Tag Archives: Northeast Brazil

Violence in Brazil

06 Sunday Apr 2014

Posted by in Brazil, Social Injustice, Urban Violence

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Manifestation against Violence in Fortaleza - Ceara - BrazilManifestation against Violence in Fortaleza – Ceará – Brazil
“Enough! We want to Live Fortaleza!”
Photo Credit: Tribuna do Ceará

 

In Mexico’s NGO Citizen Council for Public Security & Criminal Justice yearly list of the fifty most violent cities around the world, sixteen Brazilian cities feature among the Top 50 for 2013. Six of them, located in Northeast Brazil, rank among the top fifteen.

Fortaleza, capital of Ceará, ranked seventh worldwide – the city placed thirteenth in 2012 – and second in Brazil, after Maceió (Alagoas). With the expansion of drug trafficking, Fortaleza has become increasingly more violent over the years since I lived there. Nowadays, my best friend in Fortaleza suffers from panic attacks whenever she has to walk the streets. Another friend reports that home invaders have become more brazen.

Data released for Fortaleza by the Secretariat of Public Security & Social Defense of Ceará (SSPDS-CE) reveal that during the period from January 1 to March 19, 2014, there were 766 homicides. These included 433 deaths from gunshot wounds, 14 knifed to death, and 3 bludgeoned. The cause of death of the remaining 316 corpses is unknown. That’s an average of 9.8 persons murdered every day in Fortaleza.

When attending the games in Fortaleza during the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, soccer fans should be on the alert.

On a quiet Sunday afternoon in an upscale neighborhood in the city, my two sons and I set out on a fifteen-minute walk to the shopping mall on Avenida Dom Luís. When we crossed the intersection with Avenida Senador Virgílio Távora, we observed a street gang, two blocks away, approaching on the other side of Avenida Dom Luís.

Intersection of Av Dom Luis with Av Senador Virgilio Tavora - Fortaleza - BrazilIntersection of Avenida Dom Luís with Avenida Senador Virgílio Távora
Fortaleza – Brazil
Source: skyscrapercity.com

“The convenience store,” my older son said. He and his brother sprinted across the street ahead of oncoming traffic towards the gas station.

Impeded by the traffic, I waited on the median divider island. The gang was now half-a-block away. A voice shouted from behind me. Looking around, I saw a security guard standing outside an office building. He beckoned to me.

“Stand behind me,” the security guard said when I joined him. He fingered the gun at his hip.

I remained calm. My sons had reached safety. I prepared myself for the inevitable. As the gang came closer, I estimated that they were about fifty of them: male and female, ranging in ages from eight to eighteen.

Then a miracle happened.

Two police cars arrived on the scene. Loud confusion ensued. The policemen ordered the children and adolescents to prostrate on the sidewalk with their hands on their heads.

With the gang under police control, my sons joined me. “Lots of wallets and watches are in the drain,” they reported.

“Getting rid of evidence,” the guard said.

After thanking the guard for coming to my rescue, my sons and I returned home. There could be more trouble up ahead.

Fortaleza, like most of Brazil’s major cities, is a world of contrasts between the rich and destitute. Extreme inequality breeds crime and violence. The corpses tell the tale.

 

A Faithful Friend

02 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by in Brazil, Family Life, Relationships

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A Faithful FriendSource: amigafieltotal.blogspot.com

During my second year at Ceará Importers, Cristina* joined the Personnel Department. She shared an office with me and the assistant accountant.

A single woman in her twenties, Cristina was a devout Roman Catholic and active member in her parish Church. Soft-spoken, she measured her words when speaking with others. Attentive and diligent in the execution of her work, she soon won the respect of all staff members.

Cristina and I became friends. My sons and I first went to her home for a nephew’s birthday party. Located in a working-class neighborhood on the periphery of Fortaleza, her family’s three-story house was long and narrow. During a tour of the house, she pointed out the sub-divisions for her, her parents, and four married siblings with their children. The communal kitchen and dining room were located on the ground floor.

The most-recently married brother had built his house in the extensive backyard. When she got married, she told me, her family planned to add another flat above the bungalow.

I marveled at the way this extended working-class Brazilian family had pooled their resources to support one another.

At Ceará Importers, on the assistant accountant’s resignation, Cristina referred a friend from her Church group. With the necessary qualifications, he got the position. When the Personnel Department needed another assistant to handle the demands of a growing workforce, Cristina found a neighbor, an older woman, with the required experience.

A few years later, Cristina’s best friend Lucinda* became a new addition to the Accounts Department.

