Trouble Abroad!

While we were on our way to the Osorio Wind Farm, our site visit got cancelled. It was a three-hour journey, and we were halfway there when we got the news. Due to the heavy, enduring rains, there had been a lot of infrastructural damage all around the state of Rio Grande do Sul. At the wind farm, the entrance road was flooded and blocked off by debris, making it difficult for employees to get in, let alone touring students. We detoured to a lunch place that was going to be our post-visit stop, and as usual it was a delicious buffet full of fresh food. We even got to see the coast city of Osorio from a paragliding platform. Or at least tried to as the fog was insurmountable. As we made our way back, we stopped by a large mall very similar to American malls, but there was a gym, a supermarket, an ice-skating rink, a movie theater, a spa, and the stores were enormous. I think my favorite stop was the huge Lego Store, but even abroad, Legos are so expensive.

The next day we were supposed to have a site visit with Higra, a hydroelectric company, but they were helping handle the damages caused by the rains so we changed plans. We used Unisinos facilities to have Dr. Kerzmann and Dr. Kerestes lead a lecture on sustainability and had a guest speaker talk to us as well. One takeaway was that the transition to sustainable energy sources for the general public tends to pay for itself. Another is that renewable energies can supply enough energy for a near complete turnover to renewable sources for everyone but there are economic and electrical nuances that make the transition a bit more difficult than one-to-one switching. Additionally, corporations, due to their heavy pollution, must transition to sustainable sources to mitigate the effects of climate change. Climate change started taking center stage as the topic of the middle of this Brazil trip, as the heavy rains would not subside. What was initially gloomy weather turned into the worst flooding that the South of Brazil has experienced in the past 80 years. Any plans that we had planned for the rest of our stay in Sao Leopoldo got cancelled, giving us plenty of free time to explore the area.

            My friends and I decided to revisit a mall in Sao Leopoldo in our free time. The first time we visited this mall, we went to a different one of the same chain. The one we arrived at was 25 minutes away, while our desired one was less than 10 minutes away by car. It took quite a bit of time to realize we were at the wrong place, and due to the time crunch we were on, it was a bit stressful at the time. However, we were able to get to the original mall, get our desired goods, and be on our way, and I can surely laugh about it now. This time around, we were trying to find Halal restaurants for our Muslim friend, which was rarer to find here due to most of the country being Christian. As we approached a good lead downtown, we came to find out it was closed. Everything downtown was closed, besides a few services, gas stations, and a McDonald’s. We knew the mall was nearby so we gave it a try. While there were plenty of people there, it was reminiscent of Covid times. There were many people in the supermarket trying to stock up on necessities and compared to the Macromix at this time, this place was a resource haven. The food court was still lively, but the entire third floor of the mall was closed, presumably due to leaks. We got to enjoy a relatively calm lunch, and headed back to the hotel for the rest of the night. As the days passed, things kept getting worse. Roads we previously traveled on were now flooded. The trip coordinators tried to figure out ways out of the state to escape the flooding, but infrastructure was collapsing. Many bridges out of the city had collapsed in on itself due to the flooding. Even the airport had been completely flooded. We just had to find things to fill the time, but truthfully it was demoralizing. As opposed to when we first got there, we had no plan, no schedule of the days to come. We were living one day at a time, and we were privileged students visiting the country. The actual people living here, with their homes and livelihoods being destroyed at will by the relentless rains and flooding, were experiencing a crisis infinitely worse than us. We were lucky that we weren’t alone in all this, that we had experienced and mature adults guiding us to safety and ensuring our health and livelihood. All we had to do was wait it out and let the staff figure it out, while countless others all across the state endured disaster, some even losing their lives in the crisis.

