The I.C.B.I.E. Blog

Everyone is complaining because the temperatures drop to 20 degrees centigrade at night, and it is true that the wind is blowing and the rain comes in rapid bursts. Pietro is suffering from a nagging cold, and he dresses as if he were in Ireland, but for someone like me, who has just come from a stifling night in Miami, after suffering the heat and humidity of Michigan and central Italy, such metereological inconveniences seem rather laughable, especially against the backdrop of banana trees full of fruit and bathers strolling along the beachfront.

Just like in the northern hemisphere, winter brings a holiday break, and the ICBIE’s busy schedule of courses and events winds down to a slower pace, but without stopping altogether. Last night Daniele Dattilo gave his last English lesson, followed by an emotional ceremony where certificates were presented to the students and a party was given to thank Daniele for his wonderful work.

For the month of August, the ICBIE activities are reduced to three courses of Hapkido, the Korean martial art that, with its obvious affinities to capoeira, has enjoyed immense popularity with the local kids, thanks to our terrific teacher Augusto, who has children of all ages working out their moves in the backyard of the school. His precise work and firm discipline has infected everyone, and we are extremely proud of their achievements.

Thanks to Pietro’s constant efforts to reach out to the community, the Cineforum continues to provide the Ribeira neighbors with a rare cultural treat, and the crowds are bigger every week. This Saturday evening, Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List will be shown, and we’re curious to see how the locals respond to such a long and intense film, which has not yet been shown on Brazilian television. Coincidentally, our great friend and supporter in New York, Mary Norris, has offered a donation to provide free ice cream for everyone during the intermission, but, given the season, we might just opt for a giant load of popcorn instead!

I will be posting plenty of news during the next three weeks of my stay, so be sure to check on us often!

Roy Zimmerman

In his post on July 12, Pietro announced the launch of the ICBIE Cineforum, which will be held every Saturday at 6PM, from July 21 to September 29.  As you can see from the poster below, a rich variety of offerings will be provided at no cost for ICBIE members, while other students will pay 1 Brazilian real (US 50 cents) and adults will be charged 2 reals.  Each projection will be preceded by a presentation by Pietro Gallina.  For our readers in Rome, it is important to note that this film forum is made possible by the fancy video projector that the American Overseas School of Rome donated last Christmas.

Remember, too, that there are no movie theaters in all the Cidade Baixa (the lower quarters of Salvador, including Ribeira) and the residents can hardly afford paying for the bus rides into the city center, let alone the admission to the city’s movie houses.

Una settimana fa si è svolta una festa in abiti più o meno fine ‘800 in verità si arrivava fino agli anni ‘30/50 del XX secolo, volendo ricordare e celebrare i vecchi salotti brasiliani dove si riunivano, classe nobile, media, studenti, intelletuali e alcuni piccoli commercianti, per cantare, recitare poesie, ballare danze prevalentemente di origine europea. Tutto al fine di intessere nuovi accordi economici e sociali non esclusi i contratti matrimoniali.

La richiesta per realizzare tale singolare festa all’antica, è stata fatta all’ICBIE da parte di molti anziani in pensione abitanti del quartiere e da alcuni giovani attori che si sono occupati di recitare poesie e di cantare.

Abbiamo pensato che era importante per la nostra associazione aprire a tutte quelle comunità isolate del quartiere di Ribeira per diventare sempre più punto di collegamento e polo delle attività culturali della Cidade Baixa. Crediamo anche per questa volta di aver fatto felici tante persone che da noi hanno potuto presentare finalmente un loro proprio progetto.

Pietro Gallina

An Old Fashioned Party at the ICBIE

Last week we held a party in costume, reviving the fashions from the end of the nineteenth century up to the 1930s-1950s, in order to remember and celebrate the old Brazilian salons, where the noble class, middle class, students and some small businessmen got together to sing, recite poetry and dance, mostly to steps of European origin. These get-togethers were an opportunity to forge new business deals and to make social contacts, which sometimes included marriage proposals.

The idea for putting on such an unusual and historic party at the ICBIE came from many elderly residents of the neighborhood and from several young actors who prepared their poems to recite and their songs to sing.

We thought that it was important to open up to all the isolated communities of Ribeira, to become a point of reference and a center for the cultural activities of the Cidade Baixa, the lower quarters of Salvador. We believe that once again we made many people happy, because they were able to use our facilities to finally present their project.

Eccoci a metà percorso.