Then our lives changed in 1999. After five years of expansion and success, Ceará Importers suffered a severe blow from Brazil’s Central Bank. The five-year-long fixed parity of the US dollar and Brazil real had come to an end. At that time, the company had six retail stores in Fortaleza and franchise stores in major cities in Northeast Brazil.

Cristina’s position placed her in the front line of the downsizing that followed. I recall the day the first batch of retail store workers gathered in the Head Office compound to receive their final paychecks and other monies due by law.

Months later when Lucinda’s name appeared among those on the cutting list, Cristina stepped in to save her best friend. Lucinda’s husband had recently lost his job, leaving her as the sole-provider for him and their eleven-month-old infant. Cristina asked her boss to instead reduce her own salary. The personnel manager spared Lucinda for a couple more months, by which time her husband had found another job.

Cristina left the company some time after my departure. Holding key positions, the other two friends she had brought to the company survived the downsizing.

A faithful friend is beyond price,
no sum can balance his worth.
A faithful friend is a life-saving remedy,
such as he who fears God finds;
For he who fears God behaves accordingly,
and his friend will be like himself.
 
Ecclesiasticus/Sirach 6:14-17

* Fictitious Name

The Best Mother’s Day Gift

12 Sunday May 2013

Posted by in Brazil, Family Life, United States

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My Sons - Fortaleza - Ceara - Brazil - 1992My Sons – Fortaleza – Ceará – Brazil – 1992

When my two sons were kids, my best Mother’s Day gifts were the cards they made for me. I treasure these cards to this day. Now that they are young men, my best Mother’s Day gift is celebrating their achievements, large and small, as they work towards their individual goals in life.

Many are the challenges we mothers face as we raise and prepare our children to take their place in the world: to be kind, to make a difference, to triumph over loss and misfortune.

This Mother’s Day, I think of mothers who struggle to raise their children under adverse conditions. Mothers who labor at low-wage jobs in fast-food restaurants, retail stores, and hotels. Mothers who have lost their homes to foreclosure and raise their kids in cars and shelters. Mothers who have lost their jobs and must depend upon charitable and government assistance to feed their children.

When we are strong, our children learn to be strong too. There are countless, unknown, courageous mothers across America and our planet who can attest to this. Dona Lindu (photo below) from Pernambuco in Northeast Brazil, a woman who could not read or write, was such a mother.

Dona Lindu - Mother of Former President of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da SilvaSource: revistacrescer.globo.com

Here’s what one of Dona Lindu’s sons said about her:

I thank God for my mother’s courage. Do you know what I keep thinking? How is it that an illiterate woman like that…gather seven* children together and come to São Paulo, in the hope of meeting a husband that she had no idea what he was doing in life?… And succeeded in leaving this husband. And succeeded in raising seven children. Because, if it’s true that marginality is connected to poverty, my mother is the opposite of this. During a period of immense misery, my mother raised five sons that became poor men, but honorable, and three women that didn’t have to prostitute themselves. I think this is very noble. Because of this, I have an immeasurable respect for my mother [he cries].

… My mother had a very great desire for life. She didn’t get depressed or discouraged. She was not a woman who complained about life. I don’t recall my mother complaining about working too much. There was always something that caused her to say: “It’s great, everything’s fine!” Whenever we complained, she would say: “Tch, but there’re people worse off than you.”

* The eldest son had already joined their father in São Paulo.

LUIZ INÁCIO LULA DA SILVA, PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL (JAN 2003 – DEC 2010)
Translation by Rosaliene Bacchus of interview in June 1993 with Denise Paraná, from her official biography Lula, o filho do Brasil (Lula, The Son of Brazil), Third Edition, São Paulo, Brazil, 2008.

Dona Lindu died in 1980. She did not see her son Lula inaugurated as President of Brazil on 1 January 2003. How could she have imagined that one of her sons would achieve such greatness?

Strong character arises from struggle. Our labor and sacrifices bear fruit of worth. What better gift could a mother hope for?

Rewards of Brazil’s Market for Perfumes, Toiletries & Cosmetics

07 Sunday Apr 2013

Posted by in Brazil, Working Life

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Perfumes Natura BrazilPerfumes Natura – Brazil
Source: naturavendas.wordpress.com

Brazilians adore perfume. In Northeast Brazil – the region with 42.5 percent of perfume sales – 79.7 percent of the population use perfumes, according to the Union for the Industry of Perfumes and Toiletries of São Paulo (SIPATESP). I was therefore not surprised to learn that in 2010 Brazil overtook the United States as the world’s largest market for perfumes with US$6 billion in sales (Euromonitor International).

