Two Brothers Foundation / Instituto dois Irmãos

Oi gente!

My name is Gary although I’ve been given several aliases since I left home in July of 2009. I graduated from the University of Washington (’09) with a degree in Communications and Political Science, and soon after moved to Mexico where I taught English for a little less than a year. I’ve since traveled and participated in volunteer work in Mexico, El Salvador, Colombia and now Brazil.

Living and working in Rocinha has been a blessing. The hill is full of friendly people who patient and caring, I learned this my first day when a stranger helped me carry my bag up a large flight of stairs. Teaching at the institute is fun and a great way to improve your Portuguese, not to mention the experience you gain and the friendships built.

I have nothing but great things to say about Rocinha, Instituto Doisi Irmãos , and the compassionate people who make this opportunity a possibility.

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Oi, gente!

My name is Ali Medina and I’m from Boulder, Colorado. I recently graduated from the University of Colorado after studying International Affairs and Spanish Literature. I stumbled across the i2i community a year ago on a visit to Rocinha and fell in love right away. I’ve only been here for a month but feel like part of the Rocinha family already. I teach English, Spanish and art here at the institute. The art classes are based around utilizing recycled materials with the hope that someday soon the students can set up their own mini store of products they make. I’m loving every moment living here in Rocinha. Between teaching, learning the language, meeting new people and exploring this unique environment, it has definitely been a new adventure everyday in the Cidade Maravilhosa.

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Oi!

My name is Amy Maria Silva. I`m 22 years old and from the San Francisco Bay Area in California. I study sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Currently, I am studying abroad at the Pontifícia Universidade Cátolica and teaching English at Instituto Dois Irmãos. I LOVE my students. They teach me about life in Rocinha and I teach them English. We both get to learn the things we want to know– it’s a great exchange!

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Eaew GENTE!!!

I’m Laura from Hamburg, Germany.

I teach English to Adults, and its astonishing how keen they all are to learn English. You really feel useful during the hours spent and its good to see the result of your work.

I am working as volunteer here in the 2bros Institute mainly because I want to give back something to this great Country Brazil, which received me with open arms and such heartiness. Especially I fall in love with the Rocinha and its open-hearted and lovely people, if I could and wouldn’t have to study in Germany and if my VISA would let me, I think I wouldn’t leave this wonderful place anymore…

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Oi from the Italian girl!

Oi, I’m Mara and vivo a Milano,in Italy. I work in a office and when I have free time I work as volunteer (with children, in arts activities and for environment) in my country and when I can, in foreign countries. I like meeting people, different from me, sharing minds and experiences. This time I found, looking on internet, the Instituto Dois Irmãos in Rocinha (Rio de Janeiro). I’m staying for some days, and I’m going to help the English teaching to the local people and I’m living with a family in Rocinha. Here the people have life-energy, desire to know all and meet new people. It is a great experience, which I am lucky to live!

Ciao, io sono Mara e vivo a Milano, in Italia Lavoro in un ufficio e quando ho tempo libero lavoro come volontaria in molte attivita’ (con bambini, in attivita’ artistiche e per la protezione dell’ambiente), nel mio paese e quando posso, all’estero. Mi piace incontrare la gente, diversa da me, scambiare idee ed esperienze. Questa volta ho trovato, guardando su internet, l’Instituto Dois Irmãos in Rocinha (Rio de Janeiro). Io rimarro’ per alcuni giorni, e daro’ una mano nell’insegnare la lingua inglese alla gente del posto e vivro’con una famiglia in Rocinha. Qui le persone hanno voglia di vivere, di conoscere e incontrare gente nuova. Si tratta di una grande esperienza, che io ho la fortuna di vivere!

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Oi, pessoal!!!

Art Class: Masks

In our mask making class, the children learned about how masks are utilized in other cultures. The students were encouraged to use their imaginations to create mythic animals or monsters decorated with vivid designs and colors. Using mask making technique learned in the class, the children constructed their own masks to use. They then photographed each others work.

Seana Monley
PhD Student in Cultural Anthropology- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

I came to Instituto Dois Irmãos (i2i) to volunteer during my preliminary dissertation research on the social relations and cultural productions in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, mainly through the lens of funk carioca music. Because I am an art teacher in the United States, I wanted to lend my skills to the institute and help teach. I knew before arriving in Rocinha that the staff and volunteers love what they do, what I learned while I was here is that the institute means so much to the children and adults who take classes here. Education is a priority to everyone involved in the institute and it is so apparent in even the youngest students. I plan to continue teaching and helping in anyway I can at i2i so that I can continue to share with and learn from the students, staff, and volunteers.

