Survival...

Surviving..., originally uploaded by carf.

- Surviving the impossible of human development: 500 years of abuse, but how much longer will the Guarani people endure the changes and demands of the dominant world?

A major problem today for the indigenous people's healthy survival and integrity is how to address the imbalance created by the non-indian society, caused when one controls the indian's way of life by strictly demarcating very limited and inferior areas for them to live and practice their traditional way of life (whilst the non-indians continues to destroy more and more of their natural territory to sustain their own insatiable needs), creating dependency on irresponsible government assistance programs and forcing upon them the non-indian's economic system to be able to survive in this new unbalanced world (with not even the basic know-how or education to do so), also deciding how they are to live (exist) and showing very little respect for their peculiarities.

In such a scenario, the indigenous people's lives become merely a tough plight for survival, barely hanging on to their very personal spiritual customs, but far from living the "ideal" life they have lived for centuries, with traditions passed on from generation to generation.

Today the indigenous people of Brazil are imprisoned in the non-indian's world without the means to defend themselves. No matter what national or international legislation exists to protect their rights, the genocide continues......

See my Facebook for more Social Criticism

Sobrevivendo...

- Sobrevivendo o impossível do desenvolvimento humano: 500 anos de abuso, mas quanto tempo mais irá o povo Guarani suportar as mudanças e exigências do mundo dominante?

Um grande problema hoje para a sobrevivência saudável dos povos indígenas e a integridade deles, é como lidar com o desequilíbrio criado pela sociedade não-indígena, causada quando essa sociedade controla a maneira de vida dos índios pela estrita demarcação de áreas muito limitadas e inferiores para que possam viver e praticar a seu modo de vida tradicional (enquanto os não-índios continuam a destruir cada vez mais o seu território natural para sustentar suas próprias necessidades insaciáveis), criando dependência de programas irresponsáveis de assistência do governo e impondo-lhes o não-índio sistema econômico para sejam capazes de sobreviver neste novo mundo desequilibrado (mesmo sem o básico know-how ou educação para fazê-lo), também decidindo como eles devem viver (existir) e mostrando pouco respeito pelas suas peculiaridades.

Em tal cenário, as vidas dos povos indígenas tornam-se meramente uma situação difícil para a sobrevivência, apenas segurando em suas costumes muito pessoais e espirituais, mas longe de viver a vida "ideal" que eles viveram por séculos, com as tradições passadas de geração em geração.

Hoje os povos indígenas do Brasil são presos no mundo do não-índio sem os meios para se defender. Não importa que a legislação nacional ou internacional existe para proteger seus direitos, o genocídio continua....

Veja meu Facebook album Críticas Sociais

Embrace the stars...

Embrace the stars..., originally uploaded by carf.

A short RETROSPECTIVE of 2007 – Watch our latest Video HERE!

Reaching for a Star Campaign - 2007
To Date: USD$775,00

Beginning with three contributions of USD$50,00 each for the "purchase" of three personalized CHRISTMAS GIFT CERTIFICATES to friends and family from a Flickr member, the Reaching for a Star Campaign 2007 got off to a roaring start this week.

I hope many of Flickr's members, new to the community, will discover this alternative method of giving at Christmas, ideal for friends and family whom you feel already have everything.

Still having problems trying to decide what to give at Christmas?
Then this is surely the ideal gift that everyone will appreciate. Our children certainly do!

Simply go to our Christmas Gift Certificate Campaign Page and decide how much you would like to give by clicking on one of the donation buttons provided on the page. You can give any amount you desire.

This will bring you to our PayPal payments page ( PayPal is a global leader in online payment solutions with more than 153 million accounts worldwide. No need to worry, you don't need to have an account because payments can be made using most credit cards).
Don't forget to leave a message on the PayPal payments form stating who your certificate is to be made out to and from whom it is being given. We will then prepare your personalized gift certificate with those names and e-mail it off to you ready for printing on your desktop printer. Fast and easy without even leaving your computer.

100% of your gift goes towards the Hummingbird Project, attending more than 600 underprivileged children. This year's campaign funds will be used for purchasing musical instruments for our new community prevention centre in Sítio Joaninha due to open in February 2008.
This will be the first social development program available to at-risk community children in the region and a most important step towards bettering their lives.

Please join us to make it the success they deserve!

Gregory J. Smith
Social Entrepreneur and Founder
The Children At Risk Foundation - CARF

A change for the better...

A change for the better..., originally uploaded by carf.

During her first trimester of pregnancy, Paula, a mother from the shanty community of Sítio Joaninha, had listened ardently to what I had to say about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) and the possible effects of alcohol on her unborn baby.

I find myself constantly informing pregnant mothers like Paula, whom I