Rocinha Turning Yellow and Green

There is less than a week to the start of the World Cup and the whole city of Rio is turning into Brazil's national colours. Rocinha is no exception. There is practically no bar, restaurant or main street without the Brazilian flag or at least some yellow-green-blue decorations.

A local supermarket 

One of the Travessas leading to Via Apia

A local clothes store

Nova Rocinha

Breaking Down Misconceptions Through Art

"I truly believe that art can be a catalyst for change, altering the way people see themselves and the world around them, which is why I am so enthusiastic about community/participatory art and activism." - Beccy McCray

A few months ago I had been contacted by artist and creative producer, Beccy McCray. She expressed great interest in having a workshop at our organization and proposed an art/craft workshop. Her desired objective? To facilitate a positive difference by linking people together through creative means and also to have a good time! She was well-aware that many people have negative preconceived notions about favelas and favela residents (being violent and hubs for drug trafficking), and because of those misconceptions her other target was to use art to to tell truths about favela life and favela residents to dismantle those misconceptions.

On November 11th, we surprised our students (from both Will's class and Harriet's class) with Beccy's workshop. To begin, she had each student select a hand-made bracelet, from a bag that she had brought with her, for each student to keep.

After each student selected their bracelet, she explained that their bracelets had been made by participants in England. She gave out instructions for making the bracelets and then told the kids that they will make bracelets for other people in England.

Photos and a bit of information will be included with the bracelets, so that the recipient will know who made their bracelet and where they come from. More specifically, they will all be distributed around Hackney Wick, where the pre-made bracelets she gave to our kids originated from, thus connecting it to Rocinha.
I'm American and  I've  never traveled to London, let alone England so I don't know much about London burroughs. Beccy described Hackney Wick being similar to Rocinha. She states that, "Rocinha actually has a lot in common with Hackney - it too is a deprived area which borders the Olympic Park, but is also a crucible of culture."

Overall, the workshop was a hit. Not only did the kids thoroughly enjoy it, but us resident volunteers also enjoyed it very much as well. A huge thank you, Beccy, for coming out here to spend some time with us and sharing your creativity with us. We couldn't be more grateful! 

Monster Mash.

Halloween isn't very popular in Brazil, although its fanbase is currently growing in some of Brazil's bigger cities. I imagine that this can be attributed to two things: The number of English-language schools that throw Halloween parties and also because of American pop culture. It is entirely possible to find Halloween parties around Rio, but they aren't that numerous and you generally wouldn't see swarms of people dressed up in costumes everywhere!

We try not to limit our curriculum to strictly English lessons, so whenever we can, we incorporate cultural lessons and activities. Additionally, Halloween is my absolute favorite Holiday, so it was only necessary to celebrate Halloween with our kids and teens by throwing a party at the Escola Moranguinhos. Vivi (Our Field Coordinator) and I planned and organized the party in adavance, but she couldn't stay for the party because she was ill. Will (a resident volunteer), Maria (one of our board members) and I were at the school before the party started to set up and decorate everything.

Maria & Will decorating

Vanessa & I

Around 7PM, Will had to leave the party to teach his English class for adults and shortly after, Maria also had to go home. I would also like to note that I was very impressed by how helpful some of the teen girls were. A couple of them did a wonderful job of helping me watch the younger children.To keep the momentum going and everyone entertained, we played some typical Halloween games such as bobbing for apples and the mummy wrap game. Since children do not go out trick or treating in Brazil, we did the opposite and went door to door on our little street to hand out candy to our neighbors. 

Here is a clip of our reverse trick or treating:

I hope all of you had an equally delightful Halloween!

Also, if you are interested in learning a bit more about me and getting more insight on my life as a resident volunteer/assistant field coordinator here, you can click over to my blog:
 www.riohapa.com
or e-mail me directly at Jennifer@2bros.org

Riding Through Rocinha at Night.

This is what it's like to ride a motorcycle taxi through Rocinha, at night. Moto-taxis are one of the most convenient ways to get around Rocinha. Recorded by Jennifer, Resident Volunteer/Assistant Field Coordinator.

To get more insight on what it's like to work here as a resident volunteer, visit:

riohapa.com

A New Rotation.

