Professora de inglês de dia, pesquisadora a noite

This second week of Mulheres Mil was just as busy as the first. On Wednesday we had our first English class. Amber and I had prepared a lesson plan for the class and a course syllabus. This is my first time teaching a course but I'm thankful Amber has had some experience. I based my teaching style off all the French and Spanish classes I have taken in the past few years. Whether it be speaking slowly, using perfect diction, or repeating phrases in both languages, such small adjustments when teaching does help in learning a language. Most of the women had never taken an English course in their lives, much less imagined they would ever get the opportunity to learn another language. During this first class, the women were just as eager to learn as we were to teach. They wrote down everything we wrote on the board. We made them repeat words, syllable by syllable. It was great class, I look forward to seeing these women progress in the course. 

Kyla, who works at Niagara College as a Project Specialist, had asked us 4 interns in Brazil for some information on Mulheres Mil. The proposal she had written for a $50,000 IDRC grant had been shortlisted and she needed to submit a second proposal with more details about the program. I could only remember one class in university where we had spent some time learning about proposal writing. Since landing this internship, I had been craving gaining some experience writing proposals. This was the perfect opportunity to get the experience I wanted. I have to admit, it was certainly a challenge trying to coordinate our busy schedule with the girls in Manaus.With the suggestions we gave Kyla, the final version of the proposal was submitted this past Friday. Although I had a few late nights (or should I say early mornings), the end product was worth it. Now we wait for the grant to be approved...

In order to get more information for the proposal, Amber and I had set up an appointment with Julio, who currently works as a English Professor. He had worked with Mulheres Mil during the pilot stage and the first 2 years of the MM project. He is currently writing his Masters thesis on where these women are today. Out of 62 women, he had only been able to reach 31. I know, 50% is certainly not a lot but it's something. In exchange for his insight, he had asked us to help him analyze his data, which was still in survey format. That's when I remembered a course I took back in 2008, PSCI 2702: Quantitative Research Method in Poitical Science. The most memorable thing about the class wasn't just the American professor and his awkward, yet somewhat funny jokes (Note: not the professor mentioned on this PDF) but learning how to use SPSS. 

SPSS is a computer application that assists in statistical analysis. Julio hadn't heard of this program hence I offered to set it up for him. It has been 3 years since I had even looked at SPSS, so youtube videos have been helping me re-familiarize with some old terms and procedures like CHI-square and T-tests. I will be meeting with Julio this coming Monday to transfer his survey results into a dataset. Through SPSS, I hope to analyze whether there is a correlation between some aspects of these women's lives and their success in either securing a job or attaining a higher education after completing the MM project.

Foto da Semana 17

Our Brazilian Thanksgiving dinner: mashed potatoes, black beans, mango salad,  steamed carrot,  pumpkin, and lastly, my favorite...shrimp

"Eu tenho um sonho" - As Mulheres

I've been waiting for this week to happen ever since I landed in Brazil. On Monday we had the inauguration ceremony to mark the beginning of the Mulheres Mil program. Slowly the auditorium filled with the women of the new community. Everyone was excited and eager for the event to start. Various professors gave speeches and welcomed the women to the IF. Sarah introduced all the people that would be in charge of their classes, including us interns :). Following the speeches we watched the MM documentary. This is the third time that I've watched the documentary and I've realized that I am able to understand it fully, without subtitles. Considering I couldn't understand most of the documentary 4 months ago, I'd say I've definitely learned a lot in the language department. But back to the inauguration ceremony. I would occasionally look back to see the reactions of the women as they watched the documentary. I could see the hope and the eagerness on the faces of these women who have waited for an opportunity like this, an opportunity to change their lives. It was a nice feeling to be in the room with them.

After the documentary, the women listened to the song Mais uma vez by Renato Russo. The first time we just listened, the second time we sang along. After the song, the women were asked to introduce themselves to the group, state which verse of the song stood out to them the most, and why. Each line meant something different to each woman. Some women closely related the verse to their lives. It's a song about hope for the future and beleiving in yourself and your dreams. Some lines that some of the women related to the most were:


"Mas é claro que o sol vai voltar amanhã"
- But it's clear that the sun will return tomorrow


"Se você quiser alguém em quem confiar, Confie em si mesmo"
- If you want to trust someone, trust in yourself

"Acreditar no sonho que se tem"

- Beleive in the dreams that you have

During this reflective activity, some of the women would start crying when speaking about how the lyrics reflect their lives. Despite the tears, the energy in the room was positive and everyone was comforting and encouraging each other. I can only imagine what hardships these women have been through. Many women expressed gratitude for the Mulheres Mil program even though we hadn't even started classes yet. This just shows the faith these women have for the program in assisting them take control of their lives. It was a very emotional day indeed but I'm happy to have participated in the opening ceremony.

