Adventures of a Gringa

Olympics Watchdog: Part II

Today, I'm going to focus on one particular issue from the Olympics debate: communities under threat from being destroyed.

Though I haven't seen much in the media about the government's plans to raze several favelas to make room for Olympic venues, there has been lots of talk about turning all of the city's favelas into "real" neighborhoods. There's also a little story about how the Rio city mayor wants to construct sound barriers on two of the major highways in the city, including the one that goes to the airport, which happens to be lined by some of the city's worst slums. The structure of the story was interesting, describing how favela residents who live along the highways are up in arms and against the measure, while the city government is arguing that it has to do with actually trapping sound from the highway (they do it in Europe! they said), but the last two paragraphs of the story described how an American athlete who came to Rio for the PanAm Games in 2007 wrote on her blog that it was "the poorest city she'd ever seen." Interesting.

The one story I did actually find about communities under threat was a poorly written tale stuck in the sports section, about favelas which will be destroyed to make room for a new stadium. The residents will be moved to brand new housing, the city claims, where they will be able to pay for their homes in small increments through a new government program. The story makes it seem like everyone is happy about this, since they will become a "model community," despite the fact that the 40 year-old fishing community's few infrastructure achievements, like a park and a soccer field, will be destroyed, along with all of their homes. But since I can't find much more information on it, I'm not really sure how accurate anything is.

Enter CatComm, a highly-respected NGO in Brazil and the US, which has a new project underway to make sure favela residents are heard. (Incidentally, one of their main projects is sharing community-based solutions from around the world, which was a project I'd been thinking about for a new blog, but when I discovered them I realized it's already being done! Anyway..)

The project, which is being featured on IdeaBlob, needs funding to get underway, and you can help with a single click by voting for the project. It's the last day for voting, so please do the quick sign-up to cast your vote (it's free and very easy). Here's the plan for the project:

If we win the $10k, in 2010 Catalytic Communities (CatComm) will train 200 community organizers across Rio's favelas to use online networking tools including Twitter, Facebook and WiserEarth, to ensure their voices are heard by authorities and the global community in the years leading up to 2016.

An online community will be formed in each of these online spaces where the general public can "hear" what leaders from the favelas have to say, support them, and follow their work. Links will be made with the press and the mayor's office.

We will then develop an online training program and continue face-to-face capacity-building in 2011 and beyond.

In other words, CatComm, which has been working with poor communities in Rio since 2000, will link up with favela leaders (that is, civic leaders, not drug traffickers) to make sure that they take a stand that is not just heard in Rio, but around the world, and is heard by decision-makers, as well. (On a side note, I'm not happy I just found out about CatComm just now, and not two years ago.)

If you have any information on other plans to raze favelas, or on other projects that involve working with these communities during the Olympics preparations, please leave a comment or email riogringaconsult at gmail dot com.

Linkage

I started temping this week, and my brain is a little fried, so I'm going to put off the Olympics post until Monday, since I want to spend some time on it.

In the meantime, here are some links to check out, including a brand new post:

• I wrote a little Top Ten list for Blogs.com (at their request) this week, which is called "Top Ten Blogs for Understanding the Real Brazil." Check it out here.
• Gilberto over at "No Imperio" wrote a wonderfully flattering post about this blog last week. See here to read it (in Portuguese).
• I found an excellent short documentary about Curitiba and how urban planning made it the city with the highest quality of life in Brazil, and posted it over on Portuguese Blog, where I write for Transparent.

Blog Marketing Secrets

First and foremost, dear readers, I am so very sorry for being late in publishing your comments from the past few days. I wasn't ignoring you, nor was I deathly ill, nor feeling lazy. Typepad stopped sending me notification emails to approve the comments, and since I wasn't checking the admin board, I had no idea there were any new comments. (I'm working on trying to fix that)

So today I thought I'd share a little piece of advice to the Internet marketers out there, especially the ones targeting travel/international blogs such as this one. While some of this may seem obvious, you'd be amazed by some of the emails I get. I'm not a big time blogger like Dooce or Kibe Loco, but what I lack in big reader numbers I make up for in reader quality (oh yes, I do love you guys!)

