Live from Rio...

written 7/10/2006

peace,

As of Sunday morning, i was blessed to arrive safely in Rio de Janeiro, brazil. I traveled with Beatriz Vigil (aka B) who attends Depaul and is from Maywood.

The class:
I am participating in a human rights and media workshop here. Today was the first day of classes and we received our schedule for the week. It is packed, but I do have my weekends free. I am so excited by some of the work we will be doing and the folks we will be meeting! We will be screening movies and visiting non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the Favelas (pronounced: fah-veil-las; think ghettos/barrios) this week and next.

These folks (young and old) have the internet on lock. There are youth media groups in the Favelas that document the everyday struggles of life which of course includes: police brutality, drug trafficking, hip hop culture, general labor, and all the oppressive "isms" we know so well in the U.S. (i.e. sexism, homophobia, heterosexism, racism, agism...).

I'm talking photojournalism, print, website design, and film. Think "City of God." We are going to meet the kids/actors from that movie, who have their own NGO called Nos Do Cinema. They are teaching other kids the skills that they learned from making the movie. There is also an NGO here working on harm-reduction with sex workers. We are going to visit them on Friday and we are bringing them condoms since their funding has been cut.

There are also NGOs here that work on reviving the disarmament campaign which recently failed. The campaign would have made it illegal for anyone in brazil to purchase a gun. We are also going to climb Mount Babilonia, which is where some of the scenes from the movie "Black Orpheus" were filmed about 40 years ago. I am too excited about that because some say it has the best view of the entire city!

It is important to understand that everything people do here is classified as human rights, provided that it is not getting beat down by the police and not participation in the widespread drug trafficking which composes the "other" economy for the folks in the Favelas.

Agency is found in every action. Especially the creation and maintainence of community media organizations. Today, we learned about the five principles of human rights issues: Identification (as a human rights violation or topic which is not a given); Standards that are in place or the lack thereof; Representation which is key for media for and by Favelas; Response from the community and government; and Education.

We are learning about positive peace and negative peace. The difference is negative peace involves actions taken to stop immediate violence and the real threat thereof; positive peace involves actions that are taken to perserve peace in the future-tense with social justice as its foundation.

Futbol:
Yesterday was the championship for the world cup of soccer. Here in Rio, the people were so disappointed their team did not advance to the championship (they were defeated by france). It seemed like in defiance of the cup, many of them played their own games of soccer on the beach. Here everyone plays soccer. There is a park next to my hotel and there is a fenced in court. When i first saw the court and the screaming men, I thought, "what could they be doing? where's the hoop and the ball?" of course, basketball is not the past-time here.

I was listening to a conversation a fellow classmate of mine who speaks portuguese well and a young man from Rio were having. He was saying that most people misunderstand their obsession with the game. For them, it is not just a sport -- it is a part of their cultural identity. He was upset because the members of this year's team were mostly players who play in other countries. So it made their relationship with the team different than in years past. Their allegiance was not as strong.

The bus:
For all those who roll with the public transportation, you might like to know that the bus here costs just a little over an American dollar. Howcrazyisthat? I know it is much more than that in D.C. and Chicago! I'm definitely a little salty about that.

Gas:
All i can think about when someone says the word gas is my seemingly-gas-guzzling aleros, but also just how expensive that stuff is. And why the heck would I want some in my water. I mean, it's WATER! Anyway, gas refers to the fizz in carbonated/sparkling water. Whoa! that one really threw me for a loop. By the way, the food here for vegetarians sucks. I've been running on nature valley granola, water, and rice and beans. It's all good because i have not gotten sick (insert praise GOD here). But can a sista get some variety? I ordered lobster at the restaurant last night and it was terrible. It had this strange looking curryish seasoning on it. And everybody who is familiar with curry knows that a little truly goes a long long way.

I tried to scrap it off and add black people's universal solution to bad food (hot sauce, in this case tabasco) but it got too tedious and i gave up and just ate my rice. And here tuna fish salad and rice comes with raisins, which is kinda strange, but midly tastey.

Smoking:
Everyone smokes here. Everywhere. All the time (insert thumbs down here).

The beach:
The view from Copacabana Beach makes you feel like the world is brand new when you're not looking at all the hotels that are vying for beachfront real estate! The people are all shades of golden. And no, their bodies are not all perfect. Eveyone does not look like they stepped off Snoop Dogg's "Beautiful" video, which was filmed here. They are friendly and seem to be curious about B and me. B is a mexican and Afro-Cuban, but she looks like a really fair skinned Mexicana. We probably look like an odd pair since i am gettin dark already. I love it.

So far the people at the place we are staying are nice -- and patient. The land is gorgeous here. It looks very similar to Jamaica considering the mountains that are all around us. Rio seems like a sprawling city since one has to be pretty creative to build a city using the mountains to their advantage. The cars are very small, hatchback and mostly German. And i must admit, Afro -Brazilians look just like us! The guy at the front desk right now looks a little like my uncle Jerome! lol.

I am having a great time in brail. Please continue to pray for me and my safe travel. You are in my thoughts and prayers. Please feel free to pass this on to others.

I love you,
Courtney

Related Posts: