The sun is shining in Bermuda, the ocean in its green and blue glitters like diamonds enlightening deep within me strong images which awake the sleeping mind to think. Not so long ago I arrived from South Africa. My mind still is traveling although my body is here. Images, sounds, movements, smells and tastes of the old and new world flash through my mind every moment.

I was thrilled when I got to South Africa and it was like arriving in the center and Midwest of Brazil. The tropical weather, the dry grass burned maybe by some cigarettes not thoughtfully thrown out of the passing vehicles, the red earth, the flowers, the trees and the people looked so familiar to me. I felt in some odd way I was touching my roots, not only due to the familiar environment but also because of the people being a mixture of black and white like myself.

I arrived directly at the first community meeting and even being tired for so many hours, my mind stayed alert with the formal beginning and with the view of old friends and new people. Little by little I felt myself being involved with the group and with the locals. It was a powerful experience being in that lovely conference center and seeing the transformation process of this group and the involvement of the workers. As I expected, all workers from the lady that made the bed in the morning to the chef in the kitchen were black and the ones in charge were white. It was quite an experience with the people in charge and with the workers. The people in charge were very lovely and very considerate with the workers and with us. The workers seem very satisfied although the white man is in charge.

As always the group evolved in its own way and some important moments happened that challenged my assumptions once again about race and cultural relations. One of the powerful moments for me was when I felt the pain of South Africa as my own pain and I manifested that to the group. It was the pain of seeing an apparent affluent society with big highways, new sports and expensive cars, big shopping malls and big hotels, contrasting with small townships houses--if we could call those small places houses. No water, no electricity, no pavement and just people walking around. Children sitting on dirty streets and seemly doing nothing. It seemed again too familiar with the "favelas" in Brazil. Fear is in the air and people seem afraid of their own shadow. It was too painful and I saw the blood of my bleeding heart, and the pain of my impotence to help, to do something, to act and to say I am here and I can help. It is a pain where we function like Endymion, from Greek mythology, being asleep with the eyes open because it is too painful to open the eyes and to wake up. I could not bear the pain alone and I had to share it.

When I shared the pain, the things became easier and I could see beyond into the heart of people. The workers really help me with that and when a woman washed and ironed my clothes and said that was nothing, I was amazed because I knew how much money would help her. She did not do it for the money although she got it but she did it for the sake of being helpful. I begin to think that maybe the external conditions corrupts people but not all of them. The criminals, although they may have grown up in the townships, are a different kind of people from the ones that struggle from day to day in the townships and in the favelas. This was an eye opener. We had few South Africans as active participants of this meeting, but we had many as underground participants that made our beds in the morning, served breakfast, lunch and dinner, and danced with us in the evening. The most memorable moment of the meeting came when at the end: we as usual were struggling with departure and someone suggested to call the workers so that we could say thank you to them and they could reply. They got there and stayed lined up against the wall at the entrance of the room. After the thank-you, I don't know how it happened, but some of them began to sing and suddenly the group joined in and then we began to dance and at the end everybody was singing and dancing. This lasted a long time and the joy on people's face was beyond what any words can express. It was the most memorable moment I have had in finishing one of our meetings and I have never experienced that before. It was a joined celebration. There was no workers and no participants but only people dancing, singing, laughing and enjoying. I wish I had words to really convey to you what happened in that moment; it was for me one of the miracle moments of life, of joining, of celebrating the Dionysus within.

After all this my mind and body were beyond into another world and I could not contain my happiness. My heart was content and the external conditions did not paralyze me anymore. I could see the people beyond the external conditions and do something about it in my own limited way.

Driving to the wild park afterwards with some friends helped me to elaborate more into my thoughts and at the same time to see the heart of

South Africa. It did good to my soul and when the wild elephant pulled in front of the car, I was afraid but I felt the taste of the wild Africa. I will miss South Africa and I hope one day to more helpful to the township and the favela people.