Life in the Desert: Part I

On Monday, Vanessa informed us that we would be taking a special trip to the desert of Brasil. She had taught us a little bit about the sertao (desert), but it is hard to imagine what a desert in Brasil would really be like. In order for us to REALLY learn what it is like, we started our trip early Monday morning.


It was a long bus ride to get to the sertao, but we finally made it after about 6 hours. In all honesty, I thought I had made it back to Utah! It was crazy dry and the plants were limited to small shrubs and a few trees here and there. I could feel the dryness and I was thirsty just thinking about it! I had left the crazy wet Recife and entered into a new region of Brasil.


The first day that we went to the sertao we met with a man named Mario that told us about the work that the NGO Diaconia was doing in that region in order to help those suffer from drought in the dry region. He explained that they are building a million cisterns as a goal in the northeast to make sure that people are able to get clean water and store it properly. They have built 500,000 so they are making great progress and hope to continue it. They are also teaching people to be self sufficient and show them how to survive, and be well off. I like all of the concepts that he talked about and I look forward to seeing the results of the work that they have been doing.


That was about it for the day, then we went to the center to have dinner. It was a very nice center for the middle of the desert and I really liked how people had all of their kids out. It seemed like a very safe place to live and raise a family. It is amazing what people can make of a place that has so little to offer. It reminds me of the settlement of Utah and how it was built from nothing and is now a thriving state. It is great to see human progression.

 Picture of the sertao. Not too bad for the desert

Standard picture of the sertao