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Winter at i2i and Last Semester

i2i is excited to annonce we are working on a Newsletter to update everyone on what has been going on here in Rocinha. It will be sent out soon, but we wanted to post a short update on what has been going on this winter. Last semester ended well and we had an influx of winter (summer) volunteers. At the end of the semester and through the winter, we had around 15 volunteers. i2i currently has about 135 children and around 35 adults. Last semester we had 16 classes that varied between English, Spanish, reinforcement classes and art classes.

Last semester volunteers helped prepare three students for their depature on a trip to Italy. Three students from i2i were selcted to be judges along with other young children from all over the world at the Geffoni Film Festival in Naples, Italy.

The Spanish class was very successful last semester and pending new volunteers with knowledge in Spanish, we will continue the class this semester. We had an art class, scrapbooking, sewing and belly dance class last semester as well. Long-term volunteer Jake took his class on an outing to Parque Dos Lage and the Forte de Copacabana. Last semester reinforcement classes included education in science.

Volunteers and Interns have been working behind the scenes creating new fundraising efforts and preparing i2i for the many new changes. These include our first giving website page

We currently have volunteer art work for sale at i2i and are hoping to affilliate with a near by hostel for volunteer use and to sell i2i shirts.

Last semester we started a much anticipated Women’s Health Workshop (Papo Reto). The class meets once a month and confronts the many changes teenage girls experience. The first meetings have been successful and we are excited to see this program flourish later on.

Sundays i2i is closed and as part of our efforts to help the community, i2i opened its doors to the Igreja Assembelía de Deus. i2i is not affilliated with the church or other religious and political groups, but are always open to helping other members of the community and their groups when given the chance. When the church did not not have a location to teach religious classes, i2i opened its doors and now allows the church to use the school on Sundays.

The semester just started and In one week we will lose Sarah, Irem, Lyndsey, James, and Erin. But we are excited to Welcome Gary, Allison and Sarah this semester along with Benji, Amy, Jake, Rebecca and Samantha, volunteers who are still with us. The semester will bring many changes and one of those important changes is the addition of literacy classes for children and adults in Rocinha who do not know how to ready and write.

We are excited for the start of a new semester and for all the great things that will come . The newsletter will have more details on the events from the previous year. If you want to recieve the newsletter please leave a comment with your e-mail or send an e-mail to rogerior@2bros.org

We hope everyone had a good winter/summer break!

Abraços,

from everyone at i2i

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2bros/i2i on CNN

On August 1st, 2Bros/i2i volunteer Drew Detweiler’s video about Rocinha was posted prominently on CNN’s Latin America page. The video features footage of our work here in Rocinha. Many thanks to Drew for his excellent work. The video can be viewed here: Please share this link with friends and family to get the word out about 2bros/i2i.

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First Giving Fundraising Page

We have a new donation website. Volunteers in Rocinha have been working on
 creating a fundraising website page through firstgiving.com . First Giving
 is a U.S. based fundraising website. On this site, NGO's like 2brothers/i2i
 can post fundraising pages, major companies can create accounts to search
 for NGO's to donate to and indiviuduals can create their own fundraising
 pages for their interested NGO. Our fundraising goal is set at $12,500 for
 the year. We hope to raise this money in order to continue to run i2i in
 Rocinha. We have been so greatful for everyone's help in the past and we
 hope we can continue to recieve the support and funding to be able to run
 the great programs we have here in Rocinha. Posted below is the link.

 http://www.firstgiving.com/institutodoisirmao

 Click on the link above to donate to 2bros/i2i or to look at how well our
 fundraising page is doing!

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Fotos da Festa de Arrecadação de Fundos da KU-2bros

Eis umas fotos dos eventos da KU-2bros semana passada, realizados na cidade de Lawrence, na Universidade do Kansas, nos Estados Unidos. O grupo estudantil arrecadou US$1008 com a ajuda dos artistas de bossa nova/MPB, Ricardo Vogt e Leala Cyr. Ricardo acabou de gravar uma nova canção com Milton Nascimento (com a banda da qual Ricardo é guitarrista, Esperanza Spalding Quartet). Foi o sexto show de arrecadação de fundos que Ricardo fez para o i2i/2bros e o segundo da Leala, sua esposa. (veja artigo em baixo para mais detalhes)

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