Poverty and sweetness

Salvador is a beautiful city, but poverty is everywhere. Unlike Sao Paulo and Rio, where the favelas (slums) are confined to particular areas, in Salvador they fill in all the holes. They are across the street from the fanciest hotels and right beside the Wal-Marts.

The orphanage we visited is right in the heart of one of the poorest areas of Salvador. I will write more about this when I get home, but our visit to the orphanage was incredible. Lindy, "Down by the Bay" was a big hit in our "talent show"--even the verse we sang in Portuguese. What moved me the most, though, was the sight of our MBA students carrying around all the little kids,, and the pick up soccer game our students played with the older orphanage kids. (Brazil won by a landslide--no surprise to anyone.) The children were unbelievably sweet.

The whole thing reminded me of how privileged our family is, how fortunate we are to have a family who loves us, and how important it is to share what we have with the people who aren't as lucky as we are. We take so much for granted.