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Brazil is the 21st Century Power to Watch

Thanks to a Brazilian friend, I read my first article in the UK edition of the Financial Times today. On October 20^th, Michael Skapinker announced that his top story for the next year would be Brazil. In his article, which you can read here, he lists the many reasons for this conclusion and shares about his first experience in Rio and Sao Paulo. Unfortunately, although the piece provides glimmers of hope for the Brazil of tomorrow, the FT journalist has a lot to say about the violence in the Brazil of today. Rightly, he points out that if this issue is not tackled, violence could be a huge impediment in fulfilling the country’s dreams of economic power.

Regardless, the Financial Times are hosting an Investing in Brazil Summit on November 5^th 2009 in which President Lula himself and a strong delegation of Brazilian economic leaders are coming to an invitation only event in the London Marriott, Grosvenor Square. It seems like Skapinker has managed to convince at least a few dignitaries that ‘Brazil is the 21^st Century power to watch’.

BRBRBR: Language Tip

LOCAL LIBRARIES

On my first trip to the library in England, someone saw me pick up some books in English and ‘read’ them to my children in Portuguese. I was obviously struggling to simultaneously translate the words because a fellow mum said ‘Did you know you can get bilingual books here?’. To which I replied ‘Oh, its OK, we speak Portuguese’, expecting there to only be bilingual books in Urdu, Chinese, Spanish, French - the more likely candidates. The persistent mother, however, did not listen to my reply and went to the appropriate shelf coming back with two children’s books in both English AND Portuguese. I was astonished. This was a small library, round the corner from our house with an incredible selection of bilingual books!

I have since visited many other libraries and discovered that at almost every one, you can find bilingual books in one of two places: the children’s section and the ‘community languages’ section. Additionally, you can borrow many ‘teach yourself’ books to get you started in any language, including Portuguese. This is a good suggestion for someone who cannot afford expensive courses or textbooks as this is all FREE! It is fairly easy to join a local library in England, just walk in with some proof of address. To find a library near you visit this site.

It is a shame that, in our experience, we have not found Brazilian cities to be as well equipped when it comes to libraries. If they do exist, they are pretty miserable places with a limited selection. If anyone knows of good libraries in Brazil, with a good selection of English books, let us know!

My Father’s House

Recent statistics have shown that in Brazil there are over 25 million children who live in extremely deprived conditions, a vast majority of them living upon ‘favelas’ (shanty towns). Eight million of those 25 million children live rough on the streets and a third of those eight million children will be killed before they reach the age of 18 through gang violence.

‘My Father’s House’ is an NGO project working with these children in the north east of Brazil in a city called Olinda, just north of Recife. The project is part of the Anglican Church of Living Waters which is situated in a favela at the side of the city’s huge open air rubbish dump. Many of the people who live in this favela find their food and material to build their shacks from the actual rubbish dump. Many children are sent to work on the dump by their families instead of going to school. Some of the children have had to leave their families due to abuse (both physical and sexual) or simply because their parents can’t, or don’t want to, look after them. Fairly quickly these young children realise that selling cocaine is a better ‘career’ than picking through rubbish for a living and so join the drug trafficking gangs of which there are many on the favelas. Obviously a career in a gang is a very dangerous one (boys as young as 10 carry guns) and eventually their lives become endangered either from rival gangs or from their own gang if they have done something wrong. This is a very serious situation since statistics from just our favela alone show that, on average; four young people are killed each week  from gang violence.

My Father’s House works in 3 main ways to prevent this from happening:

1)  The Safe House – This is a big house in the city of Olinda which can house up to 12 boys at a time. Some boys need to leave the favela due to various reasons, either their lives are in danger or due to family issues. Currently there are 10 boys (aged between 8 – 16) who live full time in the house. Here they have the opportunity of education and to change their lives. We try to work closely with their families in the hope that one day the family might be reunited. Basically, the project tries to save the boys both physically, from their surroundings and dangers, and spiritually through faith in Jesus Christ.