The real wake-up call was a day or two before we made it out. My friends and I tried to fill time by going to the Unisinos gym, which was at the back of the campus relative to our hotel. As we made our way there, our ears were overcome with the sounds of dogs barking. It was coming from this complex of large buildings that included the gymnasium. We were very confused but we approached anyway, asking a desk attendant where the gym was. He was a little annoyed, and in hindsight it was understandable as we were the least of his priorities, but we communicated to us that the gym was closed for the indefinite future but never explicitly gave a reason. As we walked back to the hotel, we ran into Taitiana, the dean of Unisinos, who looked frantic and stressed. She immediately informed us about the situation, how people’s houses have been flooding and they have nowhere to go, so Unisinos had been turned into a shelter for anyone who needed it in the area. Here we were, trying to perform a luxury activity of working out while there were countless families trying to protect their own by seeking shelter at Unisinos. As the day went on, more cars were stopped outside of Unisinos, attempting to seek shelter, and as people who had the privilege of staying in a hotel with a limited but still running supply of water, with food still available for purchase, with beds untouched by the outside weather, we tried to help as much as we could that day. As we followed our host, Lorena, along with the other Unisinos staff into the back building of the campus, we were met with the true severity of our situation. People, of all ages and circumstances, huddled into the crowded gymnasium. People lining the walls in front of the hallway lockers. People outside the gymnasium asking for updates and help for their family. It was devastating, and we were the privileged ones. We had fairly undamaged housing, mostly running water, and money with a favorable exchange rate at our disposal. The displaced Brazilians were surviving by the goodwill of the university and their staff. We tried to help wherever we could, however we could. The staff, after some confusion that we were not additional people in need but people who could help, split us into groups of distributors and organizers. Some of my peers and I started as a distributors, following the lead of our Brazilian peer and asking elderly people and families with pregnant wives how many blankets and pillows they needed. The rest of us kept track of who needed what after it was translated, and then went back to the Unisinos supplies and distributed them to the corresponding families. We organized shoes, reassured families, and helped as much as we could as the evening continued on. Once distribution was done, I started helping with folding clothes, joining the group of organizers from before. People from all over Sao Leopoldo donated their clothes so that the displaced population whose belongings got destroyed would have clean, dry clothes to wear in their time of need. With the inspiring amount of supply, the Unisinos staff did not have enough hands to organize by size and type of clothing to allow easy distribution. That’s where we could greatly help. We spent multiple hours folding and organizing the clothes, starting with men’s dress shirts, then women’s shirts, then pants and shorts and more and more. It was exhaustingly and rewardingly never-ending; there was always more to fold, but that meant that the displaced Brazilians had an abundant supply of clothes to get them through this disaster. As the clothes dwindled and were packed away, we headed back to the gymnasium and started distributing mattress pads to various families. The rain had picked up once again but there was still work to be done. The evening turned into night and the chaos at Unisinos had slightly quelled. As a group of out of place but well intentioned Americans, we started taking up more space than we should’ve and the outlets of help we could supply were reducing. The rain let up enough for us to make our exit back to our hotel, but our exit out of the state was still undetermined.

With the state in disarray and the locals simply trying to survive, we had no plan of action besides get out of the state. With the airport flooded, we could only get out by bus, but the water damaged infrastructure was collapsing all around us, blocking most paths out of the state. A large worry was that any bridge that we crossed on our route could potentially collapse under the weight of the bus. While ideas of taking a helicopter and other things were thrown out, our persistent host somehow arranged a bus out of the state for us. It took an extra day after being notified that we were getting out to actually board the bus, which was nerve wracking for that day as our exit was confirmed but still not present. However that extra day was the first day on the trip that the sun was shining, bright and full in the sky. We basked in it before we left the city. As the sun rose on Rio Grande do Sul, we drove through roads that were once flooded beyond recognition, giving time for reminiscing our time in Porto Allegre. As a group, we truly were so lucky that our accommodations were barely affected by the disastrous storms. Even though the streets flooded near us, our hotel was undamaged, besides some elevator service issues. The only water I saw in my room was from the second day when the window seal was slightly broken. The only necessity that was limited was our water supply, which was unnoticeable limited. We lost wifi for the last two days. There was genuinely no comparison between our experiences and the severely traumatic and disorienting circumstances that the locals faced during this time. It was humbling. It made me truly grateful for the staff that coordinated this trip, that persisted through the unexpected and harsh hardships that presented itself, and took that stress off our shoulders and onto their own. They were crucial to our survival and for our experience still being positive despite the circumstances. They detoured us to the beautiful beach city of Florianopolis, only a 6 hour bus ride away from Sao Leopoldo. For the first time in a long time on this trip, we made it there without issue

*These blogs are backdated between the end of April and the middle of May due to extenuating circumstances*