While many in her constituency prepared for the Festival of World Cultures, TD Fiona O'Malley was doing the real culture thing by helping build houses for the poor in Brazil.
As we all know, the Dáil summer recess is rather extended, but God forbid that this should be confused with holidays! Holiday time for me is in August and I make no apologies for taking the whole month off to totally recharge.
I decided to opt for something different this summer. A chance meeting in the Dáil bar in May with Ger O'Connor helped sort out my holidays plans.
Ger is a Redemptorist priest from Limerick. He runs a volunteer programme for the Redemptorists called Serve, which is about encouraging people to think about justice and human rights issues and supports development projects that work to transform the lives of those who are poor, both at home and in the developing world.
Ger told me of a project this summer in rural northeast Brazil to build houses for the poor in Parnaiba. Not being one for the beach, I could not resist an opportunity to go to Brazil and do something worthwhile.
There are 20 of us here on this programme. A real mix of people from all over Ireland, including teachers, a construction worker, a farmer, students and recent graduates from a range of disciplines. The projects were advertised in newsletters in colleges and churches. People who apply are assessed for their suitability to mix and work in a group under testing circumstances. They frequently have experience of volunteering. They are also required to have a spirit of adventure, be willing to rough it and to be of service to the poor and to learn from other cultures.
Willing to rough it played on the mind. Because the Redemptorists work with the poorest of the poor, conditions were going to be far from luxurious. The sanitation situation was causing most anxiety. Just what would the toilet facilities be like? How would I cope with it given the heat? Would the place we were staying have running water? Would there be clean water available? Would the water be rationed? Would we be able to take showers after a hard day's work on the sites? The fact that the journey to get here culminated in a 10-hour bus journey didn't help either. Then there were the snakes and toads. Was I mad?
Participants were required to raise money to finance the building project. Twenty houses will be built for the extremely poor in Parnaiba. Although Brazil is statistically a wealthy country, the level of poverty is astounding. Prosperity in the various states differs greatly. There is no social welfare system so everyone has to generate their own income. In Piaui, the state we are in, there is 93 per cent unemployment. The people have nothing. What they do have is tremendous spirit.
The day starts early, up at 6am for a 7am start. We work on the building sites until 11am when the sun becomes too hot and work resumes at 2pm. I am working with Aiden, a farmer, and Tracy, a teacher from Armagh. Miguel, our pedreiros (foreman), greets us with a big smile every day.
While we might not be highly qualified, we are very enthusiastic. Last week we dug the foundations and filled them. The work is hard. Lugging stones and concrete around in the baking heat. We've started laying the bricks, which is a lot easier. It is very satisfying work because you can see the progress you've made at the end of the day. They reckon it takes 15 days to complete a house so we should see the family move in before we leave.
At the core of Serve's philosophy is enabling and empowering. Rather than just sending money, the aim is to live, to a certain extent, the experience of the poor in the developing world so as to open one's eyes to the reality of the hardship of daily life there. The families who are having houses built are required to involve themselves in the project.
The sensitive issue of how people who get houses are selected is handled by the community itself. Brazil is blessed with a vibrant community development network. Nonetheless, since we arrived, there has been a constant stream of people calling into the house where we are staying to ask for a house to be built for them. If Ger is not around, I get called upon as word went around that I was a deputado. Sometimes it feels just like home!
Our afternoons are spent either back on site, or helping out with a nutritional programme for children. Malnutrition is a big problem in this region, given the incidence of poverty.
I have long been at odds with the Catholic Church's attitude to the use of condoms in the fight against HIV and Aids, and also the complete refusal to accept that family planning and contraception are rights. So it was refreshing to hear a Catholic priest ask one woman in a compassionate way if she had been informed about contraception.
This trip really has opened my eyes about the church on the ground rather than the pontificating of the hierarchy. Priests living here among the poor and the marginalised are not caught up in the dogma but do recognise the importance of facilitating choice for people in relation to family planning. I was pleasantly surprised by the openness of the Redemptorists. It's good to have your own prejudices challenged and somewhat overturned.
Coming to Brazil has been a wonderful experience. As I type this with blistered hands and a sore back from digging out a water cistern, tired from the labours of the day, it all seems worthwhile. We, along with the many people throughout Ireland who contributed to the fundraising efforts of members of the group, have changed immeasurably the lives of a few people in Parnaiba. For me that makes a holiday worthwhile.
Fiona O'Malley is Progressive Democrat TD for Dún Laoghaire