Sono arrivato a Salvador più di due settimane fa e le cose vanno piuttosto bene. I miei corsi procedono in maniera positiva. Abbiamo creato una bella atmosfera… le due classi d´inglese sono variopinte. Ci sono ragazzi, mamme, studenti e persone di mezza età. Il tutto compone un gruppo eterogeneo molto interessante e vivace. Per me a volte è un po’ faticoso proporre delle attività per loro non convenzionali come i dialoghi su cassetta o le attività di scambio orale basate su domande e risposte. Marlene mi ha detto che a scuola qui a Salvador queste cose non si fanno. Dopo la fatica, e grazie all’ausilio dell’insostituibile Bogus, una volta assimilate e avviate, queste attività procedono bene e i risultati sono ottimi.

Il gruppo più avanzato, quello che ha già studiato con Rosa e Michelle sta affrontando tematiche grammaticali come gli avverbi di frequenza e i verbi irregolari… e anche qui i risultati si vedono. Insomma le attività didattiche vanno, i due gruppi rispondono e imparano. Una bella soddisfazione.

La classe di francese invece è di tutt’altro stampo: è una classe decisamente più elitaria, molto piccola, composta da Valeria: un avvocato che si occupa di diritto di famiglia con l´ambizione di imparare più lingue straniere (nel frattempo diventata una cara amica), Christian: uno studente di geografia e scienze umane che ha bisogno delle basi del francese per un´esame di lingue straniere all´università. Il suo sogno è quello di legge Foucault, Sartre e Bergson in lingua originale… Concludono il gruppo Herbert e Adriano: due giovani informatici che vogliono espandere la loro attività in Francia. Degno di il fatto che durante la prima lezione ci sono state alcune studentesse Canadesi francofoni di Montreal, volontarie in altri istituti che hanno voluto sostenere il progetto con la loro presenza.

Cosa aggiungere… Il clima è dei migliori, durante il tempo libero si riesce a conoscere la città e le sue sfaccettature. Il bello è proprio quello di vederla non come bieco turista, ma come persona che sta qui a fare il volontario e che vuole aprire gli occhi sulla realtà circostante.

Spero che il racconto della mia testimonianza possa essere utile al blog con il fine di dare un´idea di come alcune cose si svolgono all’interno dell’ICBIE.

Daniele Dattilo

___________________________________

English translation:

Here we are, halfway through.

I arrived in Salvador more than two weeks ago and things are going rather well. My classes are proceeding in a positive way. We have created a pleasant atmosphere… the two English classes are a motley mix, with young kids, moms, students, and middle-aged adults, and this heterogeneousness makes it a lively and stimulating group. Sometimes it is a bit difficult to try out new teaching tools, such as playing recorded dialogues or improvising oral exercises based on questions and answers. Marlene told me that they don’t do these things in schools here in Salvador. After a bit of effort, and thanks to the aid of the inimitable Bogus, once they understood what we were doing and they got used to it, these activities really took off, and the results are excellent.

The more advanced group, with kids who already studied with Rosa and Michelle, is confronting grammatical concepts such as comparative adverbs and irregular verbs, and here, too, the results are visible. All in all, the two groups are responding and they are learning, which is a great satisfaction.

The French class is something else: it is decidedly more elitist and small in size, comprised of Valeria, a lawyer specializing in family rights who wants to learn as many foreign languages as she can (and who has become a dear friend); Christian, a geography and humanities student who needs a foundation in French for an exam at university (his dream is to read Foucault, Sartre and Bergson in the original); and Herbert and Adriano, two young computer technicians who want to expand their activities in France, to complete the group. It is worthwhile mentioning that several French-Canadian girls from Montreal, student-volunteers with other assistance groups, came to the first lesson, to help out and offer their moral support.

What can I say? The climate couldn’t be better, and during my free time, I’m getting to know the in and outs of the city. It is great is to be able to see it not like a dumb tourist, but as a person who is here to do volunteer work and who wants to open his eyes to the true reality that surrounds him.

I hope the record of my testimony can be useful to the blog, in order to give an idea about how things work inside the ICBIE.

Daniele Dattilo

Now that Pietro Gallina is back in Salvador, in Rome the work goes on, with a series of new internet initiatives to spread the ICBIE message to the wider public. We have such a rich and compelling tale to tell, beginning with the whole D’Artagnan story and the travails of Pietro and Marlene, then the transformation of our beautiful old building on the Ribeira waterfront, the inauguration of the Leonardo da Vinci library and the start of our rich educational and cultural activities, not to forget our work with Mestre Pedro or with the two local orphanages. We have built a solid network of support with links to Rome, New York and Amsterdam, and this has permitted our constant growth and it also allows us to imagine ever brighter prospects for the future.

A story as wonderful as this has to be told and it has to reach as many people as possible, not only for the material returns that may be derived from it, but also to encourage others, people who might think, “If Pietro Gallina could do it, I can, too!” And the internet is the way to get our message out there, without a doubt.

