My Passion With Jodie Marshall

In 2004 I spent six months of my gap year in Brazil, where I worked with street children and children at risk. Inspired by my dad visiting the same project when I was 14, I wanted to understand why he was always so moved when he spoke of his experiences there. My first memory of the country is waiting for two hours in Recife airport for our hosts. Standing there with someone I was paired with by the agency, we stood out a mile with our milky white skin and very little understanding of Portuguese.

I remember a family watching our every mood as we tried to ring England for our host’s number, while wondering if every person that looked at us was waiting for us. A young man from this family approached us and asked if we needed help in pretty good English. We explained we were waiting for someone, but could not get in touch with them. After lending us his phone he then offered to take us to a family friend’s house who my travel partner knew. This was my first encounter of the true Brazilian hospitality, and after this it only got better.

We eventually got in touch with our hosts and got picked up. Although they had got their dates mixed up (very Brazilian), they went out of their way to make sure we had places to stay. I have travelled to many countries and stayed with many people, but I have never experienced hospitality like I have in Brazil. Working in one of the poorest communities in Recife and Olinda, I learnt what it was to have nothing, but to still have joy through living in simplicity.

Working in a community next to a rubbish dump, the smell was intense but it never stopped me from spending days in the favela (Brazilian shanty town) and working with the local community. People would offer me food and drink even though they had nothing. We would laugh and joke together and I learnt to speak the language. The community was my favourite place to be, and still is.

The love of the country and the community didn’t stop there. It has continued to today, and at the beginning of February it will be eight years since I first set foot in Brazil. I try to visit the community that I also call ‘home’ every year, and have learnt Portuguese through teaching myself and regularly visiting. I have lifelong friends and a surrogate Brazilian ‘family’ there, who have taught me so much.

My passion has naturally spilled over into my work, when I volunteer my services for performing arts training when I am visiting. This year my theatre company, A Mind Apart, is working with the organisation I link with in Brazil to launch a volunteer programme aimed at increasing understanding, respect and fostering an exchange of culture for students from both countries.