last presentation in Brazil - and thoughts for going home

Yesterday we did our last presentation in Brazil for the Rotarians and colleagues in the city of Divinopolis.  The three Rotarian clubs of the city share the one casa where they meet on different days of the week.

As at previous presentations, the response was warm and welcoming and they seemed to appreciate our attempts at Portuguese which the team now use.  Hopefully we did not slaughter the language too much!

I would like to take this opportunity to say thanks to the team for all the hard work they have put into the programme.

The whole team is now seeing the finish line just around the corner and we are all now looking forward to going home, but also not wishing to leave Brazil and the new friends we have made here!

Thanks to all the host families in all the different places we have visited for making us so welcome and showing us just how fantastic this country really is.  I know we have only visited a very small part of the country however what we have seen has been so wonderful.

I know we may still have a few more posts for the blog, I feel that this is the right time to thank you all

Muito obrigarda pelo hospitaladade. 

Minha Casa, Minha Vida Project in Divinópolis

Today I visited Divinópolis' third social housing development under the partnership scheme with the City and Federal Government. Here the city have provided the land to build on and the Federal Government have provided the funds to build these properties.

The Mayor of the city took time out of his schedule to meet me on site and explain the development of the project since he has been in office.

During his first term in office he put in place plans to build three social housing developments in different locations surrounding the city. The plans were implemented and for over a year people have been living in these properties.

Development 1 has 463 homes
Development 2 has 211 homes
Development 3 has 498 homes

In this city the cost of the homes is around R$ 60,000 which is paid back to the government over 15 years. Depending on the family income there may be welfare assistance to top up the repayments of around R$ 333.00 a month. The welfare is capped so that the family has to pay from their own pocket a minimum of R$ 50.00 a month.

On this particular estate there are around 2000 residents.

Priority for the properties lie with the homeless, the poor, the vunerable and those with children. (Not given in any particular order.)

As with all of the properties built within this scheme across the country the properties are of equal size and design with a kitchen, bathroom, 2 bedrooms and a living room.

Bedroom allowance as mentioned in previous blogs does not exsist here. I was given examples of household types for the estate I visited. They consist of single people, couples with or without children and single mothers with up to 6 or 7 children.

From my visit I could see there was a bus route, this is vital as the estate is easily six miles from town. There is a football pitch for the young people living there. I noticed some children on the street, a couple of burnt out cars and the distant sound of loud music from a few streets away.

The security measures placed around the houses are the responsibility of the homeowner. Please see the pictures for an understanding of how the estate looks and the types of security measures used by different households.

Across the estate some homeowners have built small extensions the quality of the workmanship varies.

The mayor, who is now serving his second time in office, explained that there is planning for two future social housing projects which will see a further 1060 homes built in this City. He is clearly a popular man with the towns people and during our meeting every passerby greeted him like an old friend.

The social development plans also include additional transport, health and childcare provisions however these will be regional rather than local to the estates.

The mayor advised me that there are around 4500 families in receipt of Bolsa Familia (family support) in the city and the level of assistance varies from R$ 50.00 to R$ 300.00 depending on circumstances such as number of children and other income. It costs the city R$ 23000000.00 annually. This money is given wherever possible to the Mother, who is classed as the base of the household. 

Ministerio de Comunicacoes

We visited a centre in Lavras that provides various courses and classes. Courses available include hair dressing, cooking, ICT training and sewing. The centre is situated in a less affluent area of Lavras and gives people within the community the opportunity to gain skills in order to apply for better jobs. Approximately 700 students use this facility a year.

The centre was built 12 years ago and in the library are photographs of the building process. You could see from the photographs that lots of people within the community all helped to build and decorate the centre. 

Various businesses and organisations donate to the centre, including The Rotary Club of Lavras-Sul, to keep it running. 

The recourses used for the courses are also donated. There is a computer room to support ICT skills teaching. These computers were donated by the government and the Internet is provided by The University of Lavras. 