The ICBIE presence on the internet is not new, but its voice has not been loud. The www.icbie.com site was opened in 2004 and, for the most part, has not been updated, but instead cluttered with the addition of new tidbits here and there, plus a partial redesign for the English section. After three years, we have received just over 11,000 hits. A serious makeover can no longer be procrastinated, and Adriano Bonforti will guide me in this, so we can have a state-of-the-art website.

Of course, this blog represents a big step forward, as it provides a constant flow of up-to-date information, and this, in itself, in this google-centric universe, has attracted more attention in two months (nearly 14,000 hits) than the main website has garnered in three years, because search engines give highest priority to the most recent information. But even this is hardly a great accomplishment, especially when weighed against the pure-gold of the ICBIE dream.

I spent a couple sultry days pent up in front of the computer, searching for tips about how to increase our internet visibility. The first suggestion I followed regarded the major bookmark sites, places with geeky names like Squidoo, De.licio.us and Digg, where you can describe your sites and add appropriate keywords, so that when someone googles capoiera or favela (or library, non-profit, poverty, assistance, etc.), our websites will appear. These sites are also great sources for specific kinds of information, and I used them to continue my work, finding more great suggestions about how to procede. I joined Flickr, a major website hosting photos, where I uploaded a couple dozen pictures of the ICBIE and its people at work. Finally, I even summoned the courage to join Facebook, which I had always dismissed as a teenage ego-trip like MySpace, but which instead has wonderful possibilities for networking specific groups. Two days ago I formed an “ICBIE Friends” group, and we have 23 members already. OK, many of them ARE teens, but isn’t that what we’re all about? Pietro joined Facebook, so why don’t you?

Roy Zimmerman

After two intense months traveling around Europe - between D’Artagnan exhibits, “musical interludes”, meetings with artists, contacts and agreements for the ICBIE, fund-raising, including the dream of constructing a cinema/theater for Ribeira, and finally, a failed attempt to sell some land in Italy, to raise enough money to begin building the theater - here I am back in Salvador. I found things tranquil and under control, with Daniele Dattilo busy on both fronts of his English and French lessons. Marlene is exuberantly taking care of her Italian class. The computer courses are solidly underway. The outstanding Hapkido course, taught by Maestro Augusto; and for our Italian guests, the samba and capoeira courses have an exceptional teacher, Patricia, the daughter of Mestre Pedro, capoeira master of the Alagados favela (who is currently in bad health, and it looks like we will have to try and help him). Maddalena, along with Lorenza are organizing a cycle of Italian Cuisine Tuesdays, explaining the basic elements of our culinary art, followed by the description of typical Mediterranean recipes.

Right now, about a hundred people are frequenting our institute: students, volunteers, teachers and guests. This is already a terrific success, given that we never seriously advertised or promoted our activities, beyond the odd poster or bulletin tacked to our wall, or maybe a few flyers distributed locally, or simply by the word of mouth.

To be honest, I also have to talk about the less-than-positive aspects. I have noticed that the choral singing course had a bumpy ride during my absence, because my substitute had some family and health problems. Now it is urgent to get the situation back under control, and from the first of September, get the loose ends tied back together and reconstruct the group spirit. Our other sticking point is the snail’s pace of progress in cataloging our library collection, caused by a lack of both money and adequate personnel.

Here in Brazil, the 20th of July marks the beginning of winter holidays (the equivalent of our Christmas), and schools close for 20/25 days. We, too, will close a few courses, mainly in order to give more space to our numerous guests (part of our activity as an art hostel) who will be coming for their summer vacations during late July and all of August. We’re already booked full! Some of our guests are volunteers who will assist us in various small jobs and projects, according to their resources and special talents.

Regular courses will begin again in September, continuing until December/January, our second semester.

Personally, I have decided to make an exception to the closure of nearly everything, because our good man Bogus has done an extraordinary job in transferring old video cassettes into DVDs, so starting next week, we’re beginning a mini-series, open to the public, showing artistically significant films every Saturday at 5:30 PM.

Greetings to all,

PIETRO GALLINA

(translation by Roy Zimmerman)

Dopo due mesi di viaggi europei intensissimi - tra mostre di D’Artagnan, “musical interludes”, contatti con artisti, contatti e accordi per l’ICBIE, ricerca di fondi, incluso il sogno della costruzione del cinema-teatro alla Ribeira e per ultimo una vendita andata a male di un terreno in Italia per appunto porre la prima pietra del cineteatro in questione - eccomi di nuovo a Salvador. Ho trovato un’atmosfera tranquilla con Daniele Dattilo impegnato sui due fronti delle lezioni di inglese e francese. Marlene esuberante nell’organizazzione e nella cura del suo corso di italiano. I corsi di informatica di base ben avviati. Il corso di Hapkido del maestro Augusto esemplare, samba e capoeira per ospiti italiani realizzato dalla eccezionale Patricia, figlia di Mestre Pedro degli Alagados (il quale versa in cattiva salute e bisognerà aiutarlo) e Maddalena con Lorenza che stanno organizzando i martedì della cucina italiana proponendo alcuni elementi base della nostra arte culinaria facendo seguire la spiegazione di ricette tipiche mediterranee.

