Hi, I’m Henry P. Last month I returned from Santarem, Brazil with Builders Beyond Borders or B3. Along with 40 other high school students from Fairfield County, our goal was to build a health center and complex for children in at-risk situations. Most of the community was impoverished and homeless, but educated, while their native language is Portugese, most were learning Spanish or English.

Santarem is located in Northern Brazil, next to the Amazon Rainforest, justifying the daily showers, harsh temperatures and scorching sun. Completing the job that prior B3 groups had worked on, we worked for 10 days on the complex, using cement and bricks to finish the building and then constructing a new 6 ft. tall, 130 ft. long wall around the complex. We felt great about this difficult accomplishment and worked extremely hard, making our physical labor personally fulfilling. At the same time, we felt it wasn’t enough for the community, so we made the encompassing area around the center a place to play for local children. We dug up tree roots to allow them to play soccer and set up a volleyball net for recreation. Aside from our project, with the money we raised, we donated 200 wheelchairs to APAE, a local organization for physically and mentally handicapped people. We also presented a local handicapped B3 friend with a prosthetic leg, which he had needed for many years but could not afford.

Along with helping the surrounding community at the worksite, we were able to donate supplies to towns along the Amazon River. We were honored for these acts of charity and thanked by the community of Santarem with music and dancing. Each celebration was uniquely beautiful.

On another note, B3 enabled me to experience once in a lifetime excursions through the Amazon Rainforest. We hiked to waterfalls, met local Amazonians, and swam in the Amazon River with pink dolphins. We also held sloths, monkeys, birds, went piranha fishing, and hunted alligators with flashlights. My favorite activity was interacting with the local children through building the complex and playing soccer with them, even though there was a difficult language barrier and the Brazilian kids were much better at soccer than us.

I was able to make great friends from both Brazil and Fairfield County and will remember this trip to Brazil as an amazing and unique adventure. I would like to thank the St. Francis Church Outreach Committee for choosing me at the recipient of their Youth Outreach Grant, which contributed greatly to funding my trip and enabled me to participate in this remarkable experience.

Thank you.