where we got a exceptional warm welcome from our host-families after the visit of a church of the city. This visit was important to understand the history of this city and moreover the history of Brazil. Curvelo is a town of 80 000 people and the city lives mainly with the farms in the surroundings. We could see workers coming back by bus for the weekend from the farms to Curvelo.

My mother 'Fatima' took me in her car and before going home, we went to her office. She's physiotherapist and I could saw her colleagues, her patients and her day to day work. I found this thing particularly great because I could more understand who she is. Just after this short visit, she brought me to a place in Curvelo where they were preparing a cow-fair for the next weekend. It's a bit similar to the cow-fair organised by the Rotary Club of Dottignies Val D'Espierre the first weekend of May :-) My father is Marco. He's a doctor but don't speak so much English...my level of Portuguese is so poor that it's difficult to communicate...Hopefully for me my mother speaks good English... I met their son Gabriel who was coming back from football ;-)

We had great time during the evening. We were invited in a farm where they had organized a party were we ate typical Brazilian food but also a gift they made : a typical belgian Waterzooi. Beers (Skol, Brahma, Antarctica Original) and Cachaça were also programmed.

They asked us to give our first feeling after some days spent in Brazil and we danced on brazilian music and I have even sung with the singer who was there.

I could give another title for this report : The eating day. Brazilian people eat a lot. This is the feeling we have... On the day of Friday, I ate 6 times (2 breakfasts during the morning, one lunch, one meal at 06.00, the meal at 08.00 and the waterzooi around 10.00). It's really amazing and it will be very difficult not to take weight overhere...

Ilse has a nickname here in Curvelo : professor de dança.

After the "party" in the farm, I got back home where I met my 2 sisters who were back from Belo Horizonte where they study law overthere. Julia and Luiza. Luiza went in Belgium (Virton) last year so we speak together in french and she is very friendly (that's normal, she's my sister LOL ;-) ).

Green day and formal Rotary evening

(Gilles writing in the van from Belo Horizonte to Cordiburgo)

This Thursday, we went to Inhotim. Inhotim is a very special place. It is a big park (botanical garden) with different gardens, waterplans, trees, vegetation but also with spaces of Modern Art inside several buildings. It's a kind of outdoor museum.

Art is visual through paintings, objects, cars, swimmingpools, little lakes (sometimes like Salvator Dali's works) but also audio surrounding-sound systems with a dozen of speakers (choral or concert voices).

We had a great time all morning long with very sunny weather. Blue skies and around 20 degrees. Very pleasant morning at this nice place (cost of the site was 90 millions USD, built by a rich businessman).

We left Inhotim to have lunch at the farm 'Vale Verde'. Overthere, there is a restaurant but also some gardens and waterplans. We admired some tropical birds (toucan, ....)

We came back home around 5 pm. Our last moments home in Belo Horizonte....

In the evening, we went to the Rotary club of Pampulha for the traditionnal weekly meeting. We presented ourselves and we also did a presentation about Belgium. It was a first experience to speak (to read for most of us) in Portuguese in front of an audience. We ate good Brazilian food and we also listened to speeches from Rotary Youth Exchange students who went abroad recently. We also met and spoke with Brazilian people who came to Belgium these last years.

It was a very interesting evening because we got in touch with a lot of people and it was also nice to share time with host-families of the GSE group's other members.

Livia and her outgoing host-family went dancing a samba club.