Volunteering in Brazil with Magicians Without Borders

magicians without borders magical katrina

It’s my sixth day here in Brazil and I wanted to update you all on my amazing experience volunteering with Magicians Without Borders!

I have had such a rewarding and exhilarating experience so far. It’s very busy and exhausting. Everyday we wake up at 6am to do shows and every night we get back late then I do a few hours of time sensitive work like emails and calling clients in the United States and then I go to bed at 1-2am. So I feel like a sleep deprived zombie (A happy zombie though bu! M) hahaha

We have performed three shows in São Paulo but over the next week in Campinas we will be doing 2-3 shows per day. (That’s a lot of shows).

We have an awesome Brazilian guide named Alejandro who is very kind and not only a great interpreter but he is an extremely talented magician. He placed in FISM doing mentalism (which is like the worlds largest magic competition). I feel so lucky to have a few Portuguese speakers with us otherwise I would be so lost. My little bit of Spanish has not been very helpful.

Our first shows were in two different orphanages and children’s homes and one was for homeless and very impoverished families in an old part of town where the San Paulo “city hall” was first located.

The most heart warming thing to happen to me so far was at our first magic show at an orphanage. I was sitting on the ground prepping my act beforehand and out of nowhere this little girl ran up and jumped into my lap and gave me the tightest hug. She looked up at me with giant saucers of eyes and hurriedly spoke Portuguese while petting my hair. I didn’t know what she was saying but our interpreter translated “You look like a princess.” I told her that she looked like one too (of course) which pleased her very much.

She was so excited about me that throughout the show when I wasn’t on stage she sat in my lap the entire time. It was so cute and funny because she would run and jump into my lap without warning or anything. It alarmed one of the other magicians who almost tripped over her a few times while she ran to me. It was overwhelming how much love she had to give to a complete stranger and it made me reflect on how many children in the world need love and to be cared for and yet so few people adopt. They choose to have a “mini version” of them instead. Which I can understand but as someone who was adopted myself I also can see it as a bit selfish to make a “mini you” when there are already so many kids who need homes. I wish the process was easier and cheaper for adoption but I also understand some of the reasons why it isn’t. It is important to also keep the children safe and make sure they go to the correct homes. It is unfortunately a complicated issue.

After the show many girls from ages 6-16 came up to take photos with me and ask if my hair was real (red is not a common color in Brazil). One of our group organizers came up to me and said “You see the reactions from these girls? Seeing you do magic as a woman means they can do it too. You do see the impact that you have right?”. It was very thoughtful of them to point that out to me and I was very moved. It was sad to say goodbye to the little girl who sat in my lap for so long.

I took a few photos with her in my lap because I thought it was so unexpected, funny and cute. I also got a few other photos of our shows and our experience so far so I wanted to share that with you all. I hope you enjoy getting a small peek into our experience.

Thank you to all of my wonderful and amazingly supportive friends that donated to help my trip and also to my Patreon peeps who make volunteering like this possible for me to do. Because of you these families and children in underprivileged parts of Brazil can have a magic added to their lives that they will never forget.