I decided to combine all of the ways you can donate to help Rio flood victims into a single post, especially because the Brazil Foundation announced today that they will be accepting online donations on behalf of two Rio organizations working to help victims, including VivaRio and Instituto da Criança. The death toll is currently at 744 and growing, and nearly 14,000 people are temporarily homeless.
Today I took $100 and split it evenly between Doctors Without Borders, CARE, the Red Cross, and Partners in Health to go towards rescue efforts in Haiti. It's a tiny, infinitesimal drop in the bucket, but I needed to do something. These are among the best organizations already working in Haiti, and I'm confident they'll use all of their donations wisely to put them to good use.
In the meantime, news reports today are unclear about Haitian casualties though estimates are in the tens of thousands, but the Brazilian government discovered that at least eleven Brazilians in the UN forces were killed, along with doctor, public health phenomenon, and social activist Zilda Arns. International casualties are also being reported from the UN headquarters.
While looking at some of the "how to help" pages, I came across a really cool organization called Architecture for Humanity, which is an extremely worthy cause for not just Haiti but the entire developing world. They are going to help with reconstruction efforts in Port-au-Prince, but not for temporary housing but rather with long-term, sturdy, permanent dwellings and buildings. They're also working on a really interesting project in Brazil (any architects out there? They need Portuguese speakers).
The thing that concerns me about the recovery and rescue efforts in Haiti is that because of the media spotlight and political pressure, an enormous amount of money and donations are going to flow in during the first few weeks, and then eventually dwindle as time goes on. This kind of catastrophe is a long term issue, and people are going to need food, water, shelter, clothing, and medical care for a considerable amount of time before the country can even start to think about rebuilding. The sad thing is, many people already needed some or all of those things before the earthquake. In any event, I really hope the world doesn't forget about Haiti once the initial media bonanza dies down. But judging from the past, it probably will.
I've kept in touch with the Ballet de Santa Teresa, where I was a volunteer while I lived in Rio. They send me updates and keep former volunteers in the loop, which is nice to be able to see how things are going. But last night I received really bad news.
The staff sent out a series of images to the listserv, and this was the first one:
See where the blue table is? There used to be a wall and a hill back there. Apparently, the wall completely fell apart and there was a landslide, bringing down so much debris that the school had to be closed.
Classes are temporarily being held at a local cultural center, but they're hoping to find a facility to move to until they figure out what will happen to the wrecked school. Since as usual, funds are extremely low, they are currently looking for help, so the kids still have somewhere to go.
If you know of a potential facility that the ballet could use (ideally in the vicinity of Santa Teresa or Centro), or advice about how they should proceed, please email balletdesantateresa at hotmail dot com. I'm sure they'd welcome donations, too. Now more than ever, they are in desperate need of help.
Naturally, I'd find out about this amazing school after moving back from Rio, but I'm glad that it's now at least on my radar. Thanks to Kacie for sending this to me!
UPDATE: The Miami Herald published a second story about the program today with a photo gallery of the kids here.
The Miami City Ballet has a scholarship program for children from the Escola de Dança Alice Arja, a professional dance school near Barra that trains a combination of paying students and favela kids. Alice Arja was trained in Brazil, the US, and Cuba, and has run the school since 1989, producing students who have gone on to join major companies in Brazil and Europe, and to study at professional schools around the world.
Ms. Arja sets aside half of the spots at the school for scholarship students, and has set up a partnership with the Miami City Ballet to send the most talented students to the US to take a summer intensive there. This year, 23 of her students were accepted into the program, a sizable fraction of the 215 total students in the entire summer intensive from all over the US and the world. One of the Brazilian students even won an apprenticeship with the Miami City Ballet, and will stay in the US to dance with them.
While the video feature from the Miami Herald drums away at how "needy" the children are (they live in cardboard boxes! without water! or electricity!), the bottom line is that this is an amazing and unique program that allows kids with no financial resources to have the opportunity of a lifetime to train in another country. [Check out the full story from the Miami Herald here, and watch the accompanying video below.]
The MH video wasn't spectacularly done, but what I really loved was finding videos of one of the Brazilian students dancing at the program this year (with hushed, awed commentary in Portuguese). See parts 2 & 3 of the piece here and here.