There is a well equipped industrial kitchen that was donated by individuals, Rotary Club of Lavras-Sul and Rotary International. We were shown these rooms by Rotarians who were involved with the project. One of the Rotarians told us how she had volunteered to teach a cooking course. She explained that it was a 2 week course teaching students how to make different foods, all with milk. 

Sewing machines have also been donated to teach textiles and clothes making. Some of the items made within the textiles classes are displayed for sale within the centre. The money gained from any items sold is given back to the centre. 

 This visit was really interesting to see and from our experiences here in Brazil it is clear that the country is doing a lot to support the poorer communities. Organisations such as Rotary have a key involvement in many of these projects and it has shown me how Rotary can really make a difference. 

    Donations come from these      organisations.

ICT room

Kitchen and cookery classroom.

This display reads: 'you are important to us. Here you shine bright like a star.'

Centro Educativo e Social de Guaranesia - CESG

This was a really interesting project set up to keep kids of 6-16 off the streets. The project is funded by businesses and the director of the project regularly holds dinners to raise money. Business give up to 20% of their profits tax free to the project. The project in question is the same set up as a school, students can attend either in the morning or the afternoon when they are not attending their actual school.

This school is set up to offer more fun things for students to do so that they want to attend. When we where looking around there was a class which where doing embroidery onto tea towels, one class where watching a film and another class which was much bigger where dancing- they danced for us which was really good they danced the funk which is really popular in Brazil. I took lots of photos but can't take them off my camera yet- (will add when I can).

Projects like this are very popular in Brazil as the school day is split into 2. Depending on the school younger student's may attend in the morning then older student's in the afternoon or vice versa this means often students are playing in the streets or getting involved in drugs or gangs which is why it is so important that these projects continue to be supported so that children have somewhere to go when the school day is over. Most students who attend these projects are from poorer families.

Cristais Sao Marcos

I was very lucky to be given the opportunity to visit the Cristais Sao Marcos glassware factory in Pocos de Caldos. Here in the factory they make all different kinds of glassware ranging from vases to big ornate bowls and jugs. I was able to see how to they made some of their glassware, however unfortunately I wasn't permitted to take any pictures due to copyright of designs.

It was very interesting to see the process of how  glassware is manufactured. The process starts with a powder that comes as fine as sand but can also be as fine as salt. The powder comes from Brazil. They also use minerals to make the colours in the glass. They mix different kinds of minerals to make the colours. Most of the minerals are imported from France as it is quicker, if the factory order minerals from Brazil it can take up to 14 days where France is just one day.

Manufacturing the glassware is a very skilled job and apprentices are regularly taken on by the factory most last just 14 days as the job is tough and it can get very hot and be a very arduous job which can be dangerous however it is good to know that the factory haven't had an accident for four years as health and safety is very stringent. They have a rule that you can only walk in one direction so workers won't crash into each other.

Each worker making either a vase or a bowl has glass that is up to 400 degrees celsius on the end of a metal rod that is about a metre long. The glass is moulded and shaped by hand either using tools not dissimilar to a large pair of tweezers or newspaper which helps to give the rounded shape. Each piece of glassware is made up of a number of layers depending on the colour or size of the piece. Once the piece is complete it is placed in an oven so it can set, the oven is a large conveyor belt that varies in temperature the glassware passes through the oven through the varying temperatures. Once set the glassware is then finished using sandpaper and polished by hand. Each piece goes though rigourous quality control before it reaches the client/customer.

70% of the glassware is sold in Brazil and the other 30% is exported to America and Italy however most of the glassware exported to Italy is actually rebranded so people think its made in Italy when its actually made in Brazil!

I found looking at this process and watching how skilled the men where that were working enabled me to understand the process in much more depth than if I had read about it. It's such a shame I was unable to take photos as I feel that being able to share this process with my students through the use of imagery would have been extremely beneficial especially for GCSE students.

Japanese Garden and other Gardens is Minas Gerais

Whilst in Pocos de Caldas I was given the opportunity to visit a small Japanese Garden - that was situated at the edge of the city.

