Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Current Activities (keeping you up to date with Mundo Real)

At this time Mundo Real is focusing primarily on long-term organizational development which involves community-based education and research programs. We are continuing our past services but on a smaller scale. The scale back is a result of our current fiscal situation, as well as a result of strategic decisions made by the Mundo Real leadership over the last few months. We have placed more importance on addressing the most critical cases that cannot wait for long-term social change to occur. Mundo Real is committed to action and hands on work, and this will not change.
 
Also, as this letter goes out we are closer than ever to submitting all of the requirements necessary to receive our much deserved 501(c)(3) tax exempt status in the US. And by June we should be an officially registered nonprofit organization in Brazil. Once these essential steps are reached we will be eligible for considerably more funding sources and be able to continue our past activities while implementing our planned activities by engaging in successful fundraising efforts. The continuation and expansion of our services are dependent on financial contributions that we hope to obtain from private individuals and philanthropic foundations. However, Mundo Real also desires to increasingly become more self-sufficient through social entrepreneurialism. This transition will take some time and attaining 501(c)(3) status will greatly help us in the present and near future.
 
Our experience has taught us a great deal about direct service, sustainability and community development in general over the past two years. Thus we are currently implementing new initiatives to make our organization significantly more effective and sustainable.
 
Over two years of experience has taught us that a small CBO cannot adequately tackle the enormous social problems of a community the size of Rocinha through direct service alone. In order to be most effective we need to focus on and expand the development of local leadership, empowering residents to take personal charge of their needs and their community’s situation. Our goal is to encourage and assist local residents so that they can mobilize around the issues that most directly concern them. Mundo Real is dedicated to dealing with the issues at their roots. This kind of capacity building and empowerment was the original goal of Mundo Real and we are returning to it with full force.
 
Based on analysis of past experiences, we have decided to center the brunt of our development initiatives in the Laboriaux (pronounced like: law-boor-e-or) neighborhood of Rocinha. Laboriaux is a narrow and long area of Rocinha located at the top very of the community, 1000 feet above sea level.  It has a population of approximately 10,000 and it is an area of Rocinha with a high level of socio-economic inequality. By creating a pilot project in Laboriaux we will be able to test our theories and our methodology’s success more accurately. If our efforts prove successful in Laboriaux we intend to create similar pilot projects in other strategic areas of Rocinha. This is a very feasible goal for our small team, replacing the near impossible goal of trying to cope with the critical needs of the entire community of Rocinha (pop. 200,000). The high level of inequality in Laboriaux will provide fertile ground for us to assess how government and other aid resources are distributed in the area and whether they are actually reaching the most vulnerable residents of Laboriaux.

Report from Rio de Janeiro Brazil

Mundo Real’s New York team arrived in Rio de Janeiro from New York on February 13th with luggage stuffed full of donations. The very next week we began distributing these supplies, and as the photos illustrate, the wheel chair was put into immediate usage. On February 20th Mundo Real accompanied FUNLAR, a municipal government agency that attends to people with disabilities, on one of their outings. FUNLAR only arranged for the participation of one disabled resident of Rocinha to go on the outing. However, Mundo Real, on extremely short notice, was able to get eleven more disabled residents to come along. One by one we assisted with their transportation to the van, into the van, and then to the park. Among those were two elderly widows with severe amputations which prevent them from being able to walk at all. One of them, Dona Maria do Fortunato was the recipient of the wheel chair that George Contreras help secure for Mundo Real and she can be seen in the photos utilizing it.

The day was beautiful and sunny. Many of the community residents cried tears of joy. It is rare for most of them to leave their homes for anything other than medical emergencies or appointments. In fact, Dona Osório, a rather lively woman, who suffers from disabilities as a result of a stroke, proclaimed with her typical humor “this outing is much better than the ones I usually go on ... to the hospital.” The most touching part of the day was completely unplanned. Another Dona Maria (very typical name in Brazil) who has both legs amputated up the hips asked everyone to join hands while she led a powerful and moving prayer. It was incredible to see this elderly women, a resident of a third world slum and with both legs amputated so full of thanksgiving and hope. It was truly moving to say the least.

The point of this story is to illustrate that without a committed Community Based Organization (CBO) the outing would have been a failure. FUNLAR only made arrangements for one resident to come and only because she did not need much help getting to the van because her teenage daughter assisted her. If we had not organized for the others to come FUNLAR would have had to cancel the outing. The point is clear, community leaders and organizations are essential in holding government and private entities accountable and assisting them in community matters.