So I attempted my own charity experiment, which I hate to say I wouldn't recommend to others.
First, I held an online auction, largely targeted at gringos in Brazil, but I got a less than enthusiastic response, and in the end, nearly all of the bidders were Brazilian. I decided to accept only Brazil-based bids, and sent the books out by mail. [A huge thanks to Joao, Denise, and Mariel for participating and giving to a good cause!! I hope you enjoy your books!]
Since I had so many books left over, I decided to donate them, and brought them over to the library at the American School of Rio. There, I was met by the incredibly sweet librarian, who thanked me for the books and invited me to chat, asking me how I found out about the school and my life in Brazil. She asked me to sign the book with my story in it, and told me they would put a little sticker in each book saying I had donated it. It was one of the best parts of the whole experience, though I had hoped to have auctioned off more books to increase the monetary proceeds.
Next, I held a vote to see which NGO I should give the proceeds to. The results showed signs of irregularity, so I held a recount, which very few people voted in. After my two attempts at blog democracy failed, I made an authoritarian decision to give the proceeds to Refazer, since I had really liked the look of it after a reader suggested it, and since they help low-income children and teens with chronic illnesses, as well as their families. I also decided it would be nice to give back to an organization in the neighborhood I made my home for two years.
So I took the R$90 in donations and added R$25 of my own. I also put together some stuff from our apartment, since they also accept those types of donations. Eli and I went to the supermarket and bought a grocery cart full of non-perishable food, like rice, beans, cooking oil, canned food, spaghetti, baby formula, amongst other things (the supermarket didn't have a pre-made cesta basica). We loaded everything into our small cart and hauled the rest by hand twelve long blocks. Poor Eli dragged the cart, which was literally too heavy for me to hold up.
We finally got to the NGO, in a pretty house at the end of a quiet street. We walked in and I poked my head into the first door, asking where we could bring the stuff. The lady was very polite and told us to bring it to reception, next door. There, a man was standing around, and a woman was helping another couple. I asked the guy, who just stared at us, where we should put everything. "You can leave it right here." He took out two cards, and then excused himself. We unloaded some of the stuff. When he came back, Eli asked if they could also use the grocery cart, and he nodded. "Ok, you can have that too then." The guy silently handed us the cards, which were signed by someone from the NGO, and Eli and I wound up awkwardly thanking the guy, rather than vice versa. He didn't ask us about our interest in the NGO, or how we had found the place, or if we'd like to look around or to receive more information about the place. Nothing.
It was the least gratifying charity experience ever. It certainly taught me a lesson about the lack of interest in philanthropy.
After the past few weeks, I've decided my favorite place to people watch in Rio is the international arrivals gate at the airport, and the absolute worst is at the city's professional ballet school.
I've been volunteering at a ballet NGO since I moved here, and I've been training a group of kids since last March to audition for the state ballet school, one of the best in the country that feeds right into the city's ballet company. This week they're holding auditions, and one of my students asked me to go with her, since her mom couldn't go. So it began.
Yesterday I went back to the ballet school after winter break to start giving class again, even though technically next week is the first week of the semester. I'd arranged to give an extra class-- at the students' request--so the kids can get back in shape before their auditions for the big ballet school in a few weeks. The director chose the date for the extra class, but never responded when I asked her if she was able to warn all the kids in the class.
So naturally, when I got there, there were a grand total of two kids there. The director went on about how some kids hadn't signed up for the new semester yet and was completely unapologetic. So I gave class and it was fine, but I've already planned for some changes. Starting in March, I'm not going to give a weekly class, partially because I can't deal with the administration and the disorganization, and partially because the director asked if she could take half of my classes (I have one a week). Considering that she is the only other regular ballet teacher and she frequently misses the regular ballet classes, I just found that pill a little too hard to swallow. So in any event, starting in March I'm hoping to do a once a month masterclass or special event for my kids. Any ideas?
I've learned a lot volunteering here, and frankly not much of it has been positive. Even the kids, who I adore, are totally flaky, and it's safe to expect that a great student may show up one day and then never come back to the school at all. It's extremely hard to run an NGO in Brazil, and even more difficult in Rio. I haven't lost my faith in non-profits though. I've just learned how not to run one, which in the long run may be a good thing.
