Message-ID: <9508230212.AA15232@cr-df.rnp.br> Date: Tue, 22 Aug 1995 23:12:36 EST From: Companheiros das Americas <mailto:poa-bsb@CR-DF.RNP.BR> Subject: Brasilia e-news n# 21 To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
Dear Friends,
1. New: Brasilia home page on the web: thanks to a netter fellow,
from Fairfax VA, we have now our own site where to inform our
purposes and progress. Of course it is still under construction, but
there is some information about our plans and some photos to show our
environment. Soon we will use this page to give a full, progressive
and structured picture of our activities. The page is available from
George Mason University, where James Yven, our volunteer homepage
builder, studies. But we intend to transfer it to our local provider,
in Brasilia. For now, try: http://osf1.gmu.edu/~jyven
2. Social Banking: as you probably know, we have dedicated a lot of
time to prepare a questionnaire about social banking, and we spread it
through this list. Unfortunately, we did not get any response. We also
have sent by snail mail this same questionnaire, to around 50
institutions which works with community banking (identified on internet
and on InterAction lists), but, again, we did not receive any answer.
As I am quite sure about the questionnaire's interest, we regret that
anyone had time enough to answer our questions. Answers to be spread
back to these same lists, and to increase everybody's knowledge about
this matter. Anyway, we keep working, even missing the international
support we could wait from the newer communicative technologies. Last
Saturday, at Santa Maria, we met more than 3 hundred people who will
participate on our productive lending cooperative. Very poor people
will buy basic food supplies cheaper than usually, and the resultant
money will be lent to the cooperative members
Today, Tuesday, I have attended a very important meeting on social
banking. Today I attended a meeting gathering the Labor Secretaries of
every Brazilian state with the staff of the Solidary Community Council
(the main federal government agency to deal with the social problems
placed by the misery) charged to design the Brazilian Social Bank.
To suggest the importance of this meeting, it is enough to inform that
both the Brazilian First Lady, Ms.Ruth Cardoso (an anthropologist PhD,
writer of some books about Brazilian culture and problems - and chair
of the Solidary Community Council), and Cristovam Buarque, Brasilia's
Governor, were there. The meeting was a "workshop on Bank of the
People" (Banco do Povo).
My participation was distributing to them our two last newsletters (one
on Social Bank, another on Local Currency) to spread some information
that just those who spends some hours daily on the Net can transmit.
The Governor is already my friend (he asked me to call him tonight) and
the First Lady was introduced to me, got the newsletters and told me
she would appreciate my collaboration with the Council.
Would you like to collaborate too?
3. Organic community gardening. Next Friday and Saturday afternoons (14
to 18 PM) we will be promoting a course on community gardening, at the
Open School of Alternative Technologies - at the Open House of the
Street Boys and Girls of Brasilia. We are waiting more than a hundred
attendees, from the poor communities around Brasilia. I will be
coordinating the continuing composting set. There will be also other sets
on vermicomposting, animal working husbandry, and community productive
working organization. Each group of attendees will dedicate two hours
participating on the activities at each set. Then I will distribute,
among these fellows who already till their gardens, the 1,300 seed
packets donated by the Partners of the Americas (13 different species).
4. International Electronic Exchanging - although we miss the
questionnaire answers, we are increasingly happy and hopeful with Internet.
Where more could we learn about Local Currency as we did on the
http://www.prairienet.org/community/religion/idf/currency.html ?
But I still insist inviting you to participate on our socio-cultural-
economical-environmental project and to make a difference on our global
historical development, avoiding the impending disaster and building a
path to a better future. I consent that Brazil places a lot of defies,
hugest than any other country, but if we succeed here we will be able to
succeed anywhere. Think about that, and understand the advantages we all
would take if we work together (any kind of collaboration, not necessarily
material resources, of course).
Thanks for your attention, We are striving to reach the level to be your
partner. Please consider that suggestion...