I Left My Samba In Sao Paulo

I depart from Brazil with my mind absolutely reeling. In total, we covered over 500 miles by taxi and bus in just four days! I visited more than 30 projects. Interviewed 23 people. Spoke about the movement to nearly 300.

I got bumped to business class and spent the whole flight playing with the fold-flat bed.


Then I got sent back to reality on my way to Paris, making full use of my 18 inches of personal space (does anyone else wonder why employees of the World Bank, a development bank, fly business class? Shouldn’t that $6000 be used for, oh I don’t know, development?)


I slept in a hotel and was seen naked by the maid (I forgot to hang the “Do Not Disturb” placard). I moved to a coworker’s house and shared a room with a one-year-old named Lucas who just recently started enjoying solid foods. I spent countless hours dozing in taxis on the ride to project sites and spent many less hours dozing in a bed at night.


I learned that time moves at its own pace here. Dinner at 8? That means 10. Samba at 11? That means 12:30. Meet at 10? 11:15 sounds great! At first it drove my type ‘A’ personality completely insane. Then I realized that I didn’t need to be on time either, which meant more time for naps. I embraced this concept.


I discovered – along with my host family – that it is indeed possible to fit six people and a baby in a Hyundai Tucson, and that “The Police” sound even better when accompanied by a very diverse group of back-up singers.


I got addicted to Nintendo Wii and built a bitter rivalry with an 8-year-old named Sofi and two 11-year-olds (Vicky & Mili) that led to a rather intense thumb war.


I realized that to build a movement you’ve got to connect with people on so many levels, from a dance-off in the city streets (where I busted out an incredible robot) to sharing iPod playlists and at least attempting to speak the local language.


I met young people who are changing the world, and I did my best to learn their stories to communicate them with the rest of the world.

I was changed.

Brazil, we had a bumpy affair, but you will be missed. Obragado!

Brazil Video Up! Dream It. Do It. World Tour

The Brazil video is finished and fabulous! The blurb:

On the move in Brazil. From break dancing to baking cookies, young people across the country are taking action and creating change! This aint no Samba. It's a global movement. Join us.



The link, in case it doesn't show up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJw1bXeo3I8

STOP, Collaborate and Listen

It’s my fourth day in Brazil and what has truly defined my time here is this genuine sense of community the exists between all these changemakers. The Youth Venture model in Breazil works a bit differently than in the United States. Here, we work with partner organizations who identify and support the young leaders within their own framework. Needless to say, that has led to a number of “action pockets;” these places where entire communities of youth have all started their own social ventures and now help each other to maintain them by sharing ideas, collaborating and listening to one another.

This is exactly what the global movement is all about – young people coming together, helping each other and feeling like they are a part of something bigger than themselves. If we can do it here, then I’m sure we can do it at the global level. Youth Venture Brazil (Geracao Muda Mundo) has then worked to connect these pockets and turn them into a vibrant community who truly see themselves in a Brazilian context. From chatting with small groups of ten to twenty to sharing my ideas with one and two hundred people at a time, the youth here began to see the global vision. Just the fact that someone would come all the way from North America to connect with them is the perfect symbol of what this already is, and what it will become in the future.


One of my most memorable encounters – and a prime example of how the movement is growing – came during my site visit to Lua Nova, a center for young women anywhere from twelve to twenty five who are all single moms (yes, a twelve-year-old single mother) either by rape or consent, who have been abandoned by society. Lua Nova takes them in, gives them a home and helps them to start a life by offering school programs, job training and motherhood classes. One of their main programs is encouraging and promoting Youth Venture operations within Lua Nova, and these girls have taken action, helping themselves to help the community.


They’ve started a bakery, where they sell their products in the nearby town to make money for baby formula and diapers.


Another group began producing glass jewelry from old glass bottles that weren’t being properly recycled. Now, not only are they educating the community of garbage disposal, they’ve found a way to generate income for themselves.


A third project is single Moms who are actually building their own homes using organic bricks that they produce on their own. They’re arranged a deal where they build a community of six or seven homes while being paid a modest salary. Then, they move into three of the homes and the others are sold. The income they earn while building goes into furnishing. Once they’re through, they start again in another site.


The fourth and most well-known project is a group of girls who started a doll-making company. They now employ nearly thirty single Moms hand-crafting these fine products, which sell anywhere from $15 to $30 each. There’s a twist, however. The girls are also using the dolls to educate children on sex and child-rearing. An entire line of dolls have been produced that are anatomically complete including models that have babies inside, to explain actual child birth.

As stand alone ventures, they are each incredible for both their scope and impact. What’s even more fascinating is how they’ve come together to support each other’s ventures through their own initiatives. “It gives me something to look forward to, and to be proud of. I am creating something and it’s helping me and the other girls. It just feels nice,” Natalia told me. Let me tell you, they don’t skimp on quality either. The houses, dolls and jewelry were top notch, and the cookies were divine. I ate a whole bag by myself after helping make them!

It’s communities like these that show the type of impact we can have on a global level. If they can do that much in their small town, imagine what we can accomplish when we’re collaborating on a global level! The world’s a changin’. I hope you’ll be along for the ride.

