Catuaba is Brazil's Viagra: The Power of Herbs
Catuaba is an herb grown in the Northern most regions of the county. Most is found in the Northern Amazon, which most of the world’s medicines are found. It is commonly known at the Viagra of Brazil, in fact the Brazilians have a saying that goes,
“up to sixty years old, a father’s children are his own; after sixty, they come from the Catuaba.”
As well as being the Viagra of Brazil it serves many other purposes. It is used as an aphrodisiac, an antioxidant, as an energy enhancer and in pain relief. Many stories of its healing powers have bled through the minds and flipped from the lips of all the locals in regions such as Pantanal, the swampland of Brazil that is located about 5 hours, plane ride, from the Amazon.
It comes from the bark of the Cantuaba tree. It comes in either capsule form or as a straight extract. When you add the extract to hot water it turns it dark red. Many Brazilians believe that the color of a remedy directly link it to the parts of your body of which it most effectively remedies. According to this dark red is to help your circulatory system, your liver, and your blood.
Brazilians love their natural remedies and this is a great example of one. Another is called, Acai, and it is a calorie packed energy fruit that is found in the Amazon as well. They boast unproved stories that it helps with fatigue and once kept a small child alive for the month that he was lost in the Amazon.
About Me
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Fueled Country
Ethanol is the bomb, and Brazil Knows It!
With the new uproar about using ethanol and other alcohol-based fuel, this article examines Brazil’s place in the mix. Since they are not an oil producing country it is impossible for them not to depend on other countries for their goods. Brazil, however, is predominantly farm country. Particularly, in the south, in Sao Paulo, their main exports are cattle and oranges.
The biggest problem for making the switch to ethanol-powered vehicles is the lack of enthusiasm in an uncertain market. In Sao Paulo, however, they are already making etho-friendly vehicles and making them available to the U.S. via an agency in Alabama. They have already brought in 1000 cars, 1981 Chevrolets, to prove to the governor of Alabama that ethanol friendly cars DO work.
Funny thing is though that I didn’t see one environmentally friendly car the entire year I lived in the state of Sao Paulo. Other than the mule drawn carts.
With the new uproar about using ethanol and other alcohol-based fuel, this article examines Brazil’s place in the mix. Since they are not an oil producing country it is impossible for them not to depend on other countries for their goods. Brazil, however, is predominantly farm country. Particularly, in the south, in Sao Paulo, their main exports are cattle and oranges.
The biggest problem for making the switch to ethanol-powered vehicles is the lack of enthusiasm in an uncertain market. In Sao Paulo, however, they are already making etho-friendly vehicles and making them available to the U.S. via an agency in Alabama. They have already brought in 1000 cars, 1981 Chevrolets, to prove to the governor of Alabama that ethanol friendly cars DO work.
In short, the ACFA group is one of many organizations interested in doing something about the energy situation in this country ... and, if the firm's efforts can help the smallscale farmer as well, the least we can do is spread the good word.There you have it the friendly nation of Brazil has steer headed the project and continues to spread the good word.
Funny thing is though that I didn’t see one environmentally friendly car the entire year I lived in the state of Sao Paulo. Other than the mule drawn carts.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Homosexuality
Preaching Gay Sin!
Brazil is presenting a bill that would convict any pastors that openly forbid homosexuality in their teachings. In fact if the religious leader is convicted of preaching the forbiddance of homosexuality they could potentially face anywhere from 2-5 years in prison. If the bill passes into law the different Christian sects are to be amongst the hardest hit.
Supporters of the bill have even approached the United States about making homosexuality a universal excepted sexuality. It didn’t say, but I’m sure that went over like a led balloon. The biggest con that they face if they pass this bill is the interference with religious freedom.
