Dear DK Readers and Supporters of the Brazilian Peninsula Project:
This is a letter of great thanks and an update with photographs for all the DailyKos readers who have offered spiritual and material sustenance to the Brazilian Peninsula Project, which provides the only functioning Internet access for 4,000 Indian families and tourists on small but incredibly beautiful peninsula on the east coast of Brazil. We started this project in August 2006 and offered the first Internet access in October, with financial help and many constructive and practical suggestions from DailyKos members.
I wrote the letter below to one DailyKos member who contributed $25.00 to the Project, but I also want to share this with all of you now, with photos:
Teachers and their students using the Internet Cafe
Dear R.:
Thank you so much for making your October contribution of $25.00. This contribution comes "right on time", since the next payment for the satellite Internet access ($432.50 USD) will be due on November 4.
Maria Luiza, a grade-school teacher, used to travel two and a half hours by unpaved roads to check her e-mail and do other Internet activities. Now, she uses this Internet access point on the peninsula, the only public one open. The local children do their homework here and then their teachers come in to check their e-mail as well.
Tourists from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, use this access point and lend their digital camera to take these photos, and pose for a picture in the Internet cafe.
Leóncio, the oldest son in the host family, is learning to operate the Internet café on his own, even though he didn't even have an e-mail account just one month ago. Now, he's setting up e-mail and MSN accounts for other community members. Leóncio has even started a "Forró" (Brazilian Country Dance) enthusiasts group webpage at Orkut.Com. Now, you can even e-mail Leóncio at leo_forrodopele@yahoo.com.br
To be viable, this Internet cafe has to make a contribution to the finances of the host family, rather than be a drain on them. I've agreed with the host family that we're going to try to serve as many well-paying tourists as possible during the high season. Then, I'm going to leave them with two computers and the access point set up when the high season is over. The income from the Internet should help them to pay their fuel bills and electricity for the computers. (A principle of micro-development is that it has to improve the economic picture of local families if it is to be sustainable.)
It's taking a lot of effort to turn this small and once-dark room into a humble Internet café. Here's a picture of it before Pelé, Leóncio and I installed the new window, and then some pictures of afterward.
Ana Lucia, grade school teacher, only has access to the Internet today because of the generosity of contributors at DailyKos. The nearest other Internet access is two hours away, by unpaved roads.
In addition to providing the host family with the computers to get into the Internet business, the access point will contribute six dollars per day for gasoline to fuel the family's generator, which also provides electricity for the access point. They have to run their generators many more hours than they normally would to provide a steady source of electricity for their community to access the Internet.
All of the kids in the host family are learning to use the Internet and teaching their friends. We are leveraging their interest in technology to teach the whole community.
Pelé with his children: Andressa (11), Leóncio (23) and Joanna (13).
Tourists, even those from other parts of Brazil, are essential to the financial sustenance of the peninsula and also of this Internet. Here are some photographs of a Brazilian youth group that arrived last night by boat and used the Internet to get a weather forecast before heading out again.
When you live and travel by the ocean, weather forecasts are absolutely necessary, not a luxury like chat rooms and video games.
I hope this Internet access point does well during the high season, in January and February. I've never been on the peninsula in the high season, but I'm told that the natural beauty brings hordes.
I hope a lot of tourists come and use this access point, because otherwise I'm going to have to give the host family the two computers I've promised them out of my own pocket!
Finances aside, I think this atmosphere is doing a lot to relieve what had, even recently, been a life of depression.
I hope some more contributions come in soon, because the Internet access fee is due on November 4, and I'll have to pay it all myself unless some money comes in. I haven't even paid my own electricity bill for last month, and now this month's bill has arrived.
Pelé, too, usually has a lot on his mind. If he doesn't go out each day in the fishing boat, his family and his community won't have fish to eat and will lack income as well.
I've had to assure him that the Internet will not distract him from his livelihood, since I'll train his son, Leóncio, to run the Internet café all on his own. Pelé (above) has never had an e-mail account and has never learned to type.
I'm training the oldest son of the host family to run everything on his own. But, this is the first time he has had sole responsibility for the receipts of a part of his family's business, so a lot of training is in order. But the community loves him and always asks for him at the Internet, so I know he's doing a good job.
Anyway, thank you for your contributions. They mean an awful lot to an awful lot of people in Brazil. I hope this project will be self-sufficient, but first it has to get through these lean months until the tourists come en masse in January and February.
Here is a link to my previous diaries about the initiation and progress of the Brazilian Peninsula Project, from the very beginning: http://www.dailykos.com/search?offset=0&old_count=30&string=brazil+coast+internet&type=d
iary&sortby=relevance&search=Search&count=30&wayback=131040&wayfront=0&searc
h_archive=yes
DK Readers can help by visiting PayPal.Com and contributing to the BrazilianPeninsulaProject@Yahoo.Com.
Manic Lawyer