At Ceará Importers,* we imported a wide selection of perfumes and toiletries of several popular American and European brands. Our suppliers provided us with the declarations of manufacturing and quality controls required by the Brazilian health authority for obtaining our import licenses. Translation of product labels from English to Portuguese, required for commercialization of these products in Brazil, became my responsibility.

When import regulations became more rigorous, we had secured contracts with two American manufacturers for retail and distribution of their products, one for toiletries and the other for Alternative Perfumes, throughout Northeast Brazil. Under the new regulations issued by the National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) in Brasilia, importers in the sector had to obtain an Operational License, as was required for national manufacturers. This meant the provision of a laboratory and qualified technical staff for quality control, as well as special storage facilities (Portaria SVS/MS nr 71/1996).

While construction was underway, I became the contact person between our American partners and the pharmacist contracted to prepare the product dossiers for our registration applications. Without a chemistry background, I found translations of the chemical formulas from English to Portuguese a laborious task. The time-consuming process for regularization with ANVISA must have frustrated our American partners.

Current norms and procedures required by ANVISA for the registration of perfumes, toiletries and cosmetics – including the documents required for product registration – are set out in Resolution RDC 211/2005.

To avoid excessive delays or deferment during the application process, our firm’s directors contracted a health professional in Brasilia, experienced in working with ANVISA. When dealing with government bureaucracy, it pays to work with those who understand the system. It took time. We experienced setbacks, but it all worked out well in the end.

Regulations for importing products controlled by ANVISA can change without advance notice. I kept abreast with changing norms and procedures through daily perusal of the Diário Oficial da União which publicizes legal federal matters.

With more and more Brazilians entering the middle class, the demand has grown for perfumes, toiletries, and cosmetics. In their Panorama of the Sector, published in April 2012, the Brazilian Association of the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Industry (ABIHPEC) demonstrated growth of 340.9 percent and 293.5 percent in imports and exports respectively during the period 2002 to 2011. Today, the Brazil market for this sector ranks in third place worldwide behind the United States and Japan.

* Fictitious Name

The Cashew Tree: Lessons in Facing Adversity

24 Sunday Mar 2013

Posted by in Brazil, Nature and the Environment

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Largest Cajueiro in the World - Natal - BrazilWorld’s Largest Cashew Tree – Natal – Northeast Brazil

Source: braziltravelbuddy.com

Trees have always fascinated me. In my native land, Guyana, fruit trees abound and flowering trees lined the main avenues of our capital, Georgetown. They beautified our city and brightened my life. Before I was born, their robust trunks had withstood the forces of Nature. They will continue to stand tall and radiant long after I have passed away.

When we moved to Fortaleza (CE), I fell in love with the cashew tree: o cajueiro (ka-ju-ay-ru). Native of Northeast Brazil, it flourished in the hot tropical climate and sandy soils of the region – responsible for over 95 percent of the nation’s cashew production. They are cultivated commercially for the production of cashew nuts, one of the major exports of the State of Ceará to the United States. The shape, vivid colors, and nut of the caju (ka-ju) became a new fascination. The pseudo-fruit made a delicious juice rich in vitamin C, calcium, phosphorous, and iron.

Cashew Fruit and Nut - BrazilCashew Hanging from Tree (Source: afe.com.br)

Most of the cashew trees in our condominium rose to only two stories high. About twenty feet away from our third-floor apartment stood the largest cajueiro, four stories tall. During our early years, the tree seemed stunted: little foliage and no fruit. On sleepless nights, I would stand at my bedroom window and look out onto the still, quiet night. The cajueiro was my only companion: a witness to my desperation after I was left alone to raise my sons in a foreign country. Although it no longer bore fruit, the cajueiro stood tall and strong. If I were to succeed in providing for myself and sons, I had to remain grounded; to stand tall and strong.

Time passed. When afflicted and broken, I observed the cajueiro with its scanty crown. It reminded me that, when faced with obstacles and setbacks, I had to focus on building fortitude for survival and on developing as a professional.

Then one year, a miracle happened. A deluge inundated the canals and streets of drought-prone Fortaleza. The cajueiro came to life. New leaves and blossoms sprouted. Over the following years, its crown filled out and expanded. Fruit adorned its limbs.  Boisterous birds moved in.

The cajueiro extended its limbs towards my window, providing a curtain of foliage outside my window. During the caju season, I could reach out and pick the ripe fruit that hung within my reach.

I, too, had grown: as a mother, provider, and professional. When the opportunity arose for a better position, I was ready to move forward.