It is widely known that the Brazilian are amongst the most sexually open of nations. It doesn’t surprise me that they are trying to pass a bill as left winged as this. Their feelings of acceptance reach from the high schools to older aged adults. For example, one in Brazil is what they call ‘Ficar’. Directly translated it means ‘to stay’. At discos and club parties girls and men or men and men hook up early in the night, say 10 p.m. They then ‘stay’ with each other the rest of the night. Either kissing and talking or having sex they stay with each other until 6 or 7 a.m. If they like each other then they begin dating.
Also, it is common and expected, in Sao Jose do Rio Preto that the boys should experiment with this life style and they do. They do so in a promiscuous nature just as they would with another Brazilian girl.
That being said, this is a nation of exteme freedom fighters. I think it is very unlikely that they will pass this bill. They encourage other opinions and, I think, get a kick out of challenging them.
Brazil is presenting a bill that would convict any pastors that openly forbid homosexuality in their teachings. In fact if the religious leader is convicted of preaching the forbiddance of homosexuality they could potentially face anywhere from 2-5 years in prison. If the bill passes into law the different Christian sects are to be amongst the hardest hit.
Supporters of the bill have even approached the United States about making homosexuality a universal excepted sexuality. It didn’t say, but I’m sure that went over like a led balloon. The biggest con that they face if they pass this bill is the interference with religious freedom.
It is widely known that the Brazilian are amongst the most sexually open of nations. It doesn’t surprise me that they are trying to pass a bill as left winged as this. Their feelings of acceptance reach from the high schools to older aged adults. For example, one in Brazil is what they call ‘Ficar’. Directly translated it means ‘to stay’. At discos and club parties girls and men or men and men hook up early in the night, say 10 p.m. They then ‘stay’ with each other the rest of the night. Either kissing and talking or having sex they stay with each other until 6 or 7 a.m. If they like each other then they begin dating.
Also, it is common and expected, in Sao Jose do Rio Preto that the boys should experiment with this life style and they do. They do so in a promiscuous nature just as they would with another Brazilian girl.
That being said, this is a nation of exteme freedom fighters. I think it is very unlikely that they will pass this bill. They encourage other opinions and, I think, get a kick out of challenging them.
In Brazil, a Trend Away From Super-Young Models
After Anorexic Death, Fashion Week Closes Catwalk to Those Under 16
This article, touching upon on of my favorite subjects about Brazil: beauty, talks about what one agency and one special modeling event are doing to combat the effects that are taking a lethal toll on young models.
Every year Sao Paulo holds a fashion week. Like the Fashion Week in New York it showcases the new and upcoming designers and it also boosts unknown models to top model status.
In Brazil, the article emphasizes, the little boys dream of becoming soccer players while the girls have their hearts set on being models. The sooner they can get into the business the better. Many of the smaller, more poverty ridden cities located through out the state of Sao Paulo are made of families that are more than willing to send their children away in search of happier, healthier, and wealthier lives. Before Fashion Week put this age limit on its models, it was common for 13 year olds to be starting their road to success by moving to the big city and being housed by their agency with a couple other aspiring 13-year-old models. In the last couple weeks the fashion industry has been forced to face the repercussions with the anorexic deaths of six young models.
They believe that taking underdeveloped children, too quickly, from their homes and making them live with strangers in a big city aren’t necessarily recipes for success. Therefore, they’ve implemented the 16-year-old criteria for Fashion Week. The homes that the young models go and live in are now home to nutritionists and life coaches as well.
The most honest line in the article was
"All the girls I grew up with wanted to be models, just like all the boys wanted to be soccer players."
That’s the way it is in Brazil. Not saying that little girls shouldn’t want to be models, who wouldn’t, but what family would allow their 13 year old to go do it? Maybe it just wasn’t the way I was raised, but it just doesn’t seem right. In fact it seems greedy and wrong.
This article, touching upon on of my favorite subjects about Brazil: beauty, talks about what one agency and one special modeling event are doing to combat the effects that are taking a lethal toll on young models.
Every year Sao Paulo holds a fashion week. Like the Fashion Week in New York it showcases the new and upcoming designers and it also boosts unknown models to top model status.