It’s Not All Kumbaya, I Promise

So I’ve been having trouble figuring out how to tell the stories of all these incredible young people and how their combined efforts become a global movement of empowered young people that is redefining an entire generation. Why, you ask? Because I know it all sounds a little “campfire, lets sing a song accompanied by acoustic guitar and make necklaces out of grass while eating lots and lots of granola bars and drinking protein shakes made of beat roots in between shots of wheat grass.” I get that, but the further I get into this tour the more I wonder why it has become that way.

It’s not that kumbaya, and even if it is, what’s wrong with that? What’s corny about young people who are doing good in their communities? What’s cheesy about people who think creating change is positive and cool? When did our society turn in such a way that wanting to change the world was cliché? It’s not that way here in Brazil, and it wasn’t that way in Argentina. This seems to be an American mindset, and that is upsetting.


I was just watching Miss Congeniality (hey, Sandra Bullock is funny and I’m in a foreign country. Lay off) where every Miss America contestant says they want World Peace, and this is laughed at by Sandra, who’s the “cool, undercover FBI agent” until she gets to know the girls and sees that they are sincere. Then they play some dramatic music, she cries and tells them she has been “changed forever.” I found it oddly relevant to this project in the sense that it seems the “good” and the “positive” constantly has to prove itself to the “cool kids” and the troublemakers (like big tobacco and Wal-Mart). Why is that?


These people I’m meeting aren’t beauty queens. They’re real. Their vision and drive is genuine. Yes, some of their stories are very “rags to riches,” but that should inspire, not illicit eye-rolls. Others have nothing and will likely never have a whole lot, yet still fight every day to create a better life for themselves and those around them. For a while I thought I needed to change the way I told their stories to make them seem more cool and mainstream but the reality is, our frame of reference is what needs to change.

How did we get to this point where Paris Hilton (who violated her parole after DRIVING DRUNK) going to jail garners public petitions to keep her on the streets while an account about young people taking action to fight problems in their community is seen as a “human interest” story, poked and prodded as if to say, “oh well isn’t that cute?” Darn rights it’s cute! Way cuter that Paris’ stupid dog.


These young social entrepreneurs aren’t cliché or corny. Their work is inspiring. Look at them as role models. Rather than see them as the exception, make them the rule. I guess what I’m really trying to say is, become a Sandra Bullock. Challenge the way you see the world. It’ll be worth it, I promise.

Brazil Photos Uploaded To Flickr!

Just posted all the pics from Brazil to Flickr. Follow the link below to see the entire album!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kyletaylor/

Enjoy!

Public or Private and Nothing In-between

When I first arrived in Brazil and started visiting teams something wasn’t clicking for me. They were doing great work. The impact was evident. But why was it the way it was?


I’ve never seen poverty quite like this. The better part of a year in China, time in Greece, Bosnia, Argentina & Mexico and yet nothing quite compares to the situation in Sao Paulo. Flavellas (Shanty Towns) extending for miles and miles in every direction. People living in cement box makeshift apartments stacked three-high. Random muggings in broad daylight with hundreds of people around right outside the Cathedral downtown, where droves of homeless Brazilians shower in the shimmering new fountains outside, sleep on piles of old blankets and dive into trash can looking for their next meal. Meanwhile, Sao Paulo is home to 70,000 millionaires!

I firmly believe that every major social problem in our world is rooted in a lack of education resources and inequity in youth. Nobody chooses where they are born or to which social class they will be a part. If it’s not their choice then why should they be punished for not having wealthy parents, or for not being born in Canada or Europe or the United States? Education has to be the social equalizer; the one thing that everyone is guaranteed. The one thing that no one can take away, deny or be prejudiced against. Kids are kids are kids and each and every one deserves a chance at a better life.


This is where it is all rooted in Brazil. As it was explained to me, poor kids go to public schools in their youth. The schools have no resources, are plagued by violence and give little to their students. Meanwhile, the parents of rich kids pay lots and lots of money for their children to go to private schools, where they learn three languages, study abroad and wear uniforms. Then comes time to go to University! Everyone takes the same, extremely difficult exam to get into free Public Universities, which are the best in the country. The rich kids who went to private schools do well and get in. The poor kids don’t, which means that if they want a university degree they need to pay loads of money to go to a private university that is both bad and overpriced. They, of course, don’t have the money so they either don’t go or take out huge loans to attend. The only problem is, few businesses will hire graduates of private universities because they are SO BAD, so the poor kids are then deep into debt and can’t find jobs. Meanwhile, the rich kids get a free University education and continue on to find incredible jobs. Seriously? In as few words as possible, THIS SUCKS, and it is at the root of most social problems in Brazil. Oh wait, it’s at the root of most social problems in America as well…hmm…


Consider this: A poor kid in public school knows he isn’t going to get into public university because his current school stinks. This kids also knows that means their only option is private university, which they don’t have the money for and which is known to NOT lead to a job. Why try at all then? Every ounce of drive and commitment is pulled out of them and then you end up with another generation of uneducated adults scraping by day-to-day. I’m sure you can imagine how much this enrages me…

It also creates more and more social problems that need more and more solutions, which is where Youth Venture (Geracao Muda Mundo (Generation Change The World) in Brazil) comes in. More soon. Just let the above fester in your mind a bit.