Immediately when entering the garden, there was a peaceful feeling about the place, and due to the surrounding trees it was a cool and pleasant temperature.

Although the garden was not extensive it had all you would expect to see in such a garden, including a tea house, several lanterns, rocks, gravel and water both running and still.  the plants used maybe slightly different to those that would grow in Japan, however the feeling of the garden was definitely oriental.  Here are a few photos to show you what I mean.

 

 

 

 

We have also been to see other gardens whilst here, mostly in private ownership.  One of the most unusual was whilst we had lunch at a Fazenda and milk farm.  The lady of the house had made a small garden and used bits and pieces from around the farm.  Some of the ideas I intend to use when back in England.

 

 

 

 

More recently whilst in Boa Esperanca I had the opportunity of visiting a property belonging to a couple.  I have no idea who they were, so apologies for that.  The hosts just stopped at the side of the road in this condominium we were driving in.   Thanks to those people however who showed us around their beautiful garden - you could tell they had put their hearts into it, and even though most neighbours paid for others to maintain their gardens, it was clear that this couple were enjoying looking after it themselves.  I know this as the lady had a pair of secateurs in one hand and was cutting back a rampant climber when we disturbed them.

 

Here are a few photos, however they don't really show how good the garden really was...

 

 

 

The colours and plant combinations together with the railway sleepers worked really well - I would have been proud of the garden if it were mine!  Another garden that gives many ideas that would work in the UK, although the plant choices would need to be different.

 



 

 

 

Roads and driving in Brazil!

This is just a short blog that is only supported by my experiences of the subject whilst travelling between and during the visits with our host families.

The road vary so much, from well marked smooth dual carriageways to dirt tracks which are very rutted and in poor condition.  Some of the roads are toll roads where a fee is paid at booths similar to those at both ends of the Humber Bridge for example.  These toll roads are often in very good condition. 

Now to the other part of this subject - the driving....

Well all I can say is that I can understand why Formula 1 is an important part of the Brazilian culture! 

Now I need to say at this point that this is not about every Brazilian driver who has been kind enough to take us places but I have been on more than one journey where the driving has been very fast, overtaking in locations where I would definitely not consider overtaking - like on corners, blind summits and the like where the double lines are present in the middle of the road and large signs are present saying do not overtake!.   The safe distances often talked about in the UK  between you and the vehicle in front does not appear to apply in Brazil.  On many occasions even when doing speeds in excess of 120kph easily - the lorry or bus in front is literally within touching distance, and by that I mean a matter of centimetres rather than metres!!

Safe to say on many occasions I have felt like I have been on a really scary fair ground ride - but one that can last several hours!  The best way to cope with this I have found is to listen to the iPod, close my eyes and pretend its not really a problem - even if I am frightened.

Botanic Garden at Pocos de Caldos

One of the places the team visited was the botanic garden just outside Pocos de Caldos.

We had a presentation by the technical manager of the site who explained the reasons for the setting up of the organisation, and gave information about the different habitat areas of Brazil and the specific habitat types around Minas Gerais - which is one of the transition areas between Mata Atlantica, a forested region, and Cerrado - an area which is more savannah in nature.

We were shown maps that indicate the Mata Atlantica area is now substantially smaller than it would have been originally having been deforested over a few hundred years for farming (both animals and crops), land for building the cities and towns and also for mineral extractions, where they often use open cast mining systems that we previously had seen at the graphite and limestone quarries.

The botanic gardens had a compact area where they were growing a variety of native plants - mainly trees and orchids - that they were growing to reforest in certain areas and also in the case of one orchid which was now thought to be extinct in the wild.  They were attempting to get this orchid to propagate but have not yet been successful.  They were going to attempt micro-propagation however they have not yet got the necessary facilities to do this.

 

as can be seen by these photos, these orchids aren't necessarily big significant flowers and some are as inconspicuous as those that may be found in the UK - in that unless you know what you are looking at they will not be seen.

