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.
First, I’m ever so slowly jumping on the Google Calendar bandwagon.
Next, New York Cares is having a Happy Hour this week. Should be a great time.
In more serious news, Brazil gets kudos for a recent decision on its HIV drug policy.
Finally, the Brazilian Fulbright commission has found it in their hearts to give me a grant. So I’ll be there working on a pretty ambitious mutlimedia human rights education curriculum on HIV/AIDS, from March to December 2008. This is incredibly exciting.
If anyone would like to employ me in the meantime, feel free to drop a line!
I’ve been reading the news a lot more over the last couple weeks, partly for work but also out of personal interest. I’ve signed for a slew of listservs and set up various RSS feeds, and I really enjoy feeling like I have a bit of a clue what’s going on in the world. A good deal of what I’m reading is used for job purposes, but there are things I’ve come across that I feel warrant discussion but for which I don’t have an appropriate venue – other than my blog.
So, here are a couple things I came across this week:
IMMIGRATION
There was an article in the New York Times today about various people who have come to the US on the guest worker program, but who have found that what was promised to them has not been delivered. Having been subjected to abusive conditions on top of a lack of work, they’re suing.
Last week, a group of Republicans at NYU staged a very distasteful game of “Catch the Illegal Immigrant,” amid protests.
HIV/AIDS
There was a lot of discussion this week about curing HIV with herbal remedies. I admittedly have some ideas about the functioning of the human body that many would consider overly new-age, but was still struck by the fact that, two days ago, Gambian President Yahya Jammeh went so far as to order a UN representative to leave the country for expressing disbelief of his claim of a cure.
And today, it was reported that clinical trials run in Zambia did not substantiate the assertion of an herbal cure, though research is ongoing.
HUMAN RIGHTS
HR is such a very big, all-encompassing term.
This week I encountered a couple things concerning LGBT rights that were particularly striking.
- First, a 72-year-old gay man was beaten to death this month in Michigan.
- Second, it seems Cuba is well ahead of US with respect to outlawing discrimination based on sexual orientation.
And finally, last week (on Presidents’ Day) was the 65th anniversary of the order that forced 110,00 Japanese Americans into ‘internment’ camps during WWII. I had the opportunity to write about that here.
Hope the news is more cheerful next week