Tra alunni, studenti volontari, professori e ospiti circolano nel nostro istituto al momento quasi un centinaio di persone nell’istituto. E questo è un bel traguardo non avendo ancora mai usato mezzi di promozione e pubblicità se non i cartelloni e gli annunci sui muri dell’istituto o attraverso foglietti e depliant distribuiti nelle vicinanze o tam tam effetuati da amici e parenti.

Per essere onesto devo parlare anche di aspetti non proprio positivi: ho notato che il corso di canto corale si è mosso a singhiozzo sia per la mia mancanza, sia perché il mio sostituto ha avuto alcuni problemi di famiglia e di salute. Ora urge riprendere in mano la situazione e a partire dal 1 settembre ricompattare gli elementi dispersi o demotivati dall’andamento altalenante precario. L’altra spina su cui ancora ci sentiamo impotenti è la lentezza con cui la Biblioteca tenta di tenere il passo ai ritmi della catalogazione, pure questi intermittenti a seconda delle risorse economiche e del personale a disposizione.

Verso il 20 luglio qui in Brasile ci saranno le vacanze invernali simili alle nostre vacanze di Natale. Circa 20/25 giorni di chiusura delle scuole. Anche noi chiuderemo alcuni corsi e ciò per dare più spazio e attenzione ai numerosi ospiti (nella nostra attività dell’ art hostel) che arriveranno per le loro vacanze estive a fine luglio e tutto agosto. Siamo già al pieno delle prenotazioni. Alcuni verranno in veste di volontari cercando di aiutarci in piccoli lavori a seconda delle loro possibilità e specialità .

I corsi regolari riprenderanno da settembre fino a dicembre/gennaio considerato il secondo semestre.

Personalmente avrei deciso di fare un’eccezione alla chiusura di quasi tutto, giacchè Bogus è stato straordinario nel trasferire VHS in DVD di meravigliosi film, e dunque cominciare una miniserie di proiezioni cinematografiche artisticamente significative, fissando l’appuntamento a sala aperta al pubblico a partire dalla prossima settimana, ogni sabato alle ore 17,30.

Saluti a tutti!

PIETRO GALLINA

Pietro and Roy took some time off from ICBIE campaigning to spend a weekend at an important Italian music festival, because our great mentor, the musicologist and critic Mario Bortolotto, was being celebrated with a series of conferences and concerts: Widmung - A Study Encounter on Mario Bortolotto and Italian Musical Culture. It seemed appropriate to mention this, because some people at the conference (besides Mario, who spent a long vacation in Ribeira a few years ago and will be returning again this winter) are great friends of the ICBIE community, like Guido Zaccagnini and his wife Sabina Sacchi (who will be making their second visit to Salvador later this month), or Guido’s brother, Carlo.

After all the speeches and roundtable discussions, evening concerts of contemporary music punctuated the long, festive dinners (where Pietro and Roy fed all the great dignitaries of Italian music enthusiastic descriptions about life in Brazil, at the ICBIE). Who knows, maybe someday some of them will actually volunteer to offer a seminar? Certainly, the composer Alessandro Solbiati and his wife, the pianist Emanuela Piemonti, showed particular interest in our work.

For Pietro, it was a great kickoff for his return to Brazil on Tuesday!

Salve a tutti,

Sono Daniele, qualche tempo fa ho scritto un messaggio di presentazione segnalando la mia prossima partenza per Salvador. Finalmente eccoci!

E´quasi una settimana che sono arrivato e devo dire l´istituto è un posto notevole. Ho notato quanto impegno e quanto coraggio i nostri Pietro e Marlene hanno avuto per titar su tutto ciò che è intorno a me in questo momento. Lo spazio è veramente bello e armonioso, le attività procedono a pieno ritmo.

Per quanto mi riguarda inizierò le mie lezioni martedì prossimo, tra due giorni, insegnerò il francese e l´inglese a due piccoli gruppi. Il gruppo di francese è per lo più composto da ragazzi che devono passare l´esame di lingua all´università e vogliono imparare le basi, il gruppo d´inglese è il gruppo di Michelle che ha collaborato qui il mese scorso e che porterò avanti per tutto il mese di luglio, sperando che in futuro possano continuare a apprendere da soli o, si spera, con l´ausilio di un´altro insegnante che verrà a dare una mano…

Inutile dire che sono molto contento di esserci finalmente. Spero che il mio contributo sarà utile ai ragazzi e all´istituto.

Un saluto da Salvador

Daniele.