In Brazil, the article emphasizes, the little boys dream of becoming soccer players while the girls have their hearts set on being models. The sooner they can get into the business the better. Many of the smaller, more poverty ridden cities located through out the state of Sao Paulo are made of families that are more than willing to send their children away in search of happier, healthier, and wealthier lives. Before Fashion Week put this age limit on its models, it was common for 13 year olds to be starting their road to success by moving to the big city and being housed by their agency with a couple other aspiring 13-year-old models. In the last couple weeks the fashion industry has been forced to face the repercussions with the anorexic deaths of six young models.
They believe that taking underdeveloped children, too quickly, from their homes and making them live with strangers in a big city aren’t necessarily recipes for success. Therefore, they’ve implemented the 16-year-old criteria for Fashion Week. The homes that the young models go and live in are now home to nutritionists and life coaches as well.
The most honest line in the article was
"All the girls I grew up with wanted to be models, just like all the boys wanted to be soccer players."
That’s the way it is in Brazil. Not saying that little girls shouldn’t want to be models, who wouldn’t, but what family would allow their 13 year old to go do it? Maybe it just wasn’t the way I was raised, but it just doesn’t seem right. In fact it seems greedy and wrong.
Anarchy in Rio: Carnival of Death
Anarchy in Rio
Violence in Brazil, particularly in its bigger cities, carries true through the worries of its populous. This article identifies violence in Rio de Janeiro. Rio is the heart of samba in all of Brazil. There are tons of samba schools in the area and they compete with one another in a two-day bash of all out partying.
At the most recent Carnival, the parade, was held up by a couple minutes of silence for Joao Helio, a small boy that was the latest victim popularized by the Brazilian media. He was riding shotgun next to his mom when her car was jacked at a stoplight. He attempted to get out of the passenger side window while the carjacker was fleeing the crime. He ended up suffocating himself while he struggled to get out of the window.
The article assumes that he was probably the latest victim of the ripple effect from the drug world of Brazil. Which, around carnival, is at its peak. All around carnival stadiums, where the schools go to dance in a kind of parade like fashion in front of bundles of on lookers, there are drug dealers infiltrating the populous. The many police officers assigned to the Carnival often get a chunk of the money the dealers make because they tend to look the other way. Apparently many of the Carnival dancers will do lines of cocaine just to keep them dancing through out the night and onlookers can pay about 10 reais to suck up some nose candy themselves. The article said that drug dealers could make in 2 days what they would regularly in 2 months.
We visited one of the samba schools in Rio when I was staying there. It was the only place in Brazil that I had traveled to in which our little tour group was escorted by four armed cops. The tour guides told us about keeping out valuables on the bus or tucking them into somewhere safe. I never saw anything, other than the occasional smell of weed that would have made me suspicious of drugs.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Brazilian Beauty
Brazilian Beauty
Reporter Ilana Rehavia’s audio presentation describing, for the BBC, Brazilian beauty and what it means to her was fascinating. She interviewed the girl sitting next to her on the plane to Rio who was formerly an anorexic, little girls at the school she used to attend, a lady and her child in ‘poor’ north east Brazil, her sister in Rio, her mother, her grandma, editors, and doctors. She claims that there is a certain mentality about Brazilian women. A certain deeper insecurity about their weight and outward appearance that is more severe than in the rest of the world.
The Editor of Boa Forma magazine, Cecelia Hayes, “97% of Brazilian women associate beauty with happiness”. The doctor that she interviewed commented on his discovery of the growing level in eroticism in relation to younger and younger children. Therefore, there is a need for woman to maintain that little girl shape. In addition he comments on how pop music exposes very young children to worries about sexuality, and physical appearance.
Ilana goes to her old school in Sao Paulo. She remembers how unattractive and fat she felt. There she interviews 11 and 12 year old girls. They tell her it is important to be thin and that that is what the boys like. The boys don’t tell them that that’s what they like, but they know it.
