Donations Gratefully Accepted!

NOTE: Since writing this blog entry, I have received enough donations to reach my goal (and indeed go a bit beyond it). My thanks to all of you for your support!

Dear readers of this blog, friends, family, colleagues, professors, classmates and all-around wonderful people,

While interning at Communities in Schools at Travis High School in Austin, Texas last year, I had the idea for a photo project with the students. With your support, we were able to pull it off! (If anyone would like to see a copy of the report on this, please email me at: lostinthequotidian@gmail.com).

This spring, as an intern at a social services agency in Porto Alegre, Brazil, I am excited to be embarking on a second project and I am writing to ask for your support.

I am collaborating with two youth programs run by energetic and enthusiastic people. We love the idea of promoting self-expression and enhancing self-esteem through photography with these creative, smart and passionate youth. An example of their creativity can be seen here in a mural they produced: 

One program, ProJovem [ProYouth] is intended for youth whose families have monthly incomes below $80 American (R$140 Brazilian reais) and/or who are in conflict with the law. We presented the group with several options for the project’s theme, including self-portraits and graffiti. They chose “Drugs: Impact on our lives” because, in their words, they live with the reality of drugs on a daily basis. They brainstormed titles for the project including, “Be happy without crack” and “Crack: the destruction of dreams.” 

The second program, Programa de Prestação de Serviços à Comunidade da Universidade de Rio Grande do Sul [Program of Community Service of the University of Rio Grande do Sul] is for youth in conflict with the law who are ordered to complete community service. Operating out of the education department, this program sets youth up with places to perform community service and also facilitates a youth group for them. We’ll begin the discussion with them about the theme for their photography project soon.

In the end, we hope to bring both programs together by inviting their family and friends to view their work at a final show.

Due to a generous donation of 25 one-time use cameras from the SNAP Foundation, we have a strong start. However, we also need to raise money to pay for the development of film, printing of photographs and enlargement of some of the photographs for the final show, as well as other costs (customs fees for the cameras which we're trying to get lowered, materials hanging the photos for the show).

There is heartwarming support for this project at the social service agency and the programs (both directly and indirectly involved) are assisting as they are able financially, but budgets are limited.  My colleagues are creative and know how to achieve a lot with a little. However, the more resources we are able to raise, the higher the quality the final show will be able to attain. It’s a question, for example, of printing 8x10 photographs on photography paper or printing the pictures using a color printer and regular paper.

Therefore, I am writing you to ask for any donation you might be able to give. For example, $3 will pay for enlarging one photo for the final show. $10 will pay for the printing and developing of one camera. You can rest assured that we will be shopping around as well as further negotiating these prices with the photography store that we decide to use, but these numbers are based on quotes from stores that I spoke to yesterday. I have set up a Pay Pal account for facilitation of donations, which you can reach by clicking on the "Donate" button on the right side of this page. [This button has since been removed because, wonderfully, I have reached my donation goal].

Although I did not anticipate it last year, one of my favorite parts of the experience was the final show. The students got to bask in the admiration of their friends, family and community for their creativity, efforts and visual/written expressions. They were glowing. Their pride in their work was beautiful.

I love how photography gives a person a way to capture their vision of what they see and to share that vision with others. I am honored (and excited) to be able to see the images of the world that will be produced by the awesome youth participating in this project.

The project ends in mid-May, a week before I return to Austin, Texas to graduate. Soon after, I will send out a report, complete with pictures, of course, to anyone who is interested.

Thank you for your support and please don't hesitate to email me with questions!

Abraços (hugs) & gratitude from Brazil,

Libélula Azul

A Week in the Life of an Intern

So, now that I've provided a little background information on my internship, I suppose it's only right to fill y'all in on what I've actually been doing for the past week or so when I'm not out galavanting about the countryside or experiencing the Brazilian health care system.

Part II.

A week ago today, I reported at 8:30 for my first full day. The office is on the fourth floor and I have posted a picture below of the view out the window, past cute little plants.

That Monday I waited outside the entrance, which is protected by a barred gate that extends about 20 feet, with several doors, each door locked with a chain and padlock. Inside is a seating area and the front door. At lunch I learned that it was much easier to take the elevator down to the ground floor and exit/enter through the staff parking lot. Ah ha!

The elevator itself is an odd experience though. The buttons give me the same feeling of opening my iPhone. It's this light touch which you're supposed to perform just-so in order to get the button to light up. Of course, the button for the fourth floor happens to be tempermental and slightly broken, so really it's just the luck of your touch. I have thought that I pressed it correctly, only to go up, stopping at each floor, only to descend back down again instead of going to my floor. It's these little things though, that I feel as a foreigner, make you feel like there's some simple magic trick that you're not being let in on, or because of your foreignness is just not part of your line of thinking. As though everyone else can do this except you.