2)  The Christian Centre of Family Support – Is the first point of call for many children on the favela. This is a school which provides education support for over 150 children a day and which also provides activities to keep the kids off the streets. Relationships are built with the children and the families which enables us to recognize which children need the most help.

3)  The Living Waters Institute – usually referred to as ‘the Farm’.  This is a converted farm which currently is used for camps for the children. We’d like to use it full time, perhaps for older teenagers (16+) who are seriously in danger from the gangs, i.e. gang members who have decided to try and leave the gangs and change their lives.

Over the years we have relied on English short term volunteers and teams who come over and spend some time with us in Brazil helping us in this work. It’s a fantastic experience for both sides; for the boys to realise that someone cares for them so much that they’re prepared to travel half of the globe to be with them; and for the volunteer whose eyes are opened to the need, not just in Brazil, but the entire world. Some English people have decided to stay – Ian Meldrum, who first began the project, has been here for over 30 years and I, myself, first came as a short term volunteer 5 years ago and stayed ever since.

The work in Brazil is hard but is very rewarding as we see changes and renewed hope in the lives of the children. It is these changes that encourage us daily in the battles that we face. Perhaps an example which sums this up is the following; Jonathan was one of our boys who spent 10 months with us in the project. He was involved with the gangs and was eventually shot and killed by the gangs when he ran away from the project – he was just 13 years old. The Bible says that the Devil comes to steal, destroy and to kill and that is exactly what he is doing to the lives of these children; he steals their lives, destroys their lives and ultimately kills them; and the children steal, destroy and kill in return. But Jesus says, in John’s gospel, that he came ‘so that they might have life – and life to the full.’ This is why My Father’s House and Living Waters Church exists – to try and show this great truth to the families and children that we meet.

In York, on the 14^th of November, there will be an event to raise funds for this project. See the flyer on the side and if you would like to come, please get in touch.

 

 

Written by Andy Roberts

Brazilian Photography in London

A few years ago Rachel and I were in London when we saw a poster for an exhibition by the Brazilian photographer Sebastião Selgado. I had seen a collection of his photos in a book and had never forgotten his stark, harrowing black and white images of the world’s poor. We went to see his exhibition on Migration and were moved to tears. Strangely, Salgado is one of Brazil’s most decorated citizens and yet relatively unknown in his home country. Here is a small collection of his work.

Living in London again means a great chance to catch up on more excellent photography exhibitions. Here are details of two – one that has just finished and one coming up in November.

Two weeks ago I went to an exhibition by the Rainforest Foundation in Camden. The foundation was founded by the pop star Sting in 1989 after he witnessed first hand the destruction of the rainforests and the decimation caused to the livelihoods and cultures of the indigenous Indians who live there. A photography exhibition showcasing the lives of indigenous Indians and the ongoing struggles they face to preserve their land and heritage was on display for free at the Proud Gallery in Camden. Although the selection of photographs was limited and contained images from other rainforest dwellers around the world, the exhibition was a provocative and timely reminder that all is still not well with the Amazon rainforests and its many inhabitants.

Secondly, Canning House in London will show an exhibition of the work of Julio Etchart, a documentary photographer who grew up in Uruguay and later moved to the UK. The exhibition displays a selection of his images from his book “The Forbidden Rainbow” which explores the legacy of colonialism in Latin America.  The exhibition, which opens on November 2, coincides with the launch of the Latin American film festival in London. More information on all of that can be found here at the Canning House website.

Lastly, it would be unfair to have a post on photography without mentioning Andrew King. Andrew (a Brit) is married to Cora (a Brazilian) and frequently displays his excellent photography around the UK. Naturally, some of Andrew’s work is drawn directly from his experiences in Brazil. For more information please visit his flickr portfolio or join the facebook group Andrew King Photography.

British-Brazilian Worship Music

Music can challenge us, inspire us and as believers, aid our worship of God often in ways beyond what we are even able to articulate with words. We expect the Britain Brazil Bridge to be loaded with examples of how Brits and Brazilians are bringing various musical styles and traditions together in creative and surprising ways.

Here are two examples that you would do well to check out.