For the rest of the week, the women had Interpersonal Relation and Self-Esteem classes. These sessions were just as emotional. We used music, activities, and stories to get the women to open up and think about their own lives.

On Friday, us 4 interns facilitated a workshop on the 7 Intelligences (sometimes 8, depending on the source). I enjoy working on the visual aspects of any presentation I am involved in so I took the initiative to work on the powerpoint presentation. I thought this would also be the perfect opportunity to practice speaking in front of people in Portuguese. Of course I had to make sure I had all my lines written down beforehand. I even spent some time practicing my pronunciation with Professor Vitor. Thankfully, these women have been encouraging me to speak Portuguese and are constantly re-assuring me that they fully understand me.

This is probably one of my most memorable weeks here in Fortaleza. I've probably hugged more people this week than I do in a year back in Canada. I'm looking forward to spending more time and getting to know these women more in the upcoming weeks.

Foto da Semana 16

This was taken at Sustenavel 2011. The person with the best quote wins an Ipad 2...I guess my quote wasn't good enough. :(

Mais um vez - Renato Russo

*I'll explain in my next blog post why I've posted this beautiful song. But for now, enjoy.

Coro: 
Mas é claro que o sol vai voltar amanhã 
Mais uma vez eu sei 
Escuridão já vi pior de endoidecer gente sã
Espera que o sol já vem.


Tem gente que está do mesmo lado que você
Mas deveria estar do lado de lá
Tem gente que machuca os outros 
Tem gente que não sabe amar

Tem gente enganando a gente
Veja a nossa vida como está

Mas eu sei que um dia a gente aprende

Se você quiser alguém em quem confiar

Confie em si mesmo
Quem acredita sempre alcança!

Coro

Mas é claro que o sol vai voltar amanhã

Mais uma vez eu sei

Escuridão já vi pior de endoidecer gente sã

Espera que o sol já vem.

Nunca deixe que lhe digam que não vale a pena

Acreditar no sonho que se tem 
Ou que seus planos nunca vão dar certo

Ou que você nunca vai ser alguém
Tem gente que machuca os outros

Tem gente que não sabe amar
Mas eu sei que um dia a gente aprende
Se você quiser alguém em quem confiar

Confie em si mesmo
Quem acredita sempre alcança!

O programa vai comecar!

I've got some great news! The Mulheres Mil program will officially begin this Monday! :) This past Tuesday we had a meeting with some of the professors who had agreed to teach the classes to women of the program, despite the on-going strike. With our internships quickly coming to an end, 10 weeks to be exact, I'm happy the program will finally begin. At the same time, the funding that the program receives from the government needs to be spent before the end of December.

During the meeting, we found out that a  total of 61 applications had been received and that 40 women were chosen. The schedule for the English classes that Amber and I will be teaching was also determined. We will be teaching 3 times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Although we had settled on 80 hours, it is not realistic for us to complete these hours before our internship is done. Hence, we went back to the initial 40 hours of English schedule. 

The inauguration ceremony is taking place this Monday, looking forward to it...

Foto da Semana 15

Dancing with the Michael Jackson statue. It was added one year after his death in the Santa Marta favela.

Mais investimento, mais oportunidades no Rio

As I had mentioned in my previous blog, I was in Rio last week. The first 3 days were spent at the conference, from 9am until almost 7pm. So yes, they were very long days indeed. The last 4 days were spent exploring the city, walking a lot, and getting lost. Throughout the week, I would make comparisons between Fortaleza and Rio de Janeiro. Although it's unfair to compare two completely different cities to each other, I found the contrasts to be fascinating. My comparisons spanned from the temperature of the beach water (Rio’s ocean water is freezing, in case you are wondering) to the prices of food (it’s cheaper in Fortaleza, especially seafood). Both cities have their positive and negative aspects, as with any city.

Orquestra Mirim

However, one thing that stood out to me the most was the amount of investment into social projects in Rio de Janeiro. My minor is in Development Studies, so I’m very much into learning about the way NGOs and GOs function. Even after a few hours of being in Rio de Janeiro, during Sustenavel 2011’s opening ceremony, I encountered my first Carioca social project in the form of Orquestra Mirim Armando Prazeres. This is an orchestra composed of 12 to 17 year olds from the Southern region of Rio.