As summer came to a close, we said farewell to two very wonderful people, welcomed two new resident volunteers and welcomed a returning resident volunteer for our second term of the year.

Will Brandreth is from the United Kingdom and he is currently teaching our children’s class and our adult beginner English class.

Harriet Simpson is also from the United Kingdom and has taken over the teen English class, from the reins of Erin.

Katie Dauth is from Australia and she first came to work as a resident volunteer in July of 2012 and used to teach our children's class, adult intermediate class and adult advanced class. She returned to Australia in the following January and came back to Rocinha this past July to teach our advanced English class.

Erin Kanygin (Canada) and Wesley Cornwell (U.S.A.) served as resident volunteers from the beginning of May until the end of August. We want to thank both of you, from the bottom of our hearts, for the work you contributed to the Two Brothers Foundation, for your dedication, eagerness and compassion for the people of Rocinha and for our project. We miss you both!

English Role Play - Voluntourist Post

We went with Ben to his advanced adult class to help out and learn the ropes as we will be leading his sessions next week while he is away. This class is not held at the usual school but further up the winding hill into the favela. They use a classroom here which belongs to another NGO company that teaches residents about computer programs and has loads of old computers, monitors and keyboards and runs classes in how they are put together. The session today started with a writing exercise to demonstrate when to use the verb ‘do’ or when to use ‘make’ as in Portuguese the same word is used for both. Ben is very eager for the group to have a good mix of writing, reading, speaking and listening but is most keen to be able to relate these things to real life experiences so that they can have proper conversations consequently, the rest of the session was based in drama and role plays which suited us fine. There was a scenario with 3 parts – a celebrity couple (the husband was a footballer and his wife a pop star) and a journalist trying to find out more about the husbands alleged affair. 

The class was split into groups and we were able to join in taking the role of the journalist which was fun because it meant that we could ask questions and tailor them to the level of each student. It also meant that we could get into role and encourage the drama to follow. Setting the English lesson up as a fake, gossip television show was really fun and the students came up with wildly funny and clever answers punctuated with the ‘girl was photo shopped’ throughout. Everyone got into their roles which seemed to help the conversation flow as they were putting themselves into a different situation, for example two of the participants pretending to be husband and wife even started to have little arguments with each other, this helped to bring the words and grammar to life and give them a meaning off the page. It was great class all round and I look forward to coming back again and exploring other role play scenarios. 

Field Trip to Christ the Redeemer

Good afternoon readers! Yesterday was a great day for all involved with 2Bros here on the ground in Rocinha. After a little planning we finally got the ball rolling with post-Carnaval field trips.

Two of our new Resident Volunteers Jess and Ben from England, accompanied by Vivi and Jennifer took some of our younger students up to Christ the Redeemer for what was an action packed day. Given the nature of the trip and the excitement of the kids, we had a positive turn out on the day and set off with a group of 13 all together, including 9 kids.

So, Vivi arranged some transportation in the form of a van and at around 11 o¢clock we began our journey across Rio. I think we all knew the kids would be excited but the scenes that took place in the van on the way there were nothing short of festival like. As soon as the driver met the kids demands of their favourite Baile song it was game over for a peaceful journey.

Watch the video HERE.

At around 12pm the group arrived at the very bottom of the Tijuca National Park, the area in which the world famous statue is situated. We then swapped vans and began our ascent. As we got closer and closer and began to catch glimpses of Christ in the distance the childrens excitement grew and grew. The mesmerising views from the cliff side roads, although slightly worrying one of the kids to begin with, were enough to kick start some impatience on every one’s behalf to want to reach the top.

At the summit everyone had a great time. We took picture after picture. Most of the kids relished the opportunity to mount the ledge at the bottom of the statue itself. They laughed and screamed at the illusion made the by the clouds passing behind Christ, and of course admired the views whilst taking the opportunity to test their Geography skills identifying their city’s different areas from above.

After a sit down churrasco lunch and some more baile madness in the van on the way home, we all arrived back in Rocinha after a brilliant day. Throughout the day we got some feedback from the kids as to what the next trips should be and we currently have a short list of the cinema and a swimming pool.

That is all for now folks. Thanks for reading.