Message-ID: <9507211046.AA25475@cr-df.rnp.br> Date: Fri, 21 Jul 1995 07:46:58 EST From: Companheiros das Americas <mailto:poa-bsb@CR-DF.RNP.BR> Subject: brasilia e-news # 19 To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
Dear Friends
While we wait for the Partners WWW home page, we shall keep
e-mailing you these reports about Brasilia's accomplishments.
Thank you all who have sent us messages supporting our
initiative and opening opportunity to interaction and interchange.
Why working together here is so important? Brasilia is the
capital of Brazil, the biggest country of South America and of
Southern Hemisphere. The biggest ecological diversity, the largest
concentration of fresh water and rain forests. And the hugest open
air social-racial-cultural laboratory, already experimenting the
problems you may face in the next future, and where we could test
solutions you could help to design and carry out.
We have chance to start here the most integrated international
volunteer-professional-academic-community work never seen in the
world, just possible now, since internet resources made it feasible.
Let's take advantage of the fact that both the local and the federal
governments see our work with our work with the best expectation.
(The Governor of Brasilia and the President of Brazil are both from
the academic world, teachers-doctors in Economics and Sociology,
have lived in the US and written many books).
Finally, as I have stated before, if we succeed here, helping (or
even co-leading) to change the Brazilian socio-environmental scene,
we would be helping to change the whole world's future. If we find a
Brazilian feasible path to the future this would inspire - as a
definitive evidence -all the countries to build their own sustainable
viability. Please, join us. Let your organization live a Brazilian-
American experience that maybe will prove to be fundamental to the
future history of both countries.
What is going on - Choose your chance to participate:
1. "Open School of Alternative Technologies" at the Open House
of Brasilia's Street Children.
This project was created by Jose Ivan Mayer, with whose work our
chapter is very involved. The first course is on self-housing,
the theory and practice of soil-cement and iron-cement building.
The second course, in August, will be on organic community
gardening, and I will be one of the facilitators, together with some
agronomists. The courses are attended by unemployed people
from the satellite cities; by members of the popular cooperatives
that Jose Ivan is helping to organize (he works in the Labor
Secretary of Brasilia); by volunteer people concerned with the
population conditions (technicians, students, retired people,
housewives etc.) and by the youngsters who live in the Open House
(their garden was a Partners' initiative, two years ago).
Other courses for 95: in September, income generation from recycling
materials; in October, concepts and organization of cooperatives; in
November, renewable technologies. In December we plan to organize
a big fair - seminar where the groups of people will show and discuss
their accomplishments. We would love to see American people
bringing their knowledge and experience to any of these courses.
We, Partners, are helping with some inspiration, agricultural
advisement and practical support, and publishing the printed materials.
2. Social Banking
The electronic version of the questionnaire was already delivered
and the printed version will be mailed tomorrow.
Last week Joaquim attended two meetings with Federal officers,
from the Department of Industry and Commerce, Banco do Brasil and
Federal Savings System, who are developing a model of community
bank to be implemented all over the country. He was participating as
a representative of the Action for Citizenship, and giving advise
about the Grameen model, transmitting the information he gets on
Internet. Yesterday, Joaquim was again with this team and verified some
aspects, in the Brazilian model, he would like to discuss with you.
At the local level (Brasilia's government), we are helping to organize
some popular cooperatives, first step to organize an effective credit
delivery system for the poor. Not as in the small villages - where
everybody knows everybody, as in Bangladesh or Nepal - but in huge
satellite cities just four years old but where live 700,000 or 300,000
people, unemployed, uprooted from their original culture, unknown from
their own neighbors. Joaquim and Jose Ivan are preparing a special
number of Jornal Feliz (Happy Newsletter) to help the popular groups
to understand what a cooperative is all about, including a short but
complete model of statute to be adapted by each group and permit
the cooperative's entitlement in the Commercial Board of Brasilia.
Cidadanet
Last Thursday Joaquim met Dennis Donahue, the new Cultural Attache
of the American Embassy in Brazil. They talked about many things but
Cidadanet was the project Dennis became more interested about. We hope
to set up our BBS before August. Fernando Molina is managing with a
friend of his to have it on ASAP. Joaquim is gathering the materials
on community development to be found on Cidadanet. Please, you could
collaborate suggesting or sending useful information (or informing
where it could be found).
Seed Project
We received a box with 1,300 seed packages (13 species, a hundred of
each). We started seeding in the Open House garden, but we will plan
the seed distribution among the many gardens we are helping with.
Joaquim had a meeting with the Secretary of Agriculture (government
of Brasilia) and they decided that Joaquim will help the official
project on community gardening (already training people who will
manage the first 80 pilot gardens selected to participate, almost all
in the poor satellite cities). (Do the people from Rodale Institute
read this list or do they just send messages through it?)
Socio-cultural Leadership Training Seminar
According to the Minister of Culture request, our Partners chapter is
discussing the contents of a training seminar to facilitate the
development of socio-cultural leaders all over Brazil. Pedro, Fernando,
Yamil, Vitor Alegria, Heitor and Joaquim are increasingly involved with
it. Won't you?
Please, think about how could you participate in any of these
projects. Any kind of participation will be very important to
start a long term collaboration. In the next decades, our nations
will be increasingly melted. Let's start now the best side of it...