 

 

They propagate the native trees by seed taken from local areas that they wish to re-forest to ensure that the seed bank remains as local as possible.  The new trees being reared in greenhouses to start with and then taken outside to acclimatise.  In the UK obviously this would be called hardening off the plants to get them used to the cold weather - however in Brazil I think this is more a case of preparing them for the summer heat and the periods of drought that do occur in this area outside of the rainy season.

 

 

 

This is where it got a little surreal as they asked me to plant a tree in the grounds, ceremonial style with a spade of sorts and lots of photos were taken!  They are intending to place a plaque there as well!!  I don't think of myself as a VIP, but it was such an honour to be given the opportunity - but didn't feel suitably attired for the occasion - had I known I certainly would have covered my legs a bit better - but what the heck! 

 

 

 

 

 





It was good to go to the land of botanical names for a little while, although most I did not recognise!

The establishment itself had been started originally by monies given by what I believe was both the central government, state and also the city of Pocos de Caldos.  The buildings were built several years ago.   Though there were some language difficulties I managed to find out that it is now funded mainly be the industries that have been recently been those causing the deforestation - namely the mineral companies.  It is hoped that the works that take place here is sufficient to assist in the recovery of the areas where the loss of plants has occurred.

Waterfalls, Lago de Furnas and hydro-electricity!

A broad topic to blog about but hopefully it will make sense!

Whilst here in Brazil we have been shown several waterfalls, which although are not in full flow - it being the dry season here, are still very dramatic and beautiful.

Some of these waterfalls have already been mentioned in the blog in other places, but here are a couple of photos to show you all what I mean...

 

 

 

 

These are part of a larger river and lagoon system found around Minas Gerais.  These lagoons are for the most part manmade by flooding the original river systems, but are nonetheless very beautiful and in places the local landowners have realised that placing housing areas for the more wealthy around these lagoons is a more profitable exercise than farming the land.  these are mainly in condominiums with main gates at the entrances allowing a more relaxed feel to the properties rather than the electric fences and high walls that surround the housing in more urban areas.  They are also a potential for tourism through water sports etc. 

 

 

Apologies for the tree - couldn't resist!  I think dead trees are quite sculptural (as long as they are not next to busy roads!)

 

 

 

This lagoon system or Lago de Furnas covers a huge area of Minas Gerais and has from what I can ascertain has two main functions.  To store water for use by the towns for general purpose things (but definitely unlikely to drink!) and also it is dammed so that it can be used to generate power.

 

 

 

I have read that nearly 90% of the electricity used in Brazil is produced via hydro-electricity.  We have been over and seen several dams and hydro-electric plants in our time here, some large like the photo above and some much small affairs where the water at the edge of a natural waterfall has been diverted to an often insignificant building at the side that unless you knew what it was would not even be noticed.

 



 

 



Caxambu - The District Conference

The big event of our trip arrived. We were to do our presentation in Portufese to any of the 1000 delegates who wished to attend the seminar.

We were also asked to give a more informal talk on our study exchange experiences so far.

Our slot was within the Rotary International Seminars and it was lovely to present next to our fellow GSE team who visited Lincolnshire and Yorkshire in 2012.

Our presentation went well, we are all clearly more comfortable with presentation delivery, public speaking, large audiences and cameras. For our second part we spoke in English and it was translated to Portugese, although the messages in our heartfelt speaches were clearly understood by our audiences.

Now the big presentation is done we are on a countdown to our four flight journey home. We have two cities left to visit the first of which, Lavaras we leave for tommorow.

Vila Vicentina

Today, I visited an asylum called Vila Vicentina. This was founded in 1945 by a nun called Sister Maria Antonia. As you pass the security doors, there is a sign saying in desperate need of food. The asylum houses 85 service users, with 39 female residents and 46 male service users. All of the service users have some degree of mental and physical health problems. The youngest resident here is 32 years old and the oldest is 92.

