Alas, yesterday morning the four Engineers Without Borders (Brian, Tiffany, Kurt and Rhett) departed for home. As always, we had a big dinner party for them the night before, with plenty of food, drink, music and conversation.
Not only did they do a lot of work on our theater project, but they made themselves useful in the community and, above all, they made a lot of friends.
We will miss them terribly and we hope they can come back real soon!
Months ago, when Brian Stephenson began organizing the second EWB assessment visit to the ICBIE, he expressed an interest in visiting the Kilombo Tenondé, a revolutionary agricultural and social project initiated by an extraordinary capoeira master named Cobra Mansa (Cinézio Feliciano Peçanha), who Brian had met in Washington DC.
As a result of their ongoing correspondence, on Wednesday afternoon, Cobra came to the ICBIE and we hastily organized a trip down to his farm, regardless of the chaos of the huge São João holiday. Thursday morning, our alarm clocks were ringing at 4:30, in order to rush off to the ferryboat that took us across the Bay of All Saints as dawn broke with a beautiful rainbow over the city, on the first leg of our journey.
From the island of Itaparica, we took a bus to the old colonial city of Valença, where we happened on a colorful (and rumorous) parade in honor of São João, and then we crammed into a funky little minibus packed with locals, for a half-hour trip out to Cobra’s land.
Kilombo Tenondé is modeled after the old Quilombos, the communities of escaped African slaves that were formed in the Brazilian outback, where they lived in self-sufficient isolation, and Cobra managed to find some land that met his three pre-requisites: it had to have a river, a spring and a forest. For the last four years, he has helped the land to return to nature, planting trees to absorb the deleterious residue of years of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, creating an earthly paradise that exalts biodiversity and permits his community of volunteers and local people to live off the bounties of the earth, including a mind-boggling assortment of plants, herbs, fruits, cows, sheep and horses. He has learned all this from the elders in the local community and, thanks to his global reputation as a capoeira master, he attracts international volunteers who help with the back-breaking labor in return for intense training in capoeira.
Besides all the agricultural activity, Cobra is building adobe houses, experimenting with different combinations of cow dung and mud, but he is also interested in decorating the walls to make them artistic and attractive.
After hiking all over the farm, admiring the plants and animals, we had a big meal comprised entirely of their amazing produce, and then there was a long capoeira performance, where the fifty-year-old Cobra outclassed his expert volunteers, half his age.
On Friday morning we were able to take another hike over to a neighbor’s farm, where Brian gave advice on restructuring their rustic manioca (cassava) mill, where they make flour and then sterilize it in shallow vats heated by a wood fire underneath.
Just by looking at these pictures, you can well understand our amazement, as we observed the rebirth of ancient ways of living, while seeing their undeniable relevance in today’s troubled world.
Notoriously plagued by violence and despair, Saramandaia is an absurd place, tucked away just behind Salvador’s most modern commercial area. The favela’s sole bright light is a small but remarkable cultural center, Arte Cosciente, where children and young adults learn percussion, silk-screening, graffiti art, circus arts and boxing. Although they have achieved remarkable results (even winning a prize for social work that was presented to them by Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, they operate out of a precarious building that was constructed by hand, brick by brick, by its courageous founders.
Arte Cosciente is supported by our friends at Rhythm of Hope, and last week, when RoH’s founder Phillip Wagner visited us, he asked our Engineers Without Borders leader, Brian Stephenson, to visit their center, in order to study the building’s structure and suggest modifications to reinforce the stability of its ediface.
We contacted RoH’s main coordinator in Salvador, Conor O’Sullivan, and this morning he came to the ICBIE (which he had never visited before) and drove Brian, Julio and I across the city to Saramandaia. Brian spent about and hour and a half studying the whole building and taking pictures and copious notes. He was able to reassure them that there was no immediate danger that the building would collapse, but he will write them with a list of improvements that will improve things.
That is just the kind of cooperation and assistance that the ICBIE believes in and strives for, and we are proud to help such a wonderful group of people.
Roy Zimmerman
After a frenetic week, today was dedicated to watching two big World Cup Soccer matches, punctuated by a lavish lunch. A large group of ICBIE people were on hand and, with the sole exception of Veronique, who was still busy working on a business plan for our theater project, everyone was in a totally festive mood that wasn’t dampened by Italy’s dismal draw with New Zeland.
And naturally, Brazil’s rousing victory against Ivory Coast had everyone screaming with joy!
Another busy day at the ICBIE! This morning we had a visit from Phillip Wagner from Rhythm of Hope and Stephen Bailey, a young student that he is mentoring. Of course, it was thanks to Phillip that we got in touch with the Engineers Without Borders in the first place, so for everyone, it was great to be able to sit down and share our experiences and catch up on the latest developments. Furthermore, Phillip requested that the EWB team make a trip to Arte Cosciente in Saramandaia, as they need advice on their precarious building in that difficult part of Salvador, and they consented.
Before lunch, the engineers went across the road with Richard to visit a recent construction in the marina, to observe its curved roof, which is very similar in both size and shape to the one that we are planning. Then Lu served up an exquisite feast of moqueca, the typical Bahian stew with fish and coconut milk that was enthusiastically gobbled up.
After lunch, things got serious. Because we just received the AutoCAD computer files of the theater plan from our great architect Andrea Gandolfi in Bologna, the four engineers set up their computers in the hostel garden and got to work modifying the design for the theater, incorporating the results of their measurements and the decisions that we made yesterday with our great local architect Cristina Morelli. This will be the FINAL plan for the long-awaited ICBIE theater!