A Brasileiro in Britain

Recently, at a Go to the Nations gathering, I picked up a live CD entitled Open Heart. The inlay cover explained: “Open Heart began in 2005 with a vision to encourage the body of Christ, His church, to release the gifts of music, drama, dance and arts into mission”. The vision sounded excellent, but I was amused by the location for the recording: Bognor Regis, a city generally considered by the British to be boring, drab and over-rated.

However, one of the driving forces behind the project is Brazilian worship leader Marcelo Guimaraes, a pastor in Bognor Regis. He explains: “When I first arrived in this city I used to hear all sorts of jokes about our beloved Bognor. Immediately I remembered the words spoken about Nazareth ‘can anything good come from Nazareth? … come and see”. Sometimes it takes the perspective of an outsider to wake us out of our stereotypes and preconceptions! On evidence of this recording, I stand corrected as Bognor Regis would seem to be a very interesting and lively place to be.

The CD has thirteen tracks and includes a few covers of well-known contemporary worship songs (such as Michael Smith’s What a Friend I’ve Found). However, the majority of the tunes have been penned and performed by Brazilians in the UK including Marcelo Guimaraes himself and the results sound fresh and energetic. A good Christmas present for anyone you know who enjoys contemporary worship music but would like to sample something a little different.

A Brit in Brasil

Aaron Scollen is a British singer-songwriter of Christian worship music. He lives in Minais Gerais and launches an album on Saturday (17/10). Check out his myspace page here. Aaron’s music is well-executed, thought-provoking and rhythmically, at times, nods in the direction of his new home, Brazil.

Brazilians in the World Conference

The Brazilian Embassy website is a very good window into learning about what is on offer about Brazil in the UK. Much of the information is for everyone to enjoy like photography exhibitions about Brazil (more on this topic next week) or seminars about investing in Brazil.

However, one event that might appeal specifically to Brazilians is a conference happening in Rio de Janeiro on the 15-16th October. It is too late to be there in person but you can follow the live webcast from this link. Its about Brazilians in the World, an attempt from the Ministry of External Relations to solidify the information about Brazilian communities around the world and encourage dialogue between them.

This is the second conference of its kind. Last year, they pioneered it and created an excellent website about Brazilians around the world. It contains statistics about the number of  Brazilians living in each country, a brief history of Brazilian emigration, resources for children about Brazil, amongst many other useful links. Check it out: Brasileiros no Mundo.

The State of the Bridge

This Summer, the Maclure family crossed the Bridge. We moved from Brazil, our home for three years, over to England. So now we find ourselves in the privileged position of seeing the bridge from both ends. Below are some reflections concerning this. They are not backed by statistics, evidence or charts, but we hope you find them useful – at the very least, they give us a point from which to start a debate.

Here are some trends that seem to characterise the Bridge:

1 – Proportionately, there are a greater number of Brazilians in the UK than British people in Brazil.

2 – And yet, the literature is skewed to studying Brazilian culture (i.e. more books about Brazilians written by Westerners). Perhaps, the few British people who have crawled under the skin of Brazilian culture have felt an urge to write about it? If a Brazilian is preparing to serve in the UK, they might find very little literature in Portuguese to refer to preparing them for their transition.

3 – An obvious point but there are not as many opportunities to learn Portuguese in Britain as there are English in Brazil.

4 – More Brazilians interested in coming to England to start a long-term ministry and more English people interested in going to Brazil for a short-term experience.

5 – Anglo-Brazilian families seem to settle more in the UK than in Brazil creating a new generation that speaks better English than Portuguese.

6 – Material wealth is flowing mainly in one direction – North to South. We have heard of many fundraisers for Brazilian charities here in the UK.

As we pondered these imbalances, we wondered if they reflect the genuine nature of the ministry and if so whether we should be doing more to even up the balance. The analogy of the Bridge would suggest yes. An uneven bridge is not a strong bridge.

Undoubtedly, the quality and type of the material that moves from one side of the bridge to the other is bound to be very different. This is the beauty of the ministry – Brazilians and British folks contributing their complementary God-given skills, talents and resources.