However, nobody else seems to know the trick either.

Why don't I just walk up the flights of stairs you ask? Yes, that would make sense. But, after a rigorous 20 minute walk in hot and humid weather, I'm already dripping with sweat (no one else seems to sweat around here. Just me.) and I want to start the cooling down process so I'm looking somewhat presentable by the time I reach the fourth floor.

Wow, I digress.

That first Monday I was given an overview (with a cool chart to help illustrate) of the Brazilian juvenile justice system and the part that my program plays in it. I was also given a cool little pin to proudly display on my backpack :-) Then, A.F. (who when I asked her if she'd like an alias for this blog, stuck with A.F.) began the patient task of introducing me to all the various paperwork that comes to the office regarding the kiddos and how it gets entered into the system.

Yes, a lot of my week was spent in data entry. The rest of the time I translating various internship-related documents from my university into Portuguese and drafting an Educational Contract/Internship Plan. This is harder than it sounds (assuming of course that it sounds easy to you). I have not yet learned Portuguese words for social work lingo like "transference" and "use of self." We'll find out in my meeting with my academic supervisor this week how well all my attempts went!

Sometimes too, I sat at a desk reading literature about the program and its inner workings. The person who the desk belonged to was on vacation and so I got to enjoy her pretty yellow flowers.

By the way, I asked my colleagues today how much vacation they get. "Just 30 days," they said, "But you can split it up if you want." Man, don't I wish I could get something like back in the United States!

So, back to that paperwork and data entry. I don't want to leave you with the impression that this was boring.  You see:

No. 1 I got to be with A.F. who was wonderfully patient with me and also very good-humored and fun.

No. 2 Meu deus, there are a lot of acronyms to learn! You know how it is with all new systems - there really is a specialized language that they speak. I learned to speak it at a criminal defense firm. I learned to speak it at social work school. And goshdarnit, of course I want to learn how to speak it here. There are acronyms for the juvenile justice process and there are acronyms for every different piece of paper that gets filed for these kids. It's a lot! All this repetition has been incredibly good for me as its helping me learn and feel more comfortable with this system that I am now a part of until May.

No. 3 This paperwork is really interesting stuff! Seriously. It's confidential and so not just anyone can see or have access to it.  And I got to sit there and just pore over it. I mean, it includes descriptions of the kids' actos infraccionais (offending acts) which often involving drug trafficking (you don't actually get arrested here for just possessing personal amounts of narcotics, it's gotta be more serious possession). However, there's some murder, sexual assault, threats, assault too. There were transcripts from the court processes with judge, which were pretty fascinating. I love this stuff. It immediately gets my brain thinking and trying to picture this situation: What's this kid like? How does his voice sound when he's talking? How's the judge treating him? Hmmm, how reliable is this witness? And seriously, this police account, this is kinda shady to me! All that time I spent at a law firm made me adore reading police reports because they're like puzzles you automatically want to start pulling apart and trying to put together again in different configurations, trying your hardest to get closer to some sort of elusive truth.

And one of the sweeter aspects was that when a kid finishes his/her required medidas socioeducativas (socio-educational measures), they get to fill out a form talking about their experience in the program. Lots don't write anything, but the ones who do appear to be pretty impacted by their time. One young man even wrote a poem about looking inside yourself for answers...

No. 4 It's all in Portuguese! This makes everything automatically that much more fun and more challenging. Even trying to type down numbers that someone dictates to me in Portuguese can require a bit of concentration. There's a lot of vocabulary to learn that I hadn't even considered before or needed to know.

For example today, A. F. had me filling out some information on the internet database based on some paperwork she just received. As she instructed me she said, "Type this and this and this and this, then put a vírgula...." I typed this and this and this and this and then I paused....thinking...what on earth was a vírgula? I didn't know. She waited patiently for a few seconds and then leaned over and punched the comma key on the keyboard. I started laughing. What a fancy word for a comma! She started laughing with me and then whenever she had to say it the rest of the afternoon, we both giggled a little.

And on top of that I get to learn a lot of groovy Portuguese names. Many times these kids have names that are Portuguese approximations of an English name. My favorites so far are Dinifer (pronounced similar to Jennifer) and Geison (pronounced similar to Jason).

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Last Friday's adventure included a trip with A. F. to the courthouse. Turns out that this program and its umbrella foundation has drivers and cars. Wow, I hadn't thought about that. I mentioned this to A.F. She said, "You mean, you don't back home?" She then explained further that since she was carrying a lot of confidential papers, it just made sense even if the courthouse was maybe a half mile away. Yes, better not to have confidential information on juveniles stolen. We climbed into a white van and our driver drove down little roads. Inside the courthouse, she knew the secret elevator that would help us bypass that huge lines. We went up to the juvenile floor and into a room with a gorgeous view of the Guaiaba lake. Later, A. F. told me that they often have the shades drawn and the room is dark. Perhaps to keep the heat out.

