How do you prepare to leave a place like this?
The last weeks have been some of the most amazing of my life and I have learned so much here in Beaga (how the locals call Belo Horizonte). We have become members of a second family. We have encountered a place filled with love, giving, understanding and passion. And even though we sometimes can’t communicate at all in the same language, we just love each other.
I had a discussion tonight with the guy who used to be responsible for Marketing at CEDUC and he said the hardest part is putting into words what you feel when you enter CEDUC. You can’t explain it, you can only feel it. The way they treat their students, employees and interns is amazing and one can really learn a lot from that. They guide, they lead and they love. I have never heard them say a bad word towards each other or their students. Yes, of course they see the faults in each other. We all have our flaws — the question is just how do we handle them among ourselves. And everyone here at CEDUC has that in common — they listen, they observe, they try to get to the bottom of things, but they never judge badly on it. They accept each other the way they are and just try to take personal flaws into account when interacting with each other. They don’t take things personal, they wish each other the best they can have, even if that sometimes mean it is not in the best interest of themselves.
If you are a traveler like me, you might also have felt like you are homesick for a place that does not exist. I must say, I think I have found my place the past weeks! We have a joke here at CEDUC and team, that I actually feel like my heart is 75% Brazilian.
The past weeks have been lots of work, but also lots of fun and we were able to achieve everything we hoped for. Leaving, I feel like I have given everything that I could have and that was always very important to me.
Leaving tomorrow will be very heavy on the heart- who wants to leave their family?! Yet the good thing about it is, that it is also a great sign if you’re sad, because it means you had an amazing time and will take home lots of great memories.