To get a place here, the family need to apply as they are themselves no longer able to look after them anymore. If the potential service user has worked in the past, then their pension will pay for their care, if they haven't, or have no pension, then their payment for their care is reliant on private donations, and the asylum will make an appeal to private donators for their care. The board of directors will decide whether a person is eligible to be cared for here, after looking through doctors notes and the families request form.

The asylum is very shabby, and the rooms are in need of refurbishment, but due to lack of finances, this has not been possible. The residents have limited entertainment, with very sparse T.V facilities or other things to do. The majority of the patients sit staring into space with virtually no stimulation. There is a chapel here and the grave of the founder, and each week they have a ceremony for her. Two of the residents help out around the gardens, which helps not only the service users in terms of their stimulation, but also the staff. There is a place where one of the residents was making art pieces which he sold this to make money for himself.

They change the patients nappies two patients at a time, and if they can stand, then this is done with them holding onto a metal bar.

There is limited staffing here, with only one member of staff , a nurse on at the night shift. If there is an emergency, then she needs to ask for the assistance of one of the more able residents to help. I said that this was dangerous, but the response was that the funding simply wasn't there.

The asylum has a door which joins to the hospital, but there is no ramp, which means the nurse has to lift the wheel chair up quite a high step to get the resident up.

One of the most upsetting parts was that only five of the residents have visitors and are able to get out. The rest of the residents have no one outside of the asylum who visit them. There are times when places like this make you realise how difficult life can be for some people.

Music lessons and projects

I went to a public school in Pocos de Caldas. The children attending the school are aged between 6 and 11. The school is completely funded by the government here. The director of the school didn't speak any English, but had kindly invited her son to interpret, which was very useful. I was able to watch a music lesson, which is taught weekly to each class by a teacher specifically trained to teach the music. They were learning different rhythms and performing them by clapping and playing large calves and shakers. The school had made the shakers themselves, using cups, stones/hard beans and the cup lid. The teacher played a song on the CD player for the children to clap and play along to. She explained that she had recently attended a course to teach this.

One of the class members had recently moved from The United States, so spoke English. He was keen to talk to me and find out what I was doing here in Brazil. He has lived here for 6 months and was already translating questions from the other children to me. It just shows how quickly children can learn another language.


We were then taken to another part of the school to see a music project for the children and the community also. They were doing 'Capoeira' which originates from Africa and is a tribal dance representing a fight. The teacher and another student were playing a wooden string instrument that created a tuned rhythm. The children stood in a circle, whilst 2 carried out the 'fight'. The rest of the group clapped along with the rhythm. All of the children seemed to really enjoy this and were very good!

Serra de Canastra

After a long and bumpy ride we visited Serra de Canastra a beautiful waterfall.

The atmosphere was amazing, the water danced down the rocks creating dazzling displays accompanied by a calming and forceful noise from the water hitting the rocks beneath it.

There was a treck to get to the waterfall and to get close a rock climb but it was more than worth it.

The photographs dont do it justice. We have more pictures but these are just a few for you now so you can get an idea of our experience.

Boa Esperançe Major Meeting

We visited the City Hall of our new host city Boa Esperançe. We were lucky enough to interview the new Mayor who has been in post 6 months of his 4 year term.

I asked the Mayor about housing strategies for the people of the city in need of housing and better quality homes.

My House My Life Programme

This programme is funded by Federal Government and managed by the Municipal Government (local council) to help people who own land build a house on it, or to help people who have a poor quality home knock it down and rebuild a house to a modern standard.

There is a possibility that funding from Federal Government may not cover all of the planned builds (see below). In these instances the City will look to provide the funding to complete the programme.

Implementation of Programme

The plan is for 58 homes to be built undrr this programme in the next 6 months.

The next phase of the project will see a further 150 new homes built.

The following 4 years will see 120 new homes a year built.

Eligibility

There is a National Federation Box which is an office within the city where famalies applying for the scheme apply. There are checks to ensure the family are on a low income, do not have the means to build a home without assistance and the home they currently own (if any) is of a poor standard requiring upgrade.

Homelness

There is around 1100 known people in the city that dont have their own home and are staying with friends or relatives or homeless.

