Saturday, December 15, 2007

December 2007

2007 has been a very rewarding year for Mundo Real. We have crossed many milestones while supporting the project Primeiros Passos (First Steps). However, we are striving to achieve many more goals in the coming year. To get up to speed, our goal is to raise $5000 dollars to start off the new year. This will cover expenses needed to bring us into 2008. In order to keep the project rolling we will need to raise more funds for the year to come.

First Steps currently has two full-time staff and one part-time individual. Our monthly salary expenditures, while essential, are not our primary fund raising objectives during the current period/coming year. This is mainly because we (Mundo Real Inc.) have been highly successful at maintaining payrolls at manageable levels, and the current staff of First Steps has, from beginning, been dedicated to a single cause: establishing an independent community-based and community-led organization to empower disabled and elderly residents of Rocinha. Our staff has dedicated themselves to the development of the organization, First Steps, before any other individual interests, and for the first several months they worked wholeheartedly, and virtually full-time, as volunteers. However, they recognize, as do we, that in order to prosper as an organization certain financial resources are necessary.

During the past fiscal year of First Steps work, and in particular over the last three months (since Sept. 2007), the staff has identified (collectively) the following 3 items listed below as central to our organization development goals during the forthcoming year. A brief description and financial estimate for each objective is listed below:

Principal Project Goals for 2008:

1. Acquire a van for transporting Rocinha's (special-needs) population.

1. Handicapped equipped vans currently available in Rocinha = 0

2. Planned acquisition of van by First Steps:

i. New Van (Handicapped Equipped): 20,000 USD

ii. Used Van (Operational for Handicapped Transport): 5,000 USD

2. Acquire/Secure Office Space for First Steps:

1. Annual Rent for street level storefront office space in Rocinha: 7,500 USD

2. Annual Costs of Supplies and Equipment for office space in Rocinha

i. Telephone, Internet, and Electric: 3,000 USD

ii. General Offices Supplies: Paper, Printer, etc: 1,500 USD

3. Maintain an ongoing Emergency Assistance Fund for Rocinha's most vulnerable disabled/elderly residents.

Transportation Expenses (to and from medical appointments): Projected Annual Expense: 2,500 USD

Medication and Medical Supplies: to cover costs of medication that many families cannot afford but vitally need and/or to cover costs for necessary medical equipment they similarly need but cannot afford; for example, wheelchairs (second-hand), orthopedic devices, oxygen tanks, etc. Projected Annual Expense: 3,000 USD

Construction and home-repair materials for First Steps clients/members whose houses (shanties) are in desperate need of emergency repair, such as; leaks, crumbling infrastructure, insufficient running water and/or electricity, etc. Projected Annual Expense: 2,000 USD

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

November update

The Mundo Real webpage is now up! You can access the website at: www.1mundoreal.org. The website currently highlights two projects Radio Rakama (Madagascar) and Primeiros Passos (Brazil). Radio Rakama recently received a 5,000 dollar grant to help it continue in its operations. Find out more at: 1mundoreal.org/Radio%20Rakama.html

The project Primeiros Passos continues to help and assist the disabled population in Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro. Recently the project members have been compiling a list of community volunteers to help out in the various tasks in assisting those with special needs whether it be construction projects on dilapidated homes, or transportation to doctor appointments. Cely has continued to receive medical supplies such as geriatric diapers, wheelchairs, and medicine and distribute them to families in need. Recently Find out more on our website at www.1mundoreal.org.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Project Primeiros Passos (First Steps)


In 2006 Mundo Real began working on its first project in the large urban slum of Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro. We were invited to work alongside the local residents of Rocinha to develop the project Primeiros Passos (First Steps). The goal of Primeiros Passos is to respond to the unmet rehabilitative, therapeutic, supportive, and recreational needs of Rocinha’s physically and mentally challenged residents and their families.

Watch our short documentary about Primeiros Passos at: www.youtube.com/mundoreal21

In less than six months since its founding, Primeiros Passos has successfully organized services and assistance for over 100 families in the form routine house visits, educational workshops, transport, and much needed medical supplies. Primeiros Passos Director and Founder Cely Ferreira de Oliveira is a resident of Rocinha and the mother of a child with Cerebral Palsy.