Hege Faanes - Florianopolis, Brazil

Summer project in Brazil

Spring 2007 I came home from a semester abroad in India. Disturbed by the conditions some people lived under and in love with India, I joined AIESEC for the opportunity to go back to India and work as a volunteer. It was fall and I had to study so summertime was set off as the time to go back. I met such wonderful people and they gave me opportunities I had not even thought about. I met people from all over the world and even though they are no longer in Norway, they are still very dear friends of mine. I started to work inside the organization and took the opportunities presented. I spent almost 4 years travelling to national and international conferences, worked in different teams, created visions, set goals, planned and learned how to achieve goals. I spent 4 years in leadership training. 4 years having fun challenging myself and tried first-hand to make campaigns, recruit, select, induct, inspire, motivate and challenge others. That was 4 very good years J

Then I felt the time had come. I needed to go out in the world and practice what I had preached to so many. Through the years I figured out that where was not as important as what and with whom. I chose a project in Florianopolis, Brazil. The projected focused on educating children between 6 and 17 years old on the issues sustainability, leadership and culture awareness. I visited 10 different schools and almost no one knew anything about Norway. Snow was a big hit with the age group! My presentation skills got challenged by the English level of the children and their age. In one school I found myself making skis out of cardboard and yarn. The kids got the biggest smiles I have seen when we put them on.

During my internship, I joined a local gym and dance classes, in Portugese only (a language I don`t speak or knew from before), and I was the first foreigner to ever be there. I have never felt more welcome anywhere. Everyone wanted to talk to me! After 1 month of my dance teacher told me I was a good dancer. I had never tried the 3 dances he was teaching before coming to Brazil!

The biggest contributor to making my internship funny and opened my eyes to the Brazilian way of living was my host family. They took me to all the normal Brazilian things like football games, lunches, shopping, forrò clubs (special dance clubs) and “all- you- can- eat”- restaurants. My host mother cooked everyday for us and I rarely knew what I was eating but it was so good that I did not care. On special occasions I cooked Norwegian food for them as well. My host mom did not speak a word of English but with a couple of Portuguese words and body language we still understood each other. We laughed a lot and just talking with my host-sister and brother gave me a good insight into the Brazilian culture. I love this family both the people and the small zoo (3 cats and 2 dogs) in the house!

I would never trade my AIESEC experience for anything. They gave me too much J