ice cream...cravings

on a hot sunday afternoon, carol had a craving for ice-cream, and after much convincing ;) i went with her to get myself a milkshake....

on the walk home we were accosted by three young kids who also had cravings for ice cream and demanded some of ours....physically by surrounding us and grabbing for our ice creams...

the kids were quite young so it was not so much physically frightening, except for the possibility that they had a knife or another weapon...but i was more shocked by the way that children so young had learnt to use physical force to get what they want....to demand...

i didnt share my milkshake with any of them...partly because i was a bit scared and wanted to move on as quickly as possible, but also because i wanted to teach them that violence is a way to get what you want...but unfortunately i think they have many senseis who have already taught them that violence is their only option

i met a couple of aussies here who are volunteering for an NGO who uses aikido to teach kids in poor areas another, peaceful option, to channel their energies and frustrations...and also read about a woman who uses capoeira for the same purpose...

one question i have been asking myself a lot recently is what can I do to help improve the situation for the many many people that i see everyday living in misery on the streets and struggling to survive...i have been trying to get involved with the volunteering programme at work but it seems a bit bureaucratic...does anyone know any cool organisations to volunteer with here in sao paulo?

and how do you feel, how do deal with the inequalities surrounding you as an educated person, earning many many times the average income? living in a nice apartment? never REALLY craving food?