Pompeu

Belgian Team GSE Brazil May 2010Un récit/album du carnet de voyage :
Belgian Team GSE Brazil May 2010
Récit/album suivant :
Patos de Minas par Livia
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Bom dia
Tudo bem?

(Britt is writing in the van on the road to Patos de Minas it's hard because it's a windy road).

Tuesday morning we said goodbye to our guest families in Curvelo. It was hard because we had had such good times with them. The atmosphere was so excellent and we all felt close to each other.

The trip to Pompeu took us about an hour and a half. When we arrived, many people were waiting for us: our new Rotary guest families with banners, school children with Belgian, Brazilian and Indian flags and … a live band! There was even a camera man who filmed everything. We felt like kings and queens. The band members loved Gilles because he is a descendent from Adolphe Sax, who invented the saxophone.
We had lunch at the house of the Rotary Club after dropping our suitcases at the houses of our new families. In the afternoon we drove to a hydroelectric plant that is being built to provide Pompeu and other towns with electricity. It was interesting to hear how they try to respect the local biodiversity. They built a special system with elevators for the fish to prevent them from dying due to the turbulence of the plant.

In the evening we went to a party at the house of one of the Rotary members. We ate barbequed meat and sweet desserts. We also sang the local songs about Pompeu and Minas Gerais.
The chorus: “Eu sou mineiro. Tem jeito nao. Sou Pompeano de corpo, alma e coraçao.“ I’m mining. There’s no other way. ‘m Pompeian body,soul and heart.

Wednesday morning we had an interview at the local radio at 8:30. The interview was broadcasted in about 70 towns. They asked us some questions about the goal of our trip, ourselves and our feelings about Pompeu and Brazil. Later during the day, there was a shopkeeper who recognized Livia’s voice from the radio!

Afterwards we visited the legislative council where we met and spoke with the president and some of the council members. Of course, they offered us food.

Just before lunch Ricardo, our English interpreter, showed us the company where he works. He is one of the 3 agricultural engineers and responsible for about a 1000 workers. It’s a plant that produces alcohol from sugarcane for cars. They produce 90 million liters a year and the plant functions 24/7. We saw the workers and some of the machines and he explained us the process. It was particularly interesting because he told us a lot about the social conditions in place for the workers (their rights, salaries, obligations, pensions).

After lunch at the house of the Rotary Club, we had some free time. Some of us went home for a rest and others walked a bit in the centre of Pompeu town. Pompeu is much smaller than Belo or Curvelo. It has only 30,000 inhabitants. Curvelo has 80,000 and Belo has 3 million. Hence, the centre of Pompeu is small.

Around 3PM we went to the Case de Cultura. It’s a centre, subsidized by the government and created by the municipality, where children can take dancing, guitar, capoiera, drumming and art classes for free. We got to see the centre and the children performed for us.

The performance began with a band and a beautiful singer who sang a popular Brazilian song. Afterwards, the capoeira children and their mestre (master) gave a performance. Since I am a capoeirista, they offered me to play along. I got the honors to open the roda (=the circle of people in which we play). It was absolutely wonderful to play and perform with them. Capoeira is a form of fighting and dancing at the same time. It was created by the slaves in Brazil. During the period of slavery, their white masters did not allow them to train a fighting art so they covered it up as a dance. Special instruments such as the berimbau are used to make music and historical songs about the period of slavery are sung by everyone while clapping the hands. Personally I think that capoeira can be used as a metaphor for the mentality of the country of Brazil. Everyone is welcome to participate. Black, white, meztis; there are no color boundaries between people. When you are playing everyone is just a human. There is no competition, just good vibes, closeness and friendship. The goal is not to hurt each other but create something that is beautiful. I will remember for the rest of my life my first capoeira game in Brazil.

After the capoeira performance we got to see a religious performance called folia de reis, which is to remember the birth of Jesus. Isle was invited to dance along with the old men in masks and they all sang and made music. It was very enriching to see and hear.

The folia de reis was followed by a play about Donha Joaquina a very rich woman who was the owner of lands as big as Belgium and the founder of the city of Pompeu.

Gilles also got to play the drums, because it’s his specialty. Everyone was enthusiastic.

In the evening, we had another presentation at the Rotary Club of Pompeu. Livia was interviewed by the regional television about our program and the interview will be broadcasted on television. We received nice gifts and had dinner. At the end, it started raining very heavily and by the time we came home we were all soaked.

We want to thank all our host families and especially Renato, the local GSE coordinator in Pompeu, and also his mother who showed us her textile shop.

Philippe, Ilse, Livia, Gilles and Britt

Photos du récit/album

Lancer le diaporama

  • Band member, arrival Pompeu
  • At the radio station, Pompeu
  • Britt Capoeira Pompeu
  • Gilles drumming
  • In the shop of Renato's mom
  • In the legislative council, Pompeu
  • Ilse and folia de reis
  • Hydroelectric plant
Auteur : Postée le 21 mai 2010 par Britt
Vu 31 fois
Belgian Team GSE Brazil May 2010Un récit/album du carnet de voyage :
Belgian Team GSE Brazil May 2010
Récit/album suivant :
Patos de Minas par Livia
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