First time in favela

On Tuesday evening, some of us headed down into a favela for the first time with a couple of the nuns here. They run a bible study in one of the houses down there every week. So on that warm night, after dinner, we wandered down through the side streets. The nuns are pretty old, so it's a marvel how they make the trip up and down these roads and alleys every week. Once we entered the favela, we were met by a man (I forget his name) outside his little shop that sells simple supplies for the locals. He was a real warm character, embracing us with hugs and a smile that radiated joy and love. Could barely understand the chap as my Portuguese is pathetic (at the mo, at least), but he seemed happy to see us. After exchanging a few broken portuguese words with the kids mingling outside the shop, we headed down to the house for the bible study. We gathered ourselves in the humble front room, half the size of my bedroom at uni, and with a candle lit, began the study. A few young boys were there (perhaps 5 years old), and several more turned up later during the study. Once again I couldn't understand much, but found what passage they were discussing so I wasn't completely clueless. We sang the 'alleluia' together as well, to the same tune. Its interesting how, where our (my) linguistic inability prevents communication, our shared faith can bridge the gap and allow an interaction of different kind. Despite minor cultural differences our faith is the same; the gospel is the same. Nevertheless i do feel a real desire to polish my Portuguese and learn the lingo out here. To understand a culture you have to become one of the people, and I don't think you can do that authentically without speaking the language. Your language is how you picture and make sense if the world around. Anyway, we were there for an hour before making our climb back up to the convent. This was not before we stopped outside the shop again for some pop and biscuits that our new friend brought out for us and the kids. It was a fairly tranquil favela, so I didn't feel threatened or uneasy. My main concern was about the dogs and getting bitten, but that's only because the travel nurse back in Norwich gave me a horrifying brief on getting rabies.