O ICBIE, juntamente com a SECULT, através do Projeto Leitura, Arte e Inclusão Digital na Cidade Baixa, gostaria de convidá-lo para a exibição de mais um filme do nosso Cineforum 2010
Filme: A Vida é Bela Direção: Roberto Benigni
Local, data e horário: Sede do ICBIE, 18 de Junho, sexta-feira, às 18h30.
Um pouco sobre o filme…
Na Itália, durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial, Guido, filho de judeus, é mandado para umcampo de concentração, juntamente com seu filho, o pequeno Giusoé. Guido é um homem simples, inteligente e espirituoso, um pai amoroso, e graças a isso consegue fazer com que seu filho acredite que ambos estão participando de um jogo, sem que o menino perceba o horror no qual estão inseridos.
Entrada franca com direito a pipoca!
The first full day with the Howard University Engineers Without Borders was filled with incessant activity and concrete decisions. Right after breakfast, the EWB team leader Brian Stephenson laid out the pressing issues: there were measurements to verify and details to be decided upon. The rest of the morning was spent in the theater space, with Tiffany, Brett and Kurt filling pages full of sketches and numbers, so when our wonderful architect Cristina Morelli arrived in the afternoon, everyone, including Marlene, Marcella and Veronique, was able to hash through all the issues, one by one, in a three-hour-long session that flew by in a frenzy of intense discussion, with rapid-fire translations between Italian, Portuguese and English flying across the table. At this point, we will be able to make the definitive design for the ICBIE theater and start concrete plans for construction.
In the coming days, we will begin to meet with builders and firms that supply construction materials, so that we can determine precise cost estimates and time lines for the work to begin!
The Howard University team from the Engineers Without Borders arrived safely in Salvador early this morning for their second visit, to make final plans for the ICBIE theater. It was an emotional occasion for all, but especially for Tiffany and Brian, who were back again, and for Rhett and Kurt, on their very first visit to the ICBIE.
They couldn’t have come at a more exciting time, as of course today was also the first world cup game of the Brazilian team. Nonetheless, we were able to find time to sit down and plan a busy calendar of meetings and activities before the big match.
The ICBIE torcida brought our team luck, and the victory set off the wildest celebrations imaginable.
Tomorrow we get to work in earnest!
Last night at the Mocobo Cultural Center in Rome, Pietro held a special private showing of selected artworks by Ele D’Artagnan (1911-1987), “the painter of the Dolce Vita,” in order to raise funds for the burgeoning ICBIE Theater Project. Besides original artworks, the show also contained beautiful life size reproductions of the D’Artagnan pieces that Pietro sold to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) at the very beginning of the ICBIE adventure.
Between 4 and 9 PM, there was a steady stream of dear friends and staunch supporters of the ICBIE cause, including the architect Andrea Gandolfi, who came from Bologna to explain his design plans for our future theater, our indefatigable friend Alberto Maganzini, who came all the way from Trento, the eminent musicologist Mario Bortolotto and even our dear friend Mary Norris from New York.
Best of all, four original paintings and a good number of prints were sold, and this couldn’t have come at a better time, seeing as next Tuesday a team from the Howard University chapter of Engineers Without Borders will be arriving in Salvador to make their final plans for the construction of our theater. More on that in the coming days!
(English translation below)
Professor de Desenho do ICBIE é selecionado para uma mostra regional
O professor de Desenho de Observação e Técnicas Artística do ICBIE, Geisiel Gomes Ramos, foi um dos escolhidos para a mostra “Salões Regionais de Artes Visuais da Bahia 2010”, realizado pela Fundação Cultural do Estado da Bahia – FUNCEB, unidade da Secretaria de Cultura do Estado – SecultBA.
Com o Projeto “Jogos de Corpos”, ele foi um dos escolhidos, dentre 530 inscritos, para tal mostra. Seu trabalho ficará exposto em Vitória da Conquista, durante 13 de agosto a 26 de Setembro, no Centro de Cultura Camilo de Jesus Lima
Surgidos em 1992, os Salões Regionais de Artes Visuais da Bahia são uma ação de difusão e incentivo à produção em artes visuais no Estado e contempla trabalhos de livre temática, nas modalidades de arte e tecnologia, assemblage, cerâmica, colagem, desenho, design gráfico (ilustração, humor gráfico e quadrinhos), escultura, fotografia, grafitti, gravura, instalação, objeto, performance, pintura, tapeçaria e videoarte. Desta maneira, a iniciativa contribui, anualmente, para a revelação de novos talentos, o reconhecimento de artistas experientes e a pesquisa de novas estéticas em todo o território baiano.
Toda a família ICBIE parabeniza ao Geisiel por essa conquista!
ICBIE’s professor of Drawing from Observation and Artistic Techniques, Geisiel Gomes Ramos, is one of the winners chosen for the exhibition “Regional Show of Visual Arts of Bahia 2010,” realized by the Cultural Foundation of the State of Bahia – FUNCEB, of the Secretary of Culture of the State – SecultBA.
As part of the “Bodies at Play” Project, he was one of the winners among 530 contestants for the exhibition. His work will be shown in Vitória da Conquista, from August 13th to September 25th, at the Camilo de Jesus Lima Cultural Center.
Since 1992, the Regional Show of Visual Arts of Bahia is a showcase for the diffusion and an incentive for the production of visual arts in the State, including any theme comprising art and technology, assemblages, ceramics, collages, drawing, graphic design (illustration, humor and cartoons), sculpture, photography, graffiti, engraving, installations, objects, performance, painting, tapestry and video art. In this way, every year the initiative helps to reveal new talents, recognize experienced artists and survey new aesthetic trends in the entire territory of Bahia.
The whole ICBIE family congratulates Geisiel for this victory!
