Between Christmas and New Year’s, Mestre Pedro again brought his whole crew to the ICBIE, to give a show for our new visitors. Gabriele Fabozzi is one of the most active students in the Bridge to Bahia project at the American Overseas School of Rome. A high school senior, he has been interested in the problems of South American poverty for a several years, fervently working to assist an impoverished community in Ecuador. Now, after bringing his experience and enthusiasm to Bridge to Bahia, amazingly, he managed to convince his entire family to make a trip to Salvador, and to stay at the ICBIE, in order to understand the community and to witness our work. After spending a heroic Christmas day stranded in airports, Gabriele, his two younger sisters and his parents finally arrived, and they were immediately thrown into the flow of the ICBIE routine, including a visit to the Minha vó Flor orphanage. Hopefully, in the next few days, Gabriele will be posting some of his impressions here.
Impressed by such warm and inquisitive guests, Pietro decided to treat them to a genuine capoeira exhibition, so he arranged for Mestre Pedro’s crew to put on one of their breathtaking performances, and it was a great one, with the elderly master in great form, after more than a year of precarious health that had us all worried. As usual, his kids mingled with the visitors, and everyone danced the samba to the beat of the conga drum and the twang of the berimbau. A wonderful way to end the old year and start the new one.
