Today we spent the afternoon at Colegio TIC TAC, where we took part in the screening of 3 of the videos that the youth have been working on for the past couple weeks. All the videos that were shown were great, you could tell that all the participants spent time planning them and they really understood what it means to create with purpose. Even though our portuguese is very limited, to say the least, it was easy to understand and relate to the issues that the videos were trying to address. 

There was one video in particular that I was really taken by,  and it was the video that Jaoni and Gustavo made. They told us that they created the video  so that they could tell the world how water pollution is a big problem here in Campo Grande, and how rivers are getting polluted more and more. It was great to see how they told their story in a video, because they introduced humour to the issue, which made their video incredibly funny and witty, so much so that  the entire room bursting in laughter a few times, even though it was very sad to see how much garbage they were able to find in river that they went to. 

I was really happy to see how youth are learning and sharing their experience with other people in their communities, and by far my favourite of the day was a moment where I could see how proud the Jaoni and Gustavo were to show their video with their peers and parents. 

Will post more updates soon!

It has been a hectic several days. We were in transit from Wednesday until Friday when we finally arrived in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul. Campo Grande is lovely city - I noticed right away that it is kept quite clean and pretty. There are lots of trees (beautiful old trees with impressive roots), parks and birds.

Fernando, Elaine, and Larissa met us at the airport and I couldn't contain my excitement when I recognized Elaine. They've been incredibly warm and sweet to us since our arrival - I really feel at home with them.

In the evening we visited the final AYV workshop and met some of the participants. They were very excited to meet us and were eager to finish their projects for a film festival held today (more on that to come). Here's a photo of me with some of the youth taking part in the program: 

I am absolutely amazed by the conversations I've been having with all the wonderful people I've met in the past few weeks. The educators are passionate about creating spaces for youth to explore important issues and to express them constructively. The young people I've met are inspiring me to incredible degrees. They are passionate, caring people who want, beyond all else, to make a difference in their communities, their countries, the world. I feel completely full of love for all of them and the beauty and power of international collaboration and youth voice has really hit home during these visits.

To wrap up, here's a Campo Grande sunset:

We just landed in Campo Grande!  
We are meeting with our wonderful educators today so will keep you posted.

The photo bellow was taken as we were landing. Enjoy!

We arrived in Sao Paulo safe and sound a few hours ago. We'll be taking a bit of time to reload before we head to Campo Grande tomorrow morning to meet with NGO A Pratiq Ecologia, our partner organization in Brazil. 

Sao Paulo is wonderful! I'm really excited to be here, and even more excited for what will unfold in the next few days. We will have the opportunity to take part in the program that NGO A Pratiq Ecologia is running with a group of young people in partnership with Colegio Tic Tac, who is providing space and computers for the workshops to take place. 

Lots of updates to come, but for now here's the view from my window in Sao Paulo: