I definitely enjoyed the last week and a half in Brazil. The primary highlight of the week was a jaunt to the beach near Cabo Frio, only 3 hours from Rio by bus ,where we stayed at a very nice pousada. Our intention was to miss the madness of the opening of the Pan American Games, which are going on in Rio right now, and we did succeed in finding peace and quiet, with a hotel nearly to ourselves. Our room had a killer deck with a hammock, all of 50 feet from the ocean. It was even stunning enough that I got up for the sunrise, two mornings, and we extended our stay a night longer than planned. And a good portion of the stress relief of being there was simply related to being out of Rio – it was refreshing to feel safe again.
Towards the beginning of the class we had a discussion about how much middle- and upper-class Rio residents perceive themselves as ‘virtual victims’ of crime. With the help of media reporting that tends to dwell on violence, it seems one of their primary concerns is illegally darkening their car windows so that people on the street can’t see in. I certainly admit to worrying like hell about some of the situations I was in over the last weeks…but the violence wasn’t just virtual. I got punched by a coked-up lady who lived in my building, and classmates got mugged and pick-pocketed on various occasions. One Brazilian friend confided that her 19-year-old brother just admitted to being robbed at gunpoint five times. It’s a tough city, such that I almost felt better getting on a plane than being there. And no one seems to have any confidence in the police force, from which many of the reported human rights violations come, they are notoriously brutal and corrupt. According to the same friend, “We don’t call the police, we just pray.” It’s bizarre to me to imagine that no one can be trusted to come to your assistance in times of emergency, and I can see how that knowledge would certainly change one’s world-view.
Anyhow, I also visited one of the NGO’s I’m going to be working with next year, Pela Vidda. Here’s their old website too, which has more information about their programming. The English-speaking president of the organization was traveling so I spoke in butchered Portuguese to the VP; I’ve really got to get my Portuguese in line over the next couple months, but I was happy to pick up some literature with vocabulary specific to HIV/AIDS. And I’ve bought myself a massive biography of Paulo Freire, so hopefully some dense reading will do me good.
Finally, I photographed the food market on our street on Thursday mornings. All the produce artfully arranged was really delightful – the spice vendor was another favorite.
So, sadly, happily, I’m home now, in New York, though I still have to do my final project for the Brazil class. I’ve still got a very busy summer ahead of me, with some US travel and some much-anticipated Central America time. I’ll keep y’all posted. Beijos.
These past three weeks went ridiculously fast.
This past Monday we went out to Complexo de Mare for a visit to Observatorio de Favelas, which tries to provide an alternative view of life the ‘informal city’ by media training and a news listserv. Like many other organizations we’ve visited, they have programming developed specifically with the aim of helping kids get out (and stay out) of drug gangs.
Tuesday we stepped a bit outside of media work per se in order to consider some important issues in Rio at the moment. We began our day in Lapa at Sao Martinho, the biggest NGO working with street kids in Rio. Then we went to have a chat with the delightful renowned Argentinian architect Jorge Mario Jáuregui, who has been working to integrate favelas into the official geography of Rio, making important improvements in infrastrusture (legal electricity, cable, water, community centers, etc) in the process. Until about 1994 or so, maps of Rio didn’t include the favelas (mostly started as squatter communities) but depicted the sites inhabited by hundreds of thousands of people as blank green space.
Wednesday we started the day at an NGO that does community radio. Brazil has some absurdly strict laws that limit the capacity of local radio, limiting their range to 1km and making all advertising illegal. But they still play a big role in local communities, as music and dance play such a big role in Brazilian culture.
We finished the day at an organization out in Bangu funded by the Dutch foundation IBISS. Some very high energy kids who are learning to drum put on a concert for us which was really quite awesome. And then we had a walk around the community to see some of the other stuff going on, from soccer to a guitar workshop to a crafts studio. The director of IBISS gave a pretty informative talk on the rest of the stuff they’re working on, from helping to integrate disabled children into society to, of all things, leprosy. Apparently Brazil has the second highest number of cases of leprosy in the world.
Thursday saw us back at VivoRio for a chance to talk to their director and co-founder Rubem Cesar Fernandes, a very dynamic guy. Googling him after the fact, I’m even more impressed…our prof Peter said it’s rare that anyone gets an hour of his time. Rubem was very warm and sharp and committed, and he provided us with a tremendous historical perspective that we hadn’t quite achieved in the rest of the class sessions. He spoke about the importance of doing things that are considered naive, such as tomorrow’s pre-Pan-Am-games walk through Gavea (a rich area), Rocinha (a favela) and Sao Conrado (another rich area) to demonstrate that the borders of these communities can be crossed easily and by anyone. He’s also been doing a lot of work in Haiti as well, on small arms disarmament and community development/renewal, at the invitation of the UN. I hope the UN invites me to help them out someday, lol.
In the afternoon, we visited an organization called ‘Fio da Alma,’ a group of women (and trans-folk) doing sex work who have become peer health educators, lobbyists, and activists. Although prostitution is legal in Brazil, these woman face a lot of discrimination (seems there are a couple headlines every week about sex workers getting beaten up) but they are working to boost their own morale, self-care, and public image. The women were a lot of fun, I’ll likely get back in touch with some of them next year.
Yesterday, we had yet another inspiring chat with Andre Porto, the head of VivaRio’s Religion & Peace campaign. It was particularly interesting to hear what Andre had to say about the willingness of most religious institutions in Brazil to work for social change; it is his goal to harness the progressive elements of the major churches to disseminate info on human rights, largely about violence and its affect on children. Was interesting and definitely something I’ll have to feel out/think about some more.
We wrapped up the class with a group chat and a walk to the top of the community Babilonia. My dislike for hiking aside (especially hiking in the dark, really), it was totally worth it – this is the spot where the first ‘Black Orpheus’ movie was filmed in the 50’s. The views were incredible, again among the most stunning I’ve seen. And I actually took pictures!
Had our class farewell party at a great samba club last night, was a good time. Today I’ve spent a good chunk of my day decompressing in the hammock, and I’m going to the Live Earth concert tonight – which I can hear out my window already, just started. I’m planning to stroll over there in time for MV Bill and O Rappa, and maybe hang around for the American headliners, we’ll see. And then I have a week and a half left in Rio (for now).
I’m actually mentioned on the front of New School’s Media Studies page. w00t.
That and I just got the info on my Fulbright stipend for next year – I might even be able to afford the lovely apartment I’m currently occupying in Rio!
A vida é boa.