When Our Job Threatens Our Marriage

25 Sunday Nov 2012

Posted by in Brazil, Family Life, Working Life

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The Sertão or Backlands – Northeast Brazil

Source: “Northeast Brazil reels from worst drought in 30 years”

 

The sertão or backlands of Northeast Brazil, with an average temperature of 84ºF, is a semi-arid region of scrubby caatinga vegetation of low thorny bushes. Frequent and prolonged drought in the region has forced thousands of impoverished Nordestinos to migrate to major coastal cities in the Northeast and to metropolitan areas in Southeast Brazil.

Francisco* was among those who migrated to São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, in search of a better life. He did well and returned to Ceará to get married and raise a family. I met him when he started working at Ceará Importers Ltda.* He was an amiable person, short and stocky, with a spring in his lopsided gait.

He loved his trade as electrical technician, installing and maintaining piping, cables, and wiring that connected and powered our computers and cash registers. On the wall behind his desk in his tiny office, he proudly displayed his technical certificates earned during on-the-job training in São Paulo.

With the rapid expansion of the company, he began working long hours beyond midnight. The alcohol shared among late-night workers made the job appear less onerous. When he started showing up late for work or not showing up at all, I knew that something was wrong. The male warehouse staff snickered about his plight. His wife had left him for another man and had taken their children. He was drowning himself in alcohol.

I could not watch him lose all that he had worked hard to achieve for himself and his family. I had to do something to help him get his life back. After learning that his boss had failed to get him to stop drinking, I got him to attend an Alcoholic Anonymous general assembly in his neighborhood. It was a new experience for me. There were over 500 people, alcoholics and their family, gathered in the sports auditorium that evening. He was not alone in his struggle.

After he started attending the group meetings, his wife agreed to return home with their children. But she did not want him to continue working late nights. Losing them was a great blow. Getting them back meant letting go of a job that demanded putting them in second place. He chose to give up his job.

During a period of high unemployment, as was the case at that time, finding another job was not easy. When I heard from Francisco a month later, he had moved to another state where he had received a job offer. He and his family were doing fine, he told me on the phone.

When our job threatens our marriage, we must make a choice. It may not be a simple choice as it was for Francisco. As we move up in a company, we have more to lose and more options. It becomes much easier to walk away from our marriage and family.

* Fictitious name

 

Working in a Family-owned Firm in Brazil

19 Sunday Feb 2012

Posted by in Brazil, Relationships, Working Life

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Castro Brothers: Laying the foundation for my career in international trade Fortaleza – Ceará – Brazil

This weekend is Carnival in Brazil, but I will share my experiences during Brazil’s four-day extravaganza next Sunday. Today, I salute the calor humano brasileiro I enjoyed while working in a small family-owned firm in Fortaleza, Northeast Brazil.

At first, it felt strange to address my two bosses by their first names only. The formal manner of address is Senhor or Senhora followed by the first name and not the surname as is the British and American custom. Thank goodness surnames are not generally used! Brazilians have two or more family names. The first one is usually their mother’s family name, followed by their father’s family name. A married woman receives her husband’s last surname, giving her three surnames.

When some of the firm’s male business associates addressed me as querida (darling), I assumed that they were flirting with me. I learned that this was simply the Brazilian’s laid-back, friendly way of doing business.

Women over fifty are addressed as Dona instead of Senhora. In later years as an import/export manager, I felt old when the staff began calling me Dona Rosely.

People held in high regard – due to wealth, social status or profession, government officials – gained the title of Doutor or Doutora, even though they were not medical doctors or held a PhD. So if you wanted to establish a good rapport with the customs officer at the seaport, addressing him as Doutor would be a good start.

Two brothers managed the small import/export consultancy firm. The considerate and respectful manner in which they treated their employees impressed me. In this way, they set the tone for a harmonious workplace. Absent were the political and other intrigues and back-stabbing common in my former workplaces.

Whenever one of the brothers celebrated his children’s birthdays, he and his wife invited the staff and our families. (The staff reached a maximum of six during my stay.) My two sons have their own tales about these events. On one occasion, my seven-year-old fell into the swimming pool while trying to retrieve his balloon. My boss jumped in to rescue him.

Spouses and children were also invited to the firm’s end-of-year staff party. This also occurred in another family-owned firm where I later worked. Such practices fostered friendships among staff members beyond the workplace.

The sense of being part of a larger family played an important role in helping me to bounce back after my husband returned to Guyana, leaving me and my sons alone in Brazil.

My friendship with the two brothers and the rest of their large family grew over the years; even after I left the firm. Two years before I left Brazil, my sons and I joined the family for their Mother’s Day celebration at their mother’s home. What an honor to have shared such a celebration! That day also reminded me how much I had lost when I lost my own family.

It makes such a difference in our lives when there are people who care.