She goes on to report that the issues start at home. This is the first generation of girls whose mothers actually take care of themselves and consequently the daughters have a heightened sense of awareness about their own bodies. This in combination with a vane culture makes it difficult to find happiness within one’s self. This is, after all, a culture where most girls come out of the maturity ward with their ears pierced. Other than their Mom’s there are plenty of other role models. In the Sao Paulo region there are countless billboards portraying half naked models in lingerie or bikinis.
One of these role models is Anna Rikman whom is blonde with blue eyes and long legs. None of which characteristics are the Brazilian’s famous for. She wants us to understand what its like growing up close to Rio, the fit capital of the world.
I love this article and that’s why I went into such in-depth summarization. The way she described growing up in Brazil was how I felt while I was there. You notice and remember every thing that you eat. Then feel guilty about it. Heat makes you wear less clothing and the combination of exposed skin and people makes people irrationally self-conscious. She didn’t even touch upon the approving hoots and hollers that you get from men when you walk down the street. They’ll call you fat too.
Reporter Ilana Rehavia’s audio presentation describing, for the BBC, Brazilian beauty and what it means to her was fascinating. She interviewed the girl sitting next to her on the plane to Rio who was formerly an anorexic, little girls at the school she used to attend, a lady and her child in ‘poor’ north east Brazil, her sister in Rio, her mother, her grandma, editors, and doctors. She claims that there is a certain mentality about Brazilian women. A certain deeper insecurity about their weight and outward appearance that is more severe than in the rest of the world.
The Editor of Boa Forma magazine, Cecelia Hayes, “97% of Brazilian women associate beauty with happiness”. The doctor that she interviewed commented on his discovery of the growing level in eroticism in relation to younger and younger children. Therefore, there is a need for woman to maintain that little girl shape. In addition he comments on how pop music exposes very young children to worries about sexuality, and physical appearance.
Ilana goes to her old school in Sao Paulo. She remembers how unattractive and fat she felt. There she interviews 11 and 12 year old girls. They tell her it is important to be thin and that that is what the boys like. The boys don’t tell them that that’s what they like, but they know it.
She goes on to report that the issues start at home. This is the first generation of girls whose mothers actually take care of themselves and consequently the daughters have a heightened sense of awareness about their own bodies. This in combination with a vane culture makes it difficult to find happiness within one’s self. This is, after all, a culture where most girls come out of the maturity ward with their ears pierced. Other than their Mom’s there are plenty of other role models. In the Sao Paulo region there are countless billboards portraying half naked models in lingerie or bikinis.
One of these role models is Anna Rikman whom is blonde with blue eyes and long legs. None of which characteristics are the Brazilian’s famous for. She wants us to understand what its like growing up close to Rio, the fit capital of the world.
I love this article and that’s why I went into such in-depth summarization. The way she described growing up in Brazil was how I felt while I was there. You notice and remember every thing that you eat. Then feel guilty about it. Heat makes you wear less clothing and the combination of exposed skin and people makes people irrationally self-conscious. She didn’t even touch upon the approving hoots and hollers that you get from men when you walk down the street. They’ll call you fat too.
Looking Good is a Spiritual Necessity
Looking Good is a Spiritual Necessity
“Looking good is not a luxury, but a spiritual necessity”
This article is about how being beautiful is never enough in Brazil. The former Miss Brazil 2001, for instance, has had surgery 23 times. Everything from nose jobs, liposuction, to cheek implants. She just recently turned 22 years old. Plastic surgery over the last five years has more than doubled in Brazil. The excuses the article shows to flag acceptability in Brazil is that they spend a lot of time outside and on the beaches.
It talks about how, in Brazil, looking good is a spiritual necessity. The vainness of this is incredible. This article shows a very one-sided approach to an aspect of the Brazilian culture, which makes me angry, however, it does make sense.
