Horses for Orphans, Brazil - Day 6

On Saturday the children do not do any horsemanship. Most Saturdays there are visits from church groups or relatives.

Normally the team would do things with the horses – foot trimming, teeth rasping, maybe even have a lesson with Reginaldo. But this Saturday Ingela and Richard take Reginaldo into Aneapolis so that he can participate in a ministry school there. They are gone the whole day. The rest of us remain at Betel and have our usual fresh breadrolls and some eggs for breakfast, and then we worship and prayer together. I lead our 'God Time' with the help of  iTunes! The horses have been fed and turned out earlier by Emma and Neil, so there is no work to do with them. Our team has a few little issues to discuss, and we have a planning session for the afternoon.

After lunch I work on the Portugese version of the Horse handling book.

The rest of the team (except Neil, who stays with me) goes to the girls’ houses where they have a great time colouring in, talking, practising Portugese, painting nails and plaiting hair. I have had very little time to get to know the girls, but Julie and Kate are developing some firm friendships. We have brought a number of little gifts with us, and the girls have time to hand these out. One little girl reciprocates, giving Kate one of her teddy bears. Moments like these touch the heart deeply.


The girls are gone for ages. Meanwhile Neil has a peaceful time talking with some of the boys outside; he is showing them photogrpahs of his home and life in England. I enjoy the sound of their voices as I work.

When the girls return, we go to the water hole with Patrick and a few of the younger boys to have a swim. Along the way we meet Douglas, who gives us some guavas. I had forgotten how much I like this fruit.

We get back to our house just in time to change quickly and go to the dining room for supper. Mel and I sit with Bruno and Aurimar and Rogerio. They tell us the Portugese names for ‘rice’ and ‘beans’ and ‘tomato’, and we try our best to remember them!

After supper we return to our house and sit on the veranda. Welliton and Patrick and Rogerio arrive with a few of the other boys and they try, once again, to climb the palm tree. Kate has set them a challenge and they are determined to do it. There is a lot of laughter, and triumph when Rogerio finally manages to do it. Then Julie teaches Welliton and Patrick some Irish dancing. Once again there is a lot of laughter as they tangle their feet in knots. I say something about wishing we had internet so that we could show them Michael Flately and Riverdance... and Patrick says that if I sit in a particular spot with my laptop, maybe I will be able to connect. Yes, it is true! I am delighted. However, it takes ages to download the video clip. Meanwhile we go onto Facebook and I show the boys photographs of England and of the rest of our family and of our horses and dogs. There is a lot of excitement about these photographs, and the excitement escalates when I start showing them the photos I have of the Horse for Orphans project. They are particularly delighted to see images of themselves from the early days of the project. Later we show them the Riverdance clip and they are amazed at the speed with which the dancers move their feet. We share watermelon and chat in our little bits of English and Portugese. It is a lovely evening.

All too soon it is nine o’ clock and we have to send the children away. Hugs and ‘Boa Noite’ all round and then we have a bit of time with Ingela and Richard who have just returned.