Unfortunately, the virus has also arrived here in Brazil, although slightly later than Europe and some other places that have been quarantined for some time. Until a few days ago, I was living with another volunteer in one of the favelas, but because of the situation, he had to return to his country.
Luckily, a friend offered me a place to stay in his home in the city so I wouldn’t have to spend the quarantine by myself.
From the first moment of this pandemic, I have worried about the families of the Morro favela, and for the many difficulties that they must face during this situation. One of them being the closing of the school, where I was volunteering, that provided food for all children that attended.
In fact, speaking with some of the people responsible confirmed that many of these families had a lack of food to eat in their homes.
Then I asked myself what I could do to help all these children with whom until a few days ago, I had spent most of my workdays.
Luckily, the Focolare Movemente of “Morró”, thanks to Father Vilson Groh’s institute , was able to prepare care packages with many basic food items for the families with the greatest need.
And this is how we responded to the need, returning to the school every day for a week to distribute the care packages. It was a very powerful experience because I saw that these care packages, which seemed so small to me, were so important to others.
I hope that in the days that follow, we will be able to distribute even more care packages to all the families that need them, so that nobody lacks food on the table during these difficult moments.