Afro Lata

During the closing ceremony, Afro Lata, a group of youth drummers that use large metal barrels and plastic bottles as their instruments, performed with great enthusiasm. The fact that they use instruments that would normally be discarded into the garbage fits in with the overall theme of the conference, sustainability. Formed in 2003, Afro Lata is made up of youth from the community of Sao Benedito, located north of Rio de Janeiro. According to Daniel Augosto Campos, the artistic director, Afro Lata was formed...

"to offer young people healthy alternatives for fun, so that they do not join the marginalization, trafficking in drugs and prostitution."

Such social projects that work with the youth definitely do provide alternative opportunities for youth that normally would not have other options available to them.

Rene Silva dos Santos

One extraordinary young man I met during the Open Space activities was Rene Silva dos Santos, who at the age of 11 started his own newspaper called O Voz da Comunidade (The Voice of the Community). I’ll admit, when I first met him I was unaware of his story. Nonetheless, I handed him by business card and he sent me an email with his contact information. After reading and watching countless articles and interviews about him, I realized I had met a very remarkable person. Now 17, his newspaper publishes stories to bring awareness to the issues of his neighbourhood, o Complexo do Alemao, a favela that has been affected by violence and poverty. It's nice to see such a young person take a stand to improve the conditions of their community.

Morro dos Prazeres

Our host Eric, who showed us great hospitality by letting us stay in his beautiful home in Santa Teresa, connected us with one of his friends, Luis, who works in communications. We met Luis at the entrance of the favela, Morro dos Prazeres, this past Saturday. Some of the young men of the community were taking part in a futebol competition as part of the project Homens pelo fim da violencia contra a mulher (Men for the end of violence against women). A futebol tournament is certainly an innovative way to get Brazilian men involved in promoting the end of violence against women. This event was organized by the NGO Promundo and sponsored by Instituto Avon (yes, the same Avon that sells cosmetics, clothes, jewellery...etc). There are weekly workshops the men have to attend in order to participate in the tournament. For the next 2 months, there will be games taking place every Saturday. While some of the games were going on, Luis took us on a tour of Morro de Prazeres which is home to over 3000 people. There is a large community centre which provides free activities for the community, such as dance and sports classes for the children. We had a very interesting conversation about development programs in Rio, as well as the positive and negative impacts some development programs have on the community.

The information stall, see the amount of investment ($$$)
on the left side.

While heading to the Museu do Indio, we happened to stumble upon the social project Rio Top Tour in the Santa Marta community. In 2008, Santa Marta became the first favela to undergo the Unidade de Policia Pacificadora (UPP). The UPP is a program implemented by Rio's police to aggressively crack down on gang violence and drug trafficking in the favelas. Rio Top Tour is a program that promotes tourism within the favelas. Santa Marta's main tourist attraction is the Michael Jackson Square, where Michael Jackson filmed the music video "They don't really care about us." Other celebrities, like Madonna, Beyonce, and Alicia Keys have also visited Santa Marta to see the MJ site. There is even a touristic map that identifies all the main attractions of the favela that people can visit. Although the government invested heavily into this project, about $23million, the program is fairly new to see development indicators at work.

The amazing view from Santa Marta

Amber and I encountered more NGOs and GOs during our 1 week in Rio than we have during our past 3 months in Fortaleza. It just goes to show the great inequalities of investments to the North and Northeast regions, the poorest regions of Brazil.
Although I was quiet tempted (and believe me I was very tempted) to stay in Rio to finish my remaining internship months there, it was extremely refreshing to see so much development projects underway. There are more social projects we came across, but I think I've mentioned enough for the time being. Although I did do some tourist activities, I 'm glad that I got the opportunity to experience Rio in different light. Despite the fact that my mother had warned me not to go to Rio´s favelas, I'm happy to have gone. It gave me a different perspective on the social, economical, and political dynamics of Rio de Janeiro.

Fotos da Semana 14

Created by Jorge Selarón, a chilean-born artist, the Escadaria Selarón is probably one of my favourite sites in Rio de Janeiro. Located near Arcos da Lapa, the tiles on the stairs come from all around the world from fans that want theirs included on this beautiful mosaic. And since I like these stairs a lot, I'm including more than just 1 photo this week. Enjoy!

There are 250 steps and over 2000 tiles from over 60 countries.

Me attempting to walk all the 250 steps.

This is the view looking down, you wouldn't expect the work of art unless you turn around.

What meets you at the very top of the stairs.

A tile from a Quebecer, I'm positive.

Can you spot the maple leaf?

These cute children decided that they wanted their picture taken also, I couldn't say no. The stairs are filled with a lot of people at night time, very lively.