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In the last two weeks, two incidents involving Rio have infiltrated my twitter feed. The first being the tragic story about the German tourist who was shot after wandering off into an unsavory part of Rocinha. The second, which for some reason caught more attention abroad, was a Talksport writer almost getting mugged at knife point.

Clearly, both of these events show a violent side to Rio, a side the governmental powers here are keen to eradicate before the city begins welcoming the world to its shores in a stream of upcoming mega events.

The story regarding the German tourist is one of extreme sadness. It reminds everyone reading of the real dangers and issues the city faces. However, there are two conclusions I have come to in the  light of this recent tragedy.

Continue reading “Rio is in the News Again!” →

I won’t open the can of worms on U.S. education, simply because this blog is about Brazil, and in particular my views on Brazil, from what I have seen living in Rocinha. This post is intended to give some broad information about education in Brazil as well as outlining some of the inherent failures stemming from the current education system here. Given the enormity of education as a topic, I’ll focus on higher education this week and follow up with a post about primary and secondary another time.

Higher Education:

Like a lot of things in Brazil, there is a deep inequality entrenched in the education system. Even with some of the highest performing, best quality, public university institutions in Latin America; Brazil remains incapable of delivering equitable access to these institutions. From the few conversations I’ve had with young people here in the Favela da Rocinha about higher education, it seems there are some stark differences to the system I am used to in the United States. Logic would suggest, that in a system of mixed public and private Universities, the rich would largely attend the private Institutions, with the poor taking advantage of the free service offered the State. Here in Brazil, that doesn’t happen. Let me quickly try to outline why.

Continue reading “Education! Education! Education! This time in Brazil” →

Here at the Two Brothers Foundation, we like to take our students out on field trips and cultural activities. Here is a write up, alongside a few of my favorite pictures from our Field Trip to Christ the Redeemer yesterday. I would firstly like to say thank you to all the people reading who kindly donated money to 2Bros in response to the letters I sent out a couple of months ago. This trip could not have happened without you, and I hope you enjoy reading and looking at the pictures. There is also a full picture album on my Facebook page. Enjoy!

Being the first Field Trip for quite a while, and the first field trip for two of our new resident volunteers (Ben and Jess), there was already a bit of a buzz surrounding this day out. The fact it was to Rio’s most famous landmark, with a great turnout of nine kids, just added to the excitement and potential the day had. Despite living in the same city as this iconic landmark, none of our students had ever visited it. Having visited Christo myself several times before, I knew if we could reach the summit on a clear day it would be a few hours the kids would remember for a long time. As far as I am aware, this was certainly the case.

So, after waking up bright and early, grabbing a load of crackers, sweets, and juice from a local shop, we all met up at Escola Mouranginhos (Little Strawberry School) to leave at 11am. Shortly after, we all hopped in a van that we’d rented out and began the journey across Rio towards the world-famous landmark.

For me, one of the highlights of the day did not even occur at the statue itself, and I am sure my fellow volunteers Jess and Ben would agree to this as well. Whether the van driver agreed is debatable. After convincing Vivi and the van driver to put some music on, it was barely ten seconds before every kid on the bus was singing along, perfectly in sync, knowing every word to some hugely popular Baile Funk songs. The enthusiasm and energy they all had, alongside the ability to memorize every single word and intonation, was definitely a sight I will never forget, and one that put me, Ben, and Jess in a great mood for the rest of the day.

After the unforgettable van journey, we arrived at the bottom of the Corcovado Mountain in the Tijuca National Park, the world’s largest urban forest and the home to one of the seven modern wonders of the world: Cristo O Redentor. There was a little unfortunate situation where me, Ben, Jess, and one of the kids were split up from the rest of the group, but with a bit of perseverance from myself, we were soon re-united. The second leg of the journey, from halfway up the mountain to the summit was another great experience to be part of. Although we weren’t serenaded with Baile Funk and we were kept on our toes by having to tell the kids to sit down every 30 seconds, to see the excitement on their faces when they caught their first few glimpses of their city from such a height as well the statue itself was brilliant. A frenzied ten minutes of ‘Cristo!’ ‘Look, there’s Cristo!’, ‘Aaaah we’re up so high.’ and ‘Kids, please sit down.’ certainly created a degree of impatience amongst everyone, both us adults and kids to reach the top.

After finally reaching the summit, it was clearly time for pictures, and lots of them. Although one of the girls was slightly anxious to be at such a height, the rest of the kids embraced the summit with open arms. It was slightly stressful to keep an eye on all of them in such a densely populated touristy area, but as there was four of us it never became a major issue. We eventually helped most of the kids get up on to a ledge at the bottom of the statue itself for a nice photo opportunity, something that I think went down particularly well. After spending a while at the top, the weather began to turn against us. The summit became immersed in clouds and again this brought about some interesting reactions from the kids. There was a point where the girls were screaming because the clouds quickly passing behind the statue created the illusion that Christ was about to fall. Before heading out of the vicinity of Corcovado, there was one last opportunity for the kids to get excited. Ben introduced them to shoulder rides and pitch and toss. The shoulder rides were particularly popular, and I think the people in the cue behind us found the kids’ enthusiasm particularly entertaining as well.

Next, we took nine kids to a restaurant. Something I’m guessing any parent that has organized a birthday party or has a particularly large amount of kids would understand. We had churrasco, a very popular dish here in Brazil that is a plate full of beef, sausage, rice, and beans (feijão). We succumbed to the demands for Coca-Cola and all munched away, the quietest it had been all day. The silence, however, didn’t last long and before long we were back on the bus with the Baile Funk music blaring again.

Although my work for 2Bros has been with both kids and adults in our programs, it was certainly nice to go on a day out with the kids outside of the classroom. The fact it was such an appreciated and exciting trip made it all the better. I can’t stress enough how grateful we were for these donations, and we are in the process of planning the next trip.

 

While our current presidential administration puts deficit concerns on hold while trying to combat the economic woes, state governments are doing the opposite. With Washington attempting to save the economy, the nation as a whole will be feeling the ramifications of state governors that have been slashing state spending during the recession frequently at the expense of their most vulnerable constituents. The state governors can attribute cut backs to deficit concerns, but how necessary is it to cut out funding for public services and investments right now? America isn’t any less able to afford to provide assistance and care for those in need, nor is America any less able to afford to make much-needed repairs to our infrastructure. We have all the same capacity, knowledge, and skilled workers as we did before. With costs of government programs and public investment considerably lower now than in more prosperous times, cutting public spending ONLY deepens the wounds in our economy and contributes to feelings of insecurity of our economy.

Continue reading “Public Spending Cuts” →