When I was in Brazil I would hear, daily, that I needed to start a ‘regime’ to loose weight. They said this like it was the first time I had been hearing it and they said this every single day. Total strangers would say it to me on the street. My family would discuss it at cocktail parties and at the lunch table. Thinking of it as a spiritual necessity and as the only way of being spiritually fulfilled helps me to think of these taunts, as I saw them, as “Awe” moments. You know, the kinds of moments that change your life from that point on. Oprah coined the term. People were trying to give me an ‘awe’ moment. Isn’t that special of them.
“Looking good is not a luxury, but a spiritual necessity”
This article is about how being beautiful is never enough in Brazil. The former Miss Brazil 2001, for instance, has had surgery 23 times. Everything from nose jobs, liposuction, to cheek implants. She just recently turned 22 years old. Plastic surgery over the last five years has more than doubled in Brazil. The excuses the article shows to flag acceptability in Brazil is that they spend a lot of time outside and on the beaches.
It talks about how, in Brazil, looking good is a spiritual necessity. The vainness of this is incredible. This article shows a very one-sided approach to an aspect of the Brazilian culture, which makes me angry, however, it does make sense.
When I was in Brazil I would hear, daily, that I needed to start a ‘regime’ to loose weight. They said this like it was the first time I had been hearing it and they said this every single day. Total strangers would say it to me on the street. My family would discuss it at cocktail parties and at the lunch table. Thinking of it as a spiritual necessity and as the only way of being spiritually fulfilled helps me to think of these taunts, as I saw them, as “Awe” moments. You know, the kinds of moments that change your life from that point on. Oprah coined the term. People were trying to give me an ‘awe’ moment. Isn’t that special of them.
Culture of Vanity
Culture of Vanity
This article emphasizes the fall of unique culture to ‘Americanism.’ Brazilians have long been worshippers of the ‘guitar physique.’ That is slender on the top and fat on the bottom. It was once a sign of beauty and health. The shift in mentality, as of the last 30 years, is now that only poor people are fat and rich people can afford to be skinny. The article sites such Brazilian beauties as the lady of Ipanema, who in the English version is ‘tall, and young and healthy’ where in the Portuguese version it talks about the sweet sway of her butt. Now the ideal is Gisele Bunchen. Gisele, according to the article, is a Barbie. Her body is proportionate and nothing like a guitar.
The article sites how there was a correlation between the arrival of Barbie and the increased consumption of diet pills. Barbie arrived in 1970 and Brazil is now, as of 2007, the biggest consumer of the pills. Women claim 80 percent of the sales. When Gisele earned her international model status she also became the new ideal among young women.
The article then went on to discuss plastic surgery. It talked about how the idea of breast implants used to be ridiculous. It wasn’t, of course, inline with the guitar shape mentality. It was inline with the American models. Surgeons would even take soft tissues from ladies breasts and put it into her butt/hips. That isn’t the case anymore. The biggest craze in plastic surgery lately is to get your toes liposuctioned so that your feet can more easily fit into cute shoes. Thinness is now a sign of wealth and not poverty.
My personal experience of this was first hand. I lived with a couple different families during my year stay in Brazil. I stayed with families from the Rotary Club http://www.rotary.org/. They are generally, in any town, an organization of wealthier individuals. In Brazil the families I stayed with were very wealthy and all had beautiful children. Their children were also extremely thin.
My pre-Brazil assumption was that, like in the article, Brazilian women had thicker thighs and thinner tops. I wasn’t shocked by my realization, but I figured it was just an assumption that I had made.
Anyway, I learned that the girls that I hung out with often went on diet coke, pineapple diets. For 2 weeks at a time all they would eat was pineapple and all they would drink was diet coke. They were all very very thin and this sprung feelings of inferiority. I was quite a bit fatter than they were and I realized that they were judging me for it. So I attempted to do the same bit, then failed, then attempted my diet again, and then failed. I realized that these rich girls with fridges brimming at the edges and maids preparing huge lunches were all, in a sense, starving themselves.