These people are given an allowance to help towards their living costs providing they meet the eligibility criteria, which is a low income.

The City also has plans to build properties for these people using City funds in future projects.

Social Issues

The discussion then lead onto other aspects that can be common in famalies who have low incomes and are in need of suitable housing.

There is in this city (and others within the state of Mineas Gervais) a rising drug problem.

The problem is partly associated to from the close location to Latin America where crack cocaine production is high. There us also a high cannabis and cocaine production here in Brazil, the climate is suitable for mass production.

The state of Sao Paulo has recently been in the news due to large cocaine production busts.

The Police, including boarder forces work tirelesly to stop the cultivation, supply and dealing of drugs.

The social schemes for young people here (as featured in previous blog posts) are an effective way of helping break the cycle of hanging around on the streets,taking drugs, then dealing or engaging in prostitution to fund buying more drugs that is a common theme in the socially deprived areas.

Rehabilitation

The social schemes here offer many rehabilitation programmes (some mentioned in previous blog posts) which are voulantary but people can also be taken by force to more intense rehabilitation programmes.

At present the city provides $800 for each person who requires rehabilitation care. There is currently work with Rotary to build a new facility for rehabilitation here.

Free Study For Children

The Government have created funds for free university courses for adults who could not afford to pay pri
Gov also iffering free courses at fed uni.

Other Community Developments

In addition to this fantastic work the Mayor also hopes to build the following community facilities;

Childcare for children at risk

Soccer clubs in social risk areas

Residential Mental Healthcare

Tourism

As the city is built around one of the biggest lakes in the country. The lake named Lago De Furnas.

Work has begun in building a damn for hydro electicity. This is a common powersource in this state due to the amount of lakes and waterfalls.

The annual Jet Ski Championships are held here and there are plans to develop the lake for the use of watersports.

There are also great views fro. Local mountians and work is planned to improve the roads to these attractions. At the moment the routes are definatley off road but to me were part of an adventure to get to the stunning veiws of the city.

3 Weeks in Brazil

Well we have done 3 weeks in Brazil, visiting the many rotary clubs who have kindly looked after us, fed us and have been very kind sharing their houses, showing us the many beautiful things that Minas Gerais has to offer.

The team have been very professional and I would like to take a moment to say what a pleasure it has been to lead such a team, and apart from the occasional hiccup on the organising or the occasional language barrier front we have done very well and we are all finding out things about Brazil, and also about ourselves during this trip.

We have a couple of weeks to go now before we have to leave Brazil, although we still have many things to see and new people to meet.  We will also be seeing many people again at the District Conference and it sounds as though it will be a great time when we get there!!

Brazil is certainly different to my expectations - I think in the UK we only know two things, Rio and Amazon - and although we have seen only a very small part of this huge country the team has found the people to be wonderful and friendly, the countryside to be beautiful and the weather hot.

APAE School

Today I visited a school for the mentally and physically unwell. This school provides learning opportunities for babies, children and adults, and has about 500 children and adults attending. It provides parenting classes for parents with babies who have mental and physical needs. It has a physiotherapist, occupational therapist and psychologist all on hand to support the parents to develop practical skills to help their babies with their development. The setting was very laid back and it was good to see professionals supporting the parents, all working together to meet the needs of the babies.

The school is publicly funded and also runs with private donations. They offer dog therapy here and the children and adults with behavioural issues seemed very settled with the presence of the dogs. One child in particular who they said was very disruptive was so loving towards the dogs.

From the ages of 13 upwards the children and adults are encouraged to develop skills and are trained in the kitchen to provide food for the canteen. They are taught about hygiene and good food preparation. The children and adults also make creative items which are sold, and the funds are put back into the school by buying resources. It was so rewarding to see.



One of the highlights for me was that I noticed that the children and adults who couldn't speak verbally had no non-verbal forms of communication. I said how beneficial that this would be to introduce basic Makaton signs to use throughout the school. I did a short workshop with the teachers and they said they would introduce this. It was a very rewarding experience.