On 27 March 2014, India, a country of more than one billion people, was declared polio-free. To mark this milestone, the Rotary Club of Madras, India, launched the Rotary flame, which has traveled through several continents on its way to the 2015 Rotary Convention in São Paulo. The video above documents its arrival in São Paulo.
The video above aired during the convention Sunday, showing how São Paulo Rotary clubs are improving their communities. Rio Branco Educational Center for the Deaf, founded in 1977 by Fundação de Rotarianos de São Paulo, offers a free education for deaf children from low-income households. The school is dedicated to develop and socialize deaf children into a predominantly hearing society with a carefully planned out curriculum.
Students learn through advanced educational and technical resources, including Libras – the Brazilian Language of Signs until the fifth grade of elementary school. After the sixth year, through the School Continuity Program, a partnership with the Colégio Rio Branco and associate school, deaf students are fully integrated into classes with hearing students.
Near the Anhembi Parque Convention Center is a set of 66 spray-painted panels on the pillars of the Metrô rail.
By Megan Ferringer, Rotary staff
São Paulo feels like a museum of modernism. A single iconic image of the city might be a cityscape of endless towers fading into the horizon, or a photo of luxurious high-rise apartment blocks with pools and exotic flora on their terraces, all set against the favelas and their red roofs.
Despite its size, its density, and its growing wealth, São Paulo can fail to feel like a city at all. At street level, it instead feels like an endless collection of compounds. There are malls and offices, guarded apartment blocks behind heavy electric gates, and villa complexes behind high walls. Continue reading
Ten-year-old Lucía Gómez García speaks at the second plenary session at the Rotary Convention in São Paulo, Brazil. Photo by Alyce Henson.
Ryan Hyland, Rotary staff
Stagehands adjusted the microphones as low as they could go and slid a box into place. And then 10-year-old volunteer leader Lucía Gómez García of Argentina stepped up to the podium to tell Rotary members that kids her age can make positive change in the world.
“As kids we are relentless and happy,” said Lucía, addressing the Rotary Convention on 7 June. “We are always ready to explore and learn, but principally we’re spontaneous and clear. We don’t have problems to say if we don’t like anything. To tell the truth is natural and when we don’t do so, everyone knows, because we blush.” Continue reading
By Megan Ferringer, Rotary staff
One of the world’s largest cities, São Paulo is located in a region that averages 145 centimeters (57.3 inches) of precipitation each year. That’s 64 more centimeters (25 more inches) than Seattle gets. The country is also home to roughly 12 percent of the world’s fresh water. But since 2014, the city has been gripped by its worst drought in 80 years, leaving millions of residents in the country’s most populated metropolis without reliable running water. Continue reading
Interactors from California show off a high-tech indestructible rubber soccer ball in the House of Friendship.
By Ryan Hyland, Rotary staff
Soccer is not just a passion for Brazilians, it’s a way of life. It’s tradition. Entire industries are dedicated to the sport.
So it came as no surprise to me to walk by a booth in the House of Friendship and see people kicking a ball around. But these were no ordinary soccer balls. They’re made from high-tech indestructible rubber. You can puncture a hole in one of these balls or cut it down the middle, and it will still be playable. Continue reading
Feijoada, Brazil’s national dish.
By Megan Ferringer, Rotary staff
Ask any Paulistano and they’ll tell you their favorite place to eat Brazil’s national dish, feijoada — a heavy stew of smoked and sun-dried meats (and offal, if you’re feeling adventurous) that’s brewed up in cauldrons and served with rice, black beans, kale, orange slices, and farofa (toasted manioc flour). Not for vegetarians or the diet-conscious, this dish was described by traveling TV chef Anthony Bourdain as a “magnificent, beautiful, murky black substance,” “perfection in a dish,” and “truly, transcendently wonderful.” Continue reading
Rotary Peace Fellows, alumni, Rotary members, and guests pause for a group photo during the Rotary Peace Symposium, held 4 June in São Paulo. Read more about the symposium and the Rotary convention. Watch a video from the symposium.
By Rotary Voices staff
South America’s largest city, São Paulo, Brazil, is playing host to Rotary’s largest event of the year, the annual convention. More than 14,000 Rotary members from over 100 countries have come together to celebrate service, exchange ideas, and relax among friends at unforgettable concerts and social events. Experience the excitement of the convention on our sister blog, Convention Insider.
Attendees discuss partnering for peace during the World Cafe. Photo by Monika Lozinska/Rotary International
By Ryan Hyland, Rotary staff
Even before the World Cafe session started today, the room was filled with excitement, with people hugging and laughing. It took a few minutes for former Rotary Peace Fellow Cherine Badawi to quiet the 240 people in the room at the Rotary World Peace Symposium in São Paulo, Brazil.
World Cafe, a structured conversation style that aims to spark open and intimate discussion, is modeled to resemble the atmosphere of a cafe. Instead of having white tablecloths, the small round tables were covered with plain white paper and colored markers that attendees could use to express themselves. Continue reading
