Xukuru Human Rights

5/28/12 Today, Marcia and Lee accompanied Marcos into Pesqueira to buy paint for tomorrow, so the rest of us had a free day to work on some homework. I spent the morning playing with Yuri Mateus; I’m glad that he has really started to warm up to me. We sat outside on the patio and listened to music, danced, took a million pictures, and snuggled in the hammock.

I like to joke that he’s my favorite in the house because we’re on the same language level (which totally isn’t true, because there’s no way I’d be able to pick a favorite… plus I think he knows way more Portuguese than me).

I’m starting to worry about how hard it’s going to be to leave next week now that I’m getting really attached to the people who live here. It’s hard to grasp that we’ve already been here for 10 days… time is going by way too fast. I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting lately about the great opportunities we’ve had during our stay here.

We’ve been living with this family for almost two weeks and they have graciously shared their lives with us in the meantime. Playing with the children just seems so natural, even if we can’t communicate via words, and it has become a nightly routine to play in the living room after dinner until bedtime. It feels like we’re starting to become a part of this family, which is going to make leaving all the more difficult.

-Shayla