What a day....

Last night was the best sleep we have all gotten in a LONG time....the beds are so comfortable here at this wonderful Catholic school...

This morning we had another speaker, a Black retired pastor, 71 years of age. He was phenominal, to put it lightly. He discussed the pressing issue of racism in Brazil and told us many stories of his own where he, himself, endured racism and discrimination. His stories, statistics, and facts blew our minds....for instance, we learned that over 800,000 children´s births are not documented and recorded (meaning, they legally do not exist....which, in order to recieve education, health care, etc., one must be legally documented in the country) . Such instances represent a vicious cycle...usually, if the children are not documented, the parents are not documented....and the cycle repeats itself

So, the question here is, what can we do? Our speaker stressed the importance of our generation and how glad he was to see such young students learning about these sorts of causes. It was very empowering...and I hope we all remember his empowerment after this trip

This afternoon, then, we traveled to the Afro-Brazilian museum...the largest in the world. Though we could not necessarily read the portuguese labels and descriptions, we found the museum to be intriging and, by all means, memorable.

And, so far, Sao Paulo has proven to be extraordinary. Riding on the bus to the museum today was a sight to see...the city just kept on going on the horizon! 10,900,000 people live here....a little different compared to my hometown of approx. 300!

we shall see what tomorrow brings....