She handed over a stack of papers. Then they brought a new stack of papers to us. We went through each one and checked it off in their ledger. Then A. F. initialed next to the checks. After, our own ledger was returned with the papers we had brought also checked off and initialed. Little detailed steps that I've noticed seemed to be an integral part of the system.

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And so, I'll end this post with a description of the coffee. It's not like back in the U.S. where there's usually always a pot of coffee on in the break room. Instead, a young woman with a lovely smile, who also has janitorial duties, brews it downstairs in the kitchen and brings it up in red thermoses to each office space in the morning. There are also two blue thermoses with hot water for those who want tea. And there's a tray full of little mugs, some stirring spoons. For sweeteners there's white sugar or adoçante, sugar-free sweetener. This picture below is the adoçante that EVERYONE has, be it in their kitchens or at a restaurant. For a while I resisted it, but then I figured, why not, a few drops can't hurt. Especially since there's never any cream(er) and everyone drinks their coffee like an espresso.

The young woman washes the used cups and replaces the coffee and hot water at least once during the day. Sometimes employees bring in some cookies or crackers and leave them here to share with the office. It's nice to have the coffee.

And so today at 6 PM, my week-long(ish) orientation into the processes of the central office ended. I may be back every couple weeks for some supervision with one of the coordinators, but not usually for more than an hour.

Next up: clinical work with Brazilian youth in conflict with the law!

Weren't you supposed to be doing an internship in Brazil?

Why, yes. With youth in trouble with the law.

So, it is a good point that perhaps I should start writing about it.

PART I.

First though, we have to travel back to 1990, when the Estatuto da Criança e do Adolescente [Statute of the Child and Adolescent] came into existence in Brazil, which essentially gave specific rights to children and adolescents, based on their "condition as persons in development," including their absolute right to "life, health, nourishment/food, education, sports, leisure, professionalization, culture, dignity, respect, liberty and living with family and community." This Statue is very important and a big deal. So much so that often when I have told Brazilians about my internship, their first question is, "Have you read the Statute?" Indeed, I was gifted a copy of the statute not long after my arrival, and my reading of it became the beginning of my internship.

The Statute also created the structure for a juvenile justice system that would be rehabilitative in nature and not punish adolescents in trouble with the law in the same manner as adults. Unlike in the United States where children accused of heinous crimes can be transferred to the adult system, tried as adults and made subject to the death penalty, this can't occur in Brazil. (Brazil also does not have the death penalty.) Of course, what's written in statute is not always what occurs in reality, and there are opponents of this system, but I'm not going to get into that in this particular post.

Suffice it to say that it is always a challenge, in any country, to live up to its ideals. Implementing and maintaining a system of juvenile justice that aims to rehabilitate children and improve their lives is a huge undertaking. However, the system here appears to recognize that there are many structural issues (poverty and domestic violence to name a couple) that are integral parts of why children and adolescents may become involved in illicit activities in the first place.

Essentially when a kid gets caught committing a crime they will be entered into the juvenile justice system. Depending on the severity of the act (and of course, whether or not they actually committed it), they will often be given medidas socioeducativas (socio-educational measures) usually consisting of community service, sometimes combined with a form of probation (as I understand it). This service will usually performed over a period of six months usually consisting of four hours a week. However, there is an entire system, run by social workers, set up to help these youth with this as well as other needs they may have. Additionally, depending on their needs these kids may also get drug treatment or psychological evaluations, etc. So, kids aren't just told to go volunteer at any random place. They are assigned to a location near where they live, with social workers, and from there, they will complete their time. I am definitely simplifying this, but I just want to get the gyst of it across.

And it is with this social service system that I will be interning here in Porto Alegre. It operates underneath a larger social service umbrella agency and has eight offices located throughout the city (it's a big city). A week ago Friday,  I went to the central office for a meeting with two of the coordinators. I was thrilled that I could walk there (it took about 25 minutes), thrilled that I managed to both find the place without getting lost and relieved to arrive on time, albeit a little out of breath. This is a picture (below) of the river dividing the road where the central office is located. 

And so, despite the fact that the coordinators had a slightly different understanding of my internship (they thought I was there to do research and that I would be there much longer than four months), they were incredibly gracious, welcoming and open to changing their game plan to meet my learning needs. Master's level Social Work students in Brazil all do research. However, for those of us studying Social Work in the United States, the emphasis is on gaining experience in the field. It was decided that I would spend the following week in the central office gaining a bigger picture perspective of the work that they do and from there I would be assigned to one of their other locations to begin working directly with youth in trouble with the law.