Here it goes:

1. Look up the blogger's name. I will always read through an email if a person bothers to look up my first name, which is not that difficult to find, but when I see, all too often, that the person hasn't bothered (i.e. "Hello!" "Greetings!") I instantly lose interest.

2. Send a sample of the product, if possible. If it's a TV show, send a clip or a link. If it's a blog, post more than one link. You have to make sure the blogger has to do as little work as possible to see whatever it is you want him/her to see. It should be right there, in his/her face.

3. Prove you've actually taken time to read the blog. I received a lovely email awhile back from a woman at Lijit after I added the search tool to my blog (you can now search my blog for old posts or whatever topic you're interested in! See the column on the right, under the archives). She told me about her favorite posts and wished me luck on my job hunt, clearly showing she'd looked through the blog. It makes all the difference in the world.

4. Compliment. Brown nosing is one thing, but throwing in a compliment or two always helps butter up a blogger. That's what we love most, and it never hurts to hear. But make sure it's honest and sensible, or else it's just obnoxious.

5. Produce a great product. Some of the things I have raved about the most have been sent to me by readers or friends, or things I've discovered myself. Ultimately, if your product is something that fits a certain blogger's profile, he/she is going to love it and embrace it without any help from a marketer. The key to getting bloggers to promote something is making sure you create a quality product that they somehow find out about. The Internet works in different ways than traditional marketing, and word of mouth is a great tool for Internet marketing, be it through Twitter or Facebook. If the product's great but the email is terrible, the blogger may not even look at the product. If you're not great at emails, you have to get the blogger's attention through other means.

Candlelight Vigil

After some brainstorming, the Bring Sean Home community has decided to hold a candlelight vigil the night of June 16, 2009, which marks the five year anniversary of Sean Goldman's abduction to Brazil.

The event will be worldwide, and all you have to do is a light a candle. Then, if you so chose, you can take a picture and post it here [or just leave a comment], and show your solidarity with David and Sean. We already have people from all over the US and at least four other countries pledging to participate.

Here in New York, we'll be holding a live event from 8PM - 9PM in Washington Square Park, having a group candlelight vigil for Sean. If you'd like to come and show your support, or swing by and say hi, please leave a comment on the BSH event thread. Or here, if you so chose.

I hope to see you there!

UPDATE: There will be live events in Washington, DC, Chicago, and Red Bank, NJ as well as NYC. Please see the forum or the Facebook Invitation for more details.

Call Out: Native Portuguese Teachers in the US

Want free advertising? I'm going to create a page for Portuguese teachers in the United States, like I did for English teachers in Brazil. Natives only, please! Send an email to riogringaconsult at gmail dot com with contact info and other pertinent information. [Also, if you're a native English speaker teaching English in Brazil, you can still send me your info to put on the English teacher's page!]

Quer anúncio grátis? Vou criar uma página para professores de português nos Estados Unidos, como fiz para professores de inglês no Brasil. Só nativos, por favor! Mande email para riogringaconsult arroba gmail ponto com com informação de contato e outras informacões importantes.

Recount and Auction

The silent auction closes tonight at 10pm, and unless I reach an R$150 minimum in bids, I'll be donating all the books (I'm currently just R$8 short). I was really hoping for more bidders in Rio, so if you're a Carioca da gema or da gringa, please have a look! There are some really awesome books (and DVDs!) at low prices.

Also, due to some voting irregularities, I have to hold a recount to decide the winning NGO, where I will donate all the money from the auction. Voting will be done the old-fashioned way--by leaving a comment. Take a look at the NGOs and then leave a comment with your vote here.

NGO list and summaries after the jump.

Rio Gringa Silent Auction Fundraiser

Since I'm leaving, since I have amassed quite a large collection of books and a few DVDs, and since I wanted to do something beneficial for the city before I leave, I've decided to hold a silent auction.

100% will go to charity--in fact, you, the reader, get to decide which one! The auction begins on April 16th and ends at 10pm on April 21st. 

Every item has a story: the Harry Potter book I paid a small fortune for at Travessa in Ipanema the day after it came out, Lolita, which I bought at the Rio Bienal and finished in three days, or Cryptonomicon, which I escaped to during parts of my vacation with the in-laws. Then of course there are the two copies of Chicken Soup, which include my story, the first to be published in a book!

See the list and rules after the jump!