First things first; despite the fact that Brazil has been able to double the size of its middle class in the last 5 years, it still faces enormous obstacles in lifting millions of people out of extreme poverty. There is a long journey ahead, but the government is in the process of developing some impressive infrastructure to lift up its people. I was already envious of the fact that Brazil had a ministry of culture, which is hard to imagine in the states where funding for the arts is more difficult to find that good music on the radio. My envy was multiplied when I learned that Brazil now has a Ministry of Human Rights. Within that ministry, there are separate departments for racial equality, LGBTQ rights, children and youth advocacy, senior citizen advocacy, and people with disabilities. Each department creates public awareness campaigns, hosts free public events, organizes forums and retreats and more, all of which are entirely funded by the government. Imagine the reaction from the employees of the LBGTQ ministry when I told them I come from San Francisco, where there is no such ministry to speak of. These groups have their hands full in their fight for human rights, but the fact that the government has validated their struggle by funding them is an amazing step in the right direction.
To anyone who has even a remote interest in futbol and did not have the fortune of watching Santos vs Flamengo, you have my sympathy (The match ended 5-4 on a late goal from Ronaldinho). You must at least watch this goal from rising star Neymar – one of the best I've ever seen.
Back on the Youth Venture front, I attended yet another inspirational event, entitled Forum de Juventude por Capacitacao, organized by React and Change, whose mission is to combat gender inequality and youth apathy. Although many of the youth were well versed in English, the difficulty of pronouncing "React and Change" led them to the nickname Rachinchin. Youth from all over of the country were selected to participate in this 5 day retreat of workshops, networking and project development. The entire retreat was organized by youth, who managed to secure the selection of participants, lodging and transportation to Fortaleza, as well as funding from sources such as the Brazilian federal government, the U.S. department of state, and several major banks and institutions.
I attended the retreat with Pamela, who shared her life story of activism and social work, inspiring the youth to never give up on their dreams, no matter how grandiose they might seem (more on this below). Like most of her presentations Ive witnessed, this one ended with everyone in the room in tears and exchanging prolonged hugs. Also joining the expedition were 3 GMM youth who shared their own equally inspiring projects of social transformation through hip hop, art, and socially conscious event planning. The group of 40 youth was divided into 4 groups, each working on separate campaign to address domestic violence, homophobia, bullying and youth apathy. I sat in on a break out session with the bullying group, in which they were developing a national network to advance their cause. The retreat ended in a formal graduation, for which I was terribly under dressed, but all was forgiven when everyone removed their jackets and ties and ended the evening with a soul train line.Simply put, Geracao Muda Mundo is kickin butt. The local program is a seething cauldron of innovation, with new projects being constantly dreamed up and born into reality . Currently in the works are Fora da Mala - a traveling youth art exhibition, Bora Negrada - a local talent showcase, the 2nd annual Festival de Juventude, and last but definitely not least – Africa.
As far as dream realization goes, it doesn’t get much larger than this. Since I first met Pamela, I've heard her relate many times over her dream of working with youth in Africa, which she has been striving for since age 5. Literally right before my eyes, I've seen this dream transform into a direct plan of action. Through a series of serendipitous events, a direct path to Africa materialized in the last week, morphing into something far more ambitious than she had ever dreamed. Now the plan is to mobilize resources to charter an entire plane from Fortaleza to Cape Verde off the northwest coast of Africa. Filling this plane will be 150 youth and social educators from Brazil, all on a unified mission to do community building projects, as a kind of reparations for the slave labor that was used to develop Brazil. Can you imagine how powerful it will be to show the world, that youth are taking matters into their own hands, and taking the initiative to do the work that the government has failed to do? And what if an unlikely American citizen participated in the process? This is not a longshot by any means. Stay tuned...
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