Our third stop traveling through South America was an Ursuline Global Conference on "Fraternity and Life on the Planet." We were the very honored international guests at this fantastic meeting of Ursuline educators from all over Brazil. The conference was held at the very beautiful Ursuline school in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil, in the state of Sao Paulo. The conference participants were full of enthusiasm for Ursuline education, Saint Angela and global friendships. We also had the great joy of reuiting with many of our friends from our sister school in Bahia, Nossa Senhora da Piedade, who were also in attendance at the conference. The best news from the conference is that we at Ursuline Dallas have been asked to collaborate on an Ursuline Global Youth Conference to be held in Septemebr 2012 in Brazil. We hope that Ursuline students from all over the world will attend! More on this event will be coming soon! In the meantime, we treasure our wonderful experience in Ribeirao Preto and we look forward to gathering together with our students in 2012!!
Greetings from Chile where Ms. Bourgeois and I (Ms. Nipp) have spent the weekend. We had a wonderful time at our sister school in Lima, Peru last week and now we are here in Santiago, Chile preparing to visit our Chilean sister school. Yesterday was really cold and rainy (it was 37 degrees - 70 degrees colder than Dallas!). However, today was clear and cold and crisp - and completely beautiful! The Andes, which surround Santiago, are snow-covered and have offered us spectacular views all day - what a magnificent surprise! Our dear friends from Colegio Santa Ursula, Andrea Raczinski and Soledad Villarreal, accompanied us today as we attended Mass at the Ursuline school and then toured a bit of the city. It was a grand day and we can't wait to visit our sister school as well as the Ursuline school in Maipu tomorrow!
On our second full day in Peru, we visited the Ursuline School, Colegio San Jose, in the Miramar district of Lima (the school is generally known as Colegio Miramar). This school is in a very humble area of Lima so the Ursuline school provides not only a wonderful education for the children but also a sanctuary away from the difficulties of life outside the walls of the school. In fact, the sisters are very important to the life of the entire Miramar community as everyone knows them and is so grateful for the help and education that they provide. The children eat very well at school because the Sisters know that sometimes they lack food at home.
Well, exams and end-of-year celebrations are now over and the Summer adventures have begun! We currently have one group in Honduras and one group in Peru. I am posting some of the photos from our welcome to Colegio Santa Ursula in Lima where we arrived yesterday with 12 students. Today was a busy and intense day which included a welcome ceremony with the whole school, a school tour and a visit to an ancient Incan ceremonial center and burial ground which is literally around the corner from the Ursuline school. It's only been 24 hours and we already have lots of stories and adventures to share!!