MISSIONER NEWSLETTER – Advent 2024
Kathy Bond and Flávio Rocha, Brazil
Our project to promote a culture of peace in public schools entered a new phase where many of the student participants are taking field trips to AFYA Holistic Center to learn more about natural healing, visit the center’s medicinal garden, and enjoy a healthy snack (yummy banana, cocoa, and oatmeal brownies, and collard and lime juice). These visits have been a huge success with the kids and school chaperones.
Dear Friends and Family,
Warm Greetings from Brazil. As summer approaches in our semi-arid, coastal home 6 degrees south of the equator, it is Mango Season! The enormous trees with dark green shiny leaves are each weighed down by more than 500 green, yellow, or orange fruits. They are incredibly delicious and an accessible Vitamin A boost for all. We are anxiously awaiting Maya´s 3-week Christmas visit in mid-December.
Each year, Brazil celebrates Black Consciousness Day on Nov. 20. This year it became a national holiday observed to mark a regained awareness by the Afro-Brazilian community about their contribution to the country. Schools, NGOs, churches and community associations organize educational and fun events to help dissolve the perception of Afro-Brazilian inferiority in society. AFYA Holistic Center hosted a community day highlighted by a workshop by an Afro-Brazilian public-school art teacher on the theme of wearing a turban as a journey of black identity and freedom.
As we approach the summer break here, the in-school workshops to share resources to better manage anxiety and promote peace are winding down. In December we will have an evaluation with representatives from the seven schools to evaluate and plan for 2025.
In solidarity with the Afro-Brazilian movement, we facilitated an EcoRetreat (Ecology & Spirituality gathering) for 20 people on a Quilombo in the remote hills of our state about two hours from Joao Pessoa. A Quilombo is a community of Afro-Brazilian people who escaped enslavement during the Portuguese occupation of Brazil. The word comes from the Bantu word kilombo, which means “camp.” The retreat focused on remembering and honoring our ancestors and learning the history of struggle and victory of the Quilombo community, Caiana dos Crioulos, whose 400 members officially gained titles to their land in 2005.
Our project to promote a culture of peace in public schools entered a new phase where many of the student participants are taking field trips to AFYA Holistic Center to learn more about natural healing, visit the center’s medicinal garden, and enjoy a healthy snack (yummy banana, cocoa, and oatmeal brownies, and collard and lime juice). These visits have been a huge success with the kids and school chaperones.
As we approach the summer break here, the in-school workshops to share resources to better manage anxiety and promote peace are winding down.
In December we will have an evaluation with representatives from the seven schools to evaluate and plan for 2025. If you would like to help us expand to more schools, please consider making a financial contribution to our ministry.
- $50 would help offset our transportation costs to the schools for two months.
- *$250 would pay for eight holistic therapies sessions at AFYA for students, parents or school staff.
- $500 would allow us to begin the work in another school.
Thank you for your generosity!
Many blessings during this holy Advent season as we await Jesus’ birth. We hold you in our prayers and hearts and ask you to hold us and the Brazilian people in yours.
May Jesus’ light and healing connect us to each other and our sacred universe.
In peace,
Flávio and Kathy
Please consider supporting our mission work in João Pessoa with a donation through the link below.
We invite you to walk with us as our “COMPANIONS IN MISSION.” Companions in Mission are friends and generous donors who give financial gifts on a regular (usually monthly) basis. For more information, visit Become a Companion in Mission. Thank you so much for your generosity!
Kathy Bond and Flávio José Rocha are Maryknoll lay missioners based in João Pessoa in northeastern Brazil.
