Giving Tuesday: Be like the Hummingbird
- Ronja Clementina
- Dec 3, 2019
- 4 min read
It's been a while since I've had access to a computer and been able to post, so this will be a long one! But, most importantly, today is #GivingTuesday! This is a worldwide day of giving back to communities around the world. It is partly a response to the spike in consumerism that occurs during the holidays, especially on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Of course, any day is a good day to donate money, but Giving Tuesday is special because the platform GlobalGiving is matching donations and distributing cash prizes to organizations that raise the most money and have the greatest number of individual donors. Our goal is to raise $20,000 today, so if you haven't yet, please donate to Iracambi's "Planting Trees to Save the Planet" project. If you donate by midnight EST (9:00 pm California time) tonight, your money will be augmented by GlobalGiving. It only takes $10 to plant 2 trees and monitor them for 2 years, so every bit of money helps! This is the link:
Iracambi's logo is a hummingbird with drop hanging from its beak. There is a story behind this logo, one that is relevant today. The story goes like this:
One day, there was a fire in the forest. All the animals of the forest fled to safety, running away from the flames. Only the hummingbird flew towards the fire with a drop of water hanging from its beak.
"What are you doing?!" asked the other animals. "There is no way you can put out that fire by yourself!"
"I know," said the hummingbird. "But I can do my part."
Even though a donation of $10, $20, or $50 seems like a drop of water to the fire that is deforestation today, if everybody thinks like the hummingbird and does their part, we can make a difference.
Last Monday and Tuesday were both planting days, and cumulatively, we planted over 500 trees. It was hard work, the most difficult part being the transport of seedlings to the holes. The first day we had help from the farmer, who transported the seedlings up a very long hill by horse-drawn cart. These vehicles are quite common here, and we often pass them on the roads. On Tuesday, we had to haul over 300 seedling through a barbed-wire fence, across a narrow concrete bridge/dam, and up a steep hill. With many hands and many hours, we managed to get them all planted that day though! I do not have a large amount of pictures from planting, as it is difficult to take pictures when my hands are thickly coated in mud.
On Wednesday morning, my roommate woke me up at 3:45 am, saying "The stars are out!" We had discussed doing a sunrise hike the night before, but only on the condition that it not be raining. However, the stars and rain do not go hand in hand, and so I dragged myself out of bed and up the mountain in the dark. Once out of bed, it wasn't so bad, and the sunrise was absolutely gorgeous, so it was worth it. I went back to sleep when we got back at 5:30.
(slideshow)
On Wednesday evening, we went to a follow-up meeting of the one we had gone to last month in Belisario. The townspeople had had a victory against the mining company the night before, and so spirits were high. Much of the conversation revolved around reviving the local artisan market as a way to increase ecotourism and town spirit.
On Thursday, Nathan, Alex, Piotr, and I headed to Viçosa to take part in a Capoeira Angola workshop (Nathan went on to Belo Horizonte to renew his visa). Alex and Piotr had never done capoeira, and had no idea what to expect.
We arrived in Viçosa a few hours early; early enough to walk around the city a bit and have coffee and dinner. The city had already put up Christmas lights, which felt so strange... It was still November and it is technically summer here. I guess I'm having Christmas in the middle of summer this year.
We got coffee and dinner at the same restaurant. It was Thanksgiving, and I had a crepe, which I very much enjoyed at the time but slightly regretted later.
I also needed to buy white shoes before going to capoeira, and since Black Friday was the next day, I managed to get a good pair for a very low price, considering they were new.
We got to the capoeira roda that night a bit late, but it was fine because everyone here operates on Brazilian time, which is about a half hour later than the stated time. The roda was very nice, and we were welcomed in. It started around 7:30 and lasted about 4 hours, and I went to bed after midnight that night. We stayed at one of the capoeira group member's houses, and the whole situation really could not have been better.
I have much, much more to tell about this weekend, but it is getting late here, and I have been working on the computer all day, so this post will be continued tomorrow! Don't forget to donate!
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