May 21, 2012
Finally
after a grueling 10 hour plane ride, I have arrived in Brazil! And
although I was not able to get much sleep on the flight over, the city
of São Paulo made my inital sleep deprivation far worth while. The city
is not only beautiful, but incredibly unique. As it is not typically a
stop for many tourists, the residents are clearly as curious of us as we
are of them.
Yesterday
after checking into our hotel and grabbing a quick lunch, we went on a
walk down Avenida Paulista, the main street more or less. We did some
souvenir shopping in a small market outside of Parque Siqueira Campos,
and between the music, traditional crafts and the beautiful landscape
from inside the park, I began to truly develop a feel for the city of
São Paulo.
We woke up
early this morning and took the subway to the CREN center for our
orientation. We were only there for about two hours, but a woman named
Malu gave us a tour of the center and we were able to meet some of the
children currently being treated. We needed our friend Thaisa to
translate for us, but just by watching Malu speak you could see how
passionate she is about the work she does at CREN. The children were all
so well behaved and friendly, it was hard to look past their smiling
faces and imagine how much they have already had to struggle in their
short lives. The CREN center not only provides in-patient care for
severely malnourished children, but ambulatory or out-patient care for
those that have less severe conditions. Five meals a day are provided to
children receiving the in-patient care, along with lessons to stimulate
them mentally that incorporate the importance of proper nutrition.
There are also many programs provided to the children´s parents in the
hopes of gaining their trust, which allows the CREN doctors and
nutritionists to gain a better understanding of their struggles and
barriers. I left the center feeling anxious for the days to follow when
we will be able to work directly with these children and the employees
at the nutrition center.
For
lunch I got my first taste of authentic Brazilian cuisine at a small
local restaurant about three blocks from the center. This restaurant,
like many of the others I have seen, provides buffet style service,
which I think we all took complete advantage of by piling our plates
high with rice, beans, fresh vegetables and savory meats. My favorite
dish by far was made with chicken, or frango, and a thick delicious
curried sauce. The most shocking thing I saw at the buffet were cubes of
fried pork fat! While this is definitely not something I would
recommend as a nutrition student, it was very unique! Each table also
had homemade hot sauce, some of the spiciest I have ever tasted. The
arrangements of peppers and vegetables used to make the sauce also made
them beautiful centerpieces for the tables.
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