This article shed a little knowledge on to my own insight.
This article emphasizes the fall of unique culture to ‘Americanism.’ Brazilians have long been worshippers of the ‘guitar physique.’ That is slender on the top and fat on the bottom. It was once a sign of beauty and health. The shift in mentality, as of the last 30 years, is now that only poor people are fat and rich people can afford to be skinny. The article sites such Brazilian beauties as the lady of Ipanema, who in the English version is ‘tall, and young and healthy’ where in the Portuguese version it talks about the sweet sway of her butt. Now the ideal is Gisele Bunchen. Gisele, according to the article, is a Barbie. Her body is proportionate and nothing like a guitar.
The article sites how there was a correlation between the arrival of Barbie and the increased consumption of diet pills. Barbie arrived in 1970 and Brazil is now, as of 2007, the biggest consumer of the pills. Women claim 80 percent of the sales. When Gisele earned her international model status she also became the new ideal among young women.
The article then went on to discuss plastic surgery. It talked about how the idea of breast implants used to be ridiculous. It wasn’t, of course, inline with the guitar shape mentality. It was inline with the American models. Surgeons would even take soft tissues from ladies breasts and put it into her butt/hips. That isn’t the case anymore. The biggest craze in plastic surgery lately is to get your toes liposuctioned so that your feet can more easily fit into cute shoes. Thinness is now a sign of wealth and not poverty.
My personal experience of this was first hand. I lived with a couple different families during my year stay in Brazil. I stayed with families from the Rotary Club http://www.rotary.org/. They are generally, in any town, an organization of wealthier individuals. In Brazil the families I stayed with were very wealthy and all had beautiful children. Their children were also extremely thin.
My pre-Brazil assumption was that, like in the article, Brazilian women had thicker thighs and thinner tops. I wasn’t shocked by my realization, but I figured it was just an assumption that I had made.
Anyway, I learned that the girls that I hung out with often went on diet coke, pineapple diets. For 2 weeks at a time all they would eat was pineapple and all they would drink was diet coke. They were all very very thin and this sprung feelings of inferiority. I was quite a bit fatter than they were and I realized that they were judging me for it. So I attempted to do the same bit, then failed, then attempted my diet again, and then failed. I realized that these rich girls with fridges brimming at the edges and maids preparing huge lunches were all, in a sense, starving themselves.
This article shed a little knowledge on to my own insight.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
The Sounds of Brazil
Article:Mika Kaurismäki Introduces His Spiritual Home
We are lucky in the United States to hear music similar to the lusty latino beats when we turn on the television around the last week of February. Catching the end of a news report on Marde Gras. When you are in Brazil you live Marde Gras for 2 weeks straight.
This article is about a Finnish filmmaker and his fixation on Brazil. It began when he was only fifteen years old and he's been claiming it to be his spiritual home ever since. For the last ten years he has been living, on and off, between Helsinki and Rio. He was implored by a French channel called 'Arte', he agreed to make a documentary film on Brazilian music. Namely, the most popular of Brazilian music, The Samba. He explored the samba and its connection to people all over Brazil. He found that the Samba meant something different to all parts of Brazil. To the folks in northeast Bahia the Samba serves as a connection to the Brazilian people that lived there before African and European explorers came to their country. For the black people in Bahia it serves the purpose of connecting them to their ancestors ceremonies. For persons in bigger cities like Rio, Sao Paulo, and Pernambuco it shows that the woes of poverty are beaten down and danced away in celebration.
The article goes on to tell about how this Finnish man opened a club for the musicians he met, but chose to continue being a filmmaker.
The Samba ties itself to Marde Gras to the umpth most degree. When I said earlier that you live 2 weeks of Marde Gras, you literaly get up, breathe, eat and shower in Samba. Their are parades all the time displaying beautiful floats with tons of dancers surrounding them. Each one of the floats and group of dancers represents the different dance schools that are around the area. In smaller towns the parades are little, but in the bigger ones, like Rio, the parades last for hours. At the end of the parade they schools are judged on presentation and they either win or doesn't win.
