Volunteering: Lisa Price, from New Zealand

I was first introduced to Aramitan by Coral Fraser who was involved with a work camp here, back in 2006.  I didn’t do anything at the time but decided to look into this a bit more last year. After talking more with Coral & Manu & then meeting and discussing Aramitan with Santi, Sandra, their beautiful family, I was very interested and excited & thought ‘I want to be a part of this & see what unfolds’.

Santi suggested I think about a ‘project’ I could undertake while in Aramitan & the first thing that sprang to mind was using my massage skills in some way.. So with the help of many, we madly fundraised in NZ and I got together a ‘loose plan’ of giving & teaching massage at Aramitan..

I arrived in Brazil on the 20^th April, after a loooong flight from NZ. Flying in, I got an introduction to the size of Sao Paulo and how MASSIVE it is! It’ just goes on and on and on…..After such a long flight and not much sleep it was wonderful to be picked up by the lovely Estefania, my first introduction to one of the many amazing people involved with Aramitan. Estefania put me up for the night, fed & watered me and took me to a Park to hang and relax the next day before heading out to Aramitan. Thank you! J

On arriving at Aramitan, I instantly felt welcome. I love the openness and expression of the South American culture and it was truly beautiful to be welcomed with big hugs, smiles, Beijos (kisses) and open hearts. I have felt included, loved and accepted here from day one and it makes being in a completely new place, so far from home & everything you ‘know’ a blessing J

The first week or so was about getting over jet lag, seeing how things worked at Aramitan, helping out and starting to formulate some ideas how the massage project could work. Massage lessons are now underway for the volunteers who work here so that massage can continue to be offered by Aramitan in the future. Aramitan’s first ‘community massage clinic’ is  now operating two days a week and I hear the ‘word’ is spreading, so as more people become interested, the massage clinic may be open more often and the other volunteers will also be giving massage after a little more training.

Last week we went to a fair (similar to a market day in NZ) on a public holiday. We set up a ‘seated massage’ stall to raise some awareness and some $ for Aramitan. It started slow, but as the morning progressed more & more people were interested & the kids loved it! At the end we were getting them to massage us & they took it upon themselves to massage each other-it was great to see J

Looking ahead, We would like to introduce massage to the community children here  & also teach mums about infant massage-watch this space!

I taught my first English lesson class last week with help from another volunteer who speaks Portuguese. It was interesting and full on and I’m looking forward to doing more.

Aside from Massage & English lessons, every day at Aramitan is a busy one and we get the opportunity to be involved in many different  things-just how I like it! Music, Spanish & Computer lessons are also offered here & I’ve been tempted to learn Spanish but I need to get my head around Portuguese First. This week I start learning Portuguese from a teacher, so I hope my understanding as well as ability to hold a conversation in Portuguese improves rapidly.

We all have turns at preparing the days meals. Lunch is the main meal of the day here & dinner is very late (by NZ comparison). I’m really enjoying the food, both eating it & the preparing of it. It’s great learning to cook new dishes, in new ways & I love that we all sit down together and share a meal. We went to a local restaurant yesterday for lunch. It was beautiful, a small place with simple delicious food and lemonade, amongst nature. It so great that I get to experience this, a place that exists through ‘word of mouth’ and is off the beaten tourist track. A nice relaxing afternoon, walking amongst nature & hanging with my fellow fab Aramitan peeps J

I plan at this stage to be here for three months, we will see how everything unfolds  as it may turn out to be longer J