Foto da Semana 27

Located in the Guanabara Bay, Pao de Acucar (Sugarloaf in English) is one of Rio de Janeiro's most famous morros, and trust me there are a lot of morros. I didn't get a chance to visit Pao de Acucar during my first trip to Rio because of the cloudy weather. We were told its not worth going unless the skies are clear. This time, after a few rainy days Chris, Andrela, and I went to Pao de Acucar. Here are some pictures that we took. Enjoy!

Feliz ano novo!

So I've returned to Rio de Janeiro to celebrate New Years Eve. My initial plan was to hopefully meet some of the other CIDA interns in Rio for NYE, but things don't always go as planned. I ended up going with my new friends Andrela from Colombia and Christopher from Chile who had been studying in Fortaleza for the past 5 months. I happened to have met them at a BBQ a few weeks earlier and we quickly realized that we would all be travelling to Rio the same day, but just different times. What luck right? It was their first time in Rio so we revisited some of the same locations I had already been to back in September with Amber.

We went to the Cathedral and paid a visit to my favorite stairs in the world, the Escadaria Selaron, and I managed to get a picture with Jorge Selaron. I went back to the world famous beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema and relaxed with some Cariocas.

This is probably a good time to mention why I have pictures of a doll. One of the women from Mulheres Mil gave it to me as a Christmas gift and since she is a red-head like my coworker, I've named her Amber. Amber is travelling with me in spirit and like her namesake, my doll has been very supportive. Everytime I look a her, she tells me how special I am :). Thanks Amber.

The main NYE event takes place at Copacobana with over 2 million people wearing white and celebrating at the beach, making it the biggest NYE celebration in the world. The main act of the night was David Guetta, a French DJ and producer who has worked with many singers, such as Akon, Kelly Rowland, LMFAO, the Black Eyed Peas and Rihanna...just to name a few. This was probably one of my most memorable NYE celebrations to date. However, it did rain for most of the night...heavily. Since there we're soo many people, trying to get home was an issue since most of the taxis we're full. We stayed out all night but we eventually caught a bus to our hotel. We got back to our hotel around 7am, right on time to have our free breakfast and sleep all day. NYE in Rio was certainly an experience and I'm glad to have that checked off of my bucketlist of life.

I won't lie the rain in Rio put a damper on our plans. During my time in Fortaleza, I had gotten used to having hot sunny days everyday. The rain was a very depressing sight to see. Eventually the weather did turn around and we headed to see Pao de Acucar, a sight I missed out on last time because of cloudy weather.

Rio this second time around was very different from the first time with Amber. I'm extremely happy to have met Chris and Andrela. My time with them made my trip even more sweet. Thank you guys, I'll never forget you both. Until we meet again, beijos.

Next stop...Salvador, Bahia.

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. :(

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.

4º Congresso Internacional sobre Desenvolvimento Sustentável

This week has been pretty amazing, yes amazing. I’m in Rio, yes Rio de Janeiro. Amber and I are here for the 4º Congresso Internacional sobre Desenvolvimento Sustentável (Sustentável 2011). This 3-day conference is meant to provide themes and goals for Rio +20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in June 2012. Marking 20 years since the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development which also took place in Rio. Sustentável 2011 was organized by the Conselho Empresarial Brasileiro para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável (CEBDS), which represents Brazil at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

The CEBDS did a great job of organizing this amazing conference which brought together experts from companies, universities, NGOs, the UN and the Brazilian government. During the panel discussions, they discussed topics like:

•           Perspectives for Rio +20
•          Sustainability in the current environment: Contradictions and certainties
•           New governance: The role of emerging countries
•           Multi-sector Dialogue: Poverty Eradication
•           Sustainability: Trends for the next 40 year...Just to name a few.

Following each keynote, there was time for the audience to ask the speakers questions. Since the conference was sponsored by some of biggest corporations in the world, like Petrobras, Shell, Souza Cruz, Nestle and much more, many of the discussions took a very business approach to sustainable development. However, one of the speakers did mention that "companies are part of the solution" in adopting sustainable methods of development. As some of the biggest polluters in the world, its nice to see international corporations being concerned with their environmental impact as they grow.

The role of Brazil in the world economy was also discussed. As an emerging country, Brazil has the potential to become a environmental leader in developing a green economy. However, there are many conflicting aspects of Brazil's continual rapid growth. For instance, should the government invest in biofuels to decrease dependence on oil rich nations or increase food production for the Brazilian population, keeping in mind they still have to preserve the amazon meaning there's land scarcity...and it goes on. The Brazilian government has a lot on its plate. With Brazil hosting the UN Conference in June 2012, the FIFA World Cup in 2014, and the 2016 Summer Olympics, all eyes are on Brazil.

While the discussions were going on, there were workshops being conducted in separate rooms. Unfortunately, I didn’t participate in these workshops because it costs extra (R$100 each workshop) and I most likely wouldn’t have understood anything (meaning a waste of money for me). Since many of the speakers are from all over the world, there were interpreters translating everything the speakers said from Portuguese to English and vice versa. Amber and I took advantage of this service of course. However, I did find other ways to practice my Portuguese.

One thing that I especially enjoyed was the Open Space activity that took place while the panel discussions and workshops were going on. On the 2^nd day, I had gotten sick and with the combination of a drowsy medicine and a darkly lit conference room, it was extremely hard to stay awake during the morning panel discussion. Hence, the Open Space gave me an alternative activity to do and to keep my mind stimulated. Here, a group of 4 to 8 people sat around a table and discussed various topics pertaining to the conference and the theme of sustainable development. This was definitely a challenge for me because the discussions were only in Portuguese. At the same time, the Carioca (people from Rio) accent is completely different from Ceares accent that I had gotten used to in the last 3 months. Although the Carioca accent is easier to understand than people from Ceara, I’m simply not used to it yet. However, that did not hold me

back. I took the opportunity to discuss what I knew of Canada’s policies when it comes to environmental programs. I definitely wasn't going to attempt to sound like an expert on Brazil’s policies in a room full of Brazilians. This close interaction with people also gave me the opportunity to meet new people and network by handing out my business card (see image above).

Sustentável 2011 was such an interesting event and I’m happy to have had the opportunity to participate in such a professional conference. I would like to thank Niagara College for sponsoring us to go to Rio de Janeiro to attend Sustentável 2011. I've met some very interesting like-minded people that I am sure to keep in touch with as I expand my professional network.