But other than this 2 weeks a year the Samba has fixed itself firmly in Brazilian culture. When I was in Brazil I had the opportunity to travel all over Northeast Brazil. Watching them dance Samba struck me interested.
They danced with a different and deeper passion than the samba dancers in Sao Paulo. Now I know that the persons in Bahia are dancing to celebrate their ancestors ceremony. This wasn't a dance that they learned in school, they were actually brought up learning this dance as a ritual. Like saying a prayer before you go to bed. The people around the state of Sao Paulo get drunk and dance Samba. It is a celebration over poverty.
This article cued me in to some interesting concepts.
Other Link to Samba History
AIDS/HIV in Brazil
Article: AIDS/HIV in Brazil
This article explained why the Brazilian government refused a 40 million dollar grant for AID/HIV prevention in Brazil. The grant was coming from the United States and Brazil had already accepted 8 million dollars of that money. When the US discovered that it might be going to aid commercial sex programs they called a conference. The US offered an ultimatum stating that they would fund the money as long as Brazil ensured it wouldn't be given to any commercial sex industries. They didn't want to support 'prostitution' in Brazil.
In response, although some programs promote abstinence the majority support the use of condoms. Brazil officials stated that the commercial sex industry is amongst the biggest advocates of condom use and they will not refuse funds from them. Instead they refused the money from the United States and will increase government spending in the programs to make up for the lost funding.
From a personal perspective, sex is everywhere in Brazil. I actually learned that, second to South Africa, it had the highest populous of AIDS in the world. I learned that, according to the journal, that there were only 660,000 people infected as of 2005. That was a shock to me.
The article did refered to Brazil's openness about sex.
There are hookers working the streets at night, pornography stores on every back alley, and the exchange of needles in bathrooms. You see these things when you go to Brazil. I even lived in the small city. I am suprised to learned that they are doing things to combat the AIDS epidemic.
If Brazil went with this policy to only fund abstinence agencies then it would go against everything Brazil a big part of what Brazilians pride themselves on: that is their openess with sexuality.
This article explained why the Brazilian government refused a 40 million dollar grant for AID/HIV prevention in Brazil. The grant was coming from the United States and Brazil had already accepted 8 million dollars of that money. When the US discovered that it might be going to aid commercial sex programs they called a conference. The US offered an ultimatum stating that they would fund the money as long as Brazil ensured it wouldn't be given to any commercial sex industries. They didn't want to support 'prostitution' in Brazil.
In response, although some programs promote abstinence the majority support the use of condoms. Brazil officials stated that the commercial sex industry is amongst the biggest advocates of condom use and they will not refuse funds from them. Instead they refused the money from the United States and will increase government spending in the programs to make up for the lost funding.
From a personal perspective, sex is everywhere in Brazil. I actually learned that, second to South Africa, it had the highest populous of AIDS in the world. I learned that, according to the journal, that there were only 660,000 people infected as of 2005. That was a shock to me.
The article did refered to Brazil's openness about sex.
Brazil has been a "model" for combating HIV/AIDS with its "accepting, open" policies toward commercial sex workers, injection drug users, men who have sex with men and other "high-risk" groups
There are hookers working the streets at night, pornography stores on every back alley, and the exchange of needles in bathrooms. You see these things when you go to Brazil. I even lived in the small city. I am suprised to learned that they are doing things to combat the AIDS epidemic.
If Brazil went with this policy to only fund abstinence agencies then it would go against everything Brazil a big part of what Brazilians pride themselves on: that is their openess with sexuality.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Zero Hunger Project
"The top 20 percent of the population earn 60 percent of the country's income, whilst the lowest 20 percent survive on less than 4 percent."
