Visit to Ponta Grossa

The German NGE students and I went to a city about two hours away, Ponta Grossa, for several days. It is a smaller city, of about 350,000 people. We stayed with host families and activities were organized by several Rotary Clubs in the city. The activities included:

With my Ponta Grossa host family! Juliana, me, Ana and Carlos

Visit to Tetra-Pak headquarters in Brazil

Tetra Pak is a producer of food packaging, with a special type of packaging that allows food to be stored without refrigeration until it is opened, mainly used for milk. Think the types of packaging for most soy, rice and almond milk. It is very wildly used here in Brasil and Eva, Alex, and Lisa said it is very widely used in Germany as well. It makes sense, so I am not sure why we do not used it in the US for our milk and juice packaging. 

We got to learn about the activities of the company in Brazil and also visit the manufacturing floor. This was really neat as we got to see the machines and robots and things in actions. It looked like it could be a lot more efficient and we watched one of the robots crashed into a forklift. It makes me wonder if this type of disorganization is also seen in manufacturing in the US.

Vila Velha

We got to visit a really neat state park that had these really interesting natural formations. I haven't ever seen anything like it so I really enjoyed the trip. It looks like its almost from another planet.

Mennonite Colony

We visited a colony of less than 2,000 Mennonites. It is interesting because the speak low german and practice the traditional Mennonite religion, but unlike the Mennonites near where I am from in Michigan, they use electricity and lead a generally typical life. It is interesting that because part of their religion is that they do not believe in killing people, they have some sort of accord with the Brazilian government that they do not have to register for the military (obligatory for all Brazilian men) and do social projects instead.

Important historical events for the religious/cultural group

Diaper Production

One of the big projects of Rotary in Ponta Grossa is producing adult diapers. They partner with the Masons of the city and own a machine that helps produce the fabric. They get together every week and make diapers quite manually and donate or sell them at cost to public hospitals and people in need in the city. One evening we all went and helped with this project. We worked alongside Rotarians, Roteracters, and their families for several hours, then had a pot luck dinner. It i a really great project and was great to get involved! 

Machine that makes the diaper fabric

Cutting the fabric to diaper shape

Adding sticky tabs to secure the briefs

We made almost 1000 adult diapers in one night!

Rotaract

We had the pleasure of meeting two different Rotaract Clubs. It was really great to spend time with people my age and get to see the things they are involved in. One of the groups took us to a typical Brazilian bar as a going away party from Ponta Grossa. It was really sweet and fun to get to know them. I hope to see them again. 

With Rotaracters at their University

With Rotaracters at typical Brazilian bar

APAE- school for the mentally handicapped

Visiting this school was a great experience. They have almost 400 students that participate in the school where there are small classes organized by age, and also other handiwork and job training opportunities. They have a band that performed for us and we got to dance and play instruments with them. They have traveled internationally to perform and it was really great. They also have a bakery, kitchen, and wood workshop where they learn other skills that can help them find work in the future. 

This is very different than the system I have seen in the US where I remember students with mental disabilities in the same school and some of the same classes with me tat tries to integrate students. It seems like a great community for the students and they have a lot of great opportunities to learn new skills, and are allowed to stay in APAE as long as they need, until the pass away if that is the case. The negative aspect the the US system addresses is that they are secluded and may not have the opportunity to interact with the rest of society and other children do not have contact with them, which could make it difficult later in life when they do come into contact with them. It is hard to know which way is better, but the students at this institution seemed to be much happier and confident than the mentally disabled students I know from my childhood. 

The band

The school's bakery

Craft workshop

Although it was sad for me to see children that had to overcome such challenges it was a very good experience. At the end of our time there, I asked the woman who was showing us around the school if she knew why there were so many children with these conditions and she told me they that there were issues with girls having babies very very young such as 12 years old, women taken drugs and drinking during pregnancy, and incest between siblings, cousins, fathers and daughters. This is very hard to process as they are things that are problems in a lot of places here in Brazil and in many other countries and I am lucky not to have experienced these things in my life. I hope in the future these things can be reduced and phased out so that children can have better opportunities to succeed.