In December 2017, a long-awaited dream came true. Volunteering abroad, simply giving something back.

In Barão, Brazil, I worked for 2.5 weeks at the Fundacão Pavel foundation in a ‘therapy center’. www.fundacaopavel.com

Barão is probably one of the poorest regions in Brazil. 350 km to the nearest airport in Teresina. 40 degrees, almost every day.

I was provided with accommodation, but I paid for the journey and the rest of my stay myself.

Communication proved to be very difficult, my ‘portunhol’ (a mixture of Portuguese and Spanish) enabled me to have full conversations with the townspeople, but the dialect in this small town was so specific that I sometimes couldn’t speak to anyone for days (anyone who knows me knows what a challenge that is for me). The treatment was non-verbal or with a translator.

Everyone, especially from the Fundacão, took good care of me. I felt very well looked after there.

From time to time, villagers came by because they wanted to see the Germans.

I had to choose about 15-20 patients from a huge number of patients. Many would have needed long-term treatment and as difficult as it was to turn down patients, it was necessary to help those who had a realistic chance of recovery in this short time.

Patients were treated every 3-4 days with wonderful results. The gratitude of the patients simply made up for the hardships of the journey. Otherwise no one would have strayed into this nest and they would not have received any help.

It was an experience, a little adventure. I am very grateful that I was able to have this experience. I got to know a completely different life and learned to appreciate my life here in Mannheim even more. I was so excited about my patients, my practice and my work that I didn’t even start work a day early.