FAO, this FAO article is addressing the poverty in Brazil and how its extreme effects are causing the malnutrition of some 44 million persons in Brazil. What is FAO? It is a food and agricultural organization that is part of the United Nation. One of their main interests is to defeat world hunger. They were working together with past president Lula in an attempt to feed the nation of Brazil. To do this they enforced the Zero Hunger Project. In this project they would allow funds (via cash cards) to persons in Brazil that could prove they fell at or below the required poverty status. These people were the ones that are surviving on about 1 US dollar a day. Namely people in the state of Bahia in North Eastern Brazil. The poorest region in all the country. The recipients of the card would then have to prove that the money they spent was on basic food essentials. In Brazil it would be rice and brown beans.
On a personal note, the poverty in Brazil is apparent everywhere you go. The hunger is not. You have to look a little bit deeper. When I visited Bahia we were brought to the most lavish of areas. Salvador, in praticular, was the perfect combination of crystal clear water and poor. THIS photo describes what its like. When I see this picture I think nothing but utter happieness. Its hard to get a Brazilian down. However, look at the tires that are on the stairs. This is not a wealthy neighborhood. It makes me wonder if these boys have school or anything else. Anyway, from my experience in Bahia I learned that this is the place to be wary of everything. People steal constantly just to keep their heads above the water. We went to a very prestigeous beach and some children stole not only my backpack, but my friend's candy bar and french fries. They are in need of not only money, but FOOD!This is the first time I learned of there being a program to help the poverty class in Brazil. I do have hard time believing that this'll work. A lot of children are trained to steal so that they have food for their families at night. When we were finished looking through an open market in Salvador, the entire group of exchange students was bombarded by gypsies. Actual gypsies, can you believe that? After we had gotten through the 30 ladies dressed all in white we discovered wrist watches missing and wallets with no money. It was incredible. This leads me to believe that handing out money is not the answer. When the goverment gives out money instead of food, well, I think it'll be in the pocket of someone other then its benefactor by night fall.
FAO, this FAO article is addressing the poverty in Brazil and how its extreme effects are causing the malnutrition of some 44 million persons in Brazil. What is FAO? It is a food and agricultural organization that is part of the United Nation. One of their main interests is to defeat world hunger. They were working together with past president Lula in an attempt to feed the nation of Brazil. To do this they enforced the Zero Hunger Project. In this project they would allow funds (via cash cards) to persons in Brazil that could prove they fell at or below the required poverty status. These people were the ones that are surviving on about 1 US dollar a day. Namely people in the state of Bahia in North Eastern Brazil. The poorest region in all the country. The recipients of the card would then have to prove that the money they spent was on basic food essentials. In Brazil it would be rice and brown beans.
On a personal note, the poverty in Brazil is apparent everywhere you go. The hunger is not. You have to look a little bit deeper. When I visited Bahia we were brought to the most lavish of areas. Salvador, in praticular, was the perfect combination of crystal clear water and poor. THIS photo describes what its like. When I see this picture I think nothing but utter happieness. Its hard to get a Brazilian down. However, look at the tires that are on the stairs. This is not a wealthy neighborhood. It makes me wonder if these boys have school or anything else. Anyway, from my experience in Bahia I learned that this is the place to be wary of everything. People steal constantly just to keep their heads above the water. We went to a very prestigeous beach and some children stole not only my backpack, but my friend's candy bar and french fries. They are in need of not only money, but FOOD!This is the first time I learned of there being a program to help the poverty class in Brazil. I do have hard time believing that this'll work. A lot of children are trained to steal so that they have food for their families at night. When we were finished looking through an open market in Salvador, the entire group of exchange students was bombarded by gypsies. Actual gypsies, can you believe that? After we had gotten through the 30 ladies dressed all in white we discovered wrist watches missing and wallets with no money. It was incredible. This leads me to believe that handing out money is not the answer. When the goverment gives out money instead of food, well, I think it'll be in the pocket of someone other then its benefactor by night fall.
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