However, what about the quantity? Take the issue of literature as an example. At the moment, there are towers of books coming out of Britain about Brazilians, and yet, there are more Brazilians living in the UK. I know Brazilians are not necessarily renowned for their literary skills and a case could be made for Brazilians (based on educational, cultural and historical factors) generally being less at home with communicating ideas through literary texts than many British people. Even so, many of my Brazilians write beautifully. Why is it we have not found one book in Portuguese about the British people and their culture, be it secular or non-secular?

This site aims to be a step in that direction. If you would like to contribute, be it with only one article about a subject matter you know very well, please get in touch.

2016 Olympics – Rio to host

Britain Brasil Bridge would like to congratulate Brazil, and more specifically Rio, on winning the right to hold the 2016 Olympic Games! After a successful 2007 Pan American games in Rio and with the World Cup in the country in 2014, it looks set to be an important few years for Brazilians to show off their sporting abilities in front of a home crowd. And, with London hosting the 2012 World Cup and a possible 2018 World Cup in the UK, we are all very much looking forward to a decade of sport on the Britain Brazil Bridge!

To get things started, why not try and watch the South Africa World Cup warm up friendly between England and Brazil on November 14th. The game is in Qatar but will be shown live on national television within the UK and in Brazil.

Mission and Worship

One of the aims of Britain Brasil Bridge is to facilitate mission and worship between the UK and Brazil, playing on the strengths of both nations working together. I got a surprise today when I realised that this was no new idea and, in fact, is very much at the heart of a website quite simply called www.missionworship.com.

Kingsway Music is a UK-based literature and worship music publisher and distributor. Several well- known English worship leaders are based with Kingsway including Stuart Townend and via their Survivor label Matt Redman and Tim Hughes. Following a worship conference to the Amazon in 2003, the Kingsway group were challenged in their call to serve others through their worship – that is, to quote their website, ‘to release worship to the poor’. So began a partnership with Ray of Hope, a Brazilian Christian organisation working with marginalised and poor young people. You can read the whole amazing story here and visit the Ray of Hope website here.

Here is Stuart Townend, perhaps the most famous English hymn-writer of his generation, known for In Christ Alone, performing his song My God at an event raising funds for Ray of Hope. What a valuable contribution to the Britain Brazil Bridge this is…

If you know of any other partnerships between British and Brazilian Christian organisations, let us know!

Brazilian Parties

Carmem Mackle is from Porto Alegre. She lives in York with her husband and two kids. She met Christ in England and is now discovering one of the ways God can use her as a Brazilian living in the UK: she organises parties to raise funds for charities in Brazil. The next party is set for November 14^th, 2009 in York. If you are around and would like to go, please let us know. It’s a moving ministry and its model can be replicated anywhere. Here is an account of how she came to organise these parties and the positive results that followed.

I have lived in England for about 14 years.  I have felt very guilty at times about enjoying financial security, safety and the luxuries you can have here – like a public tennis court! – whilst my fellow Brazilians were struggling to find something to eat. This wasn’t a nice way to feel, so I decided to do something about it!

I felt God has given me a burden for the poor, especially children who are in poverty and danger. He has also given me gifts I could use in the particular area of fundraising!

I am very fond of lively parties and dancing!  So the idea of Charitable Brazilian evenings came to mind!   We have now organised two of these evenings and the third is booked for November this year. The plan is to do at least two per year from now on.

The fruits of this work have been amazing. Here are a few examples:

-  We have raised a good amount of money!  But most of all awareness about the need for  continuing support,  love and prayers to these very needy young people in Brazil.

-  We could see how much the English were keen on letting go and enjoying themselves in a very latin way, the dance part of the parties were a joy! I truly believe we need more parties like these in this country!  We also try to organise them in Early spring and November when let’s be honest we need some cheering up here!

-  We were able to  share Brazilian culture and customs, through music, dance,  images and food, which were all enjoyed by the many guests from different  backgrounds who attended the parties;

-  There was so many friendships made between christians and non-christians  who were involved in helping before  and during the event and a great opportunity for us to share the love of God with our guests;

- The feedback has been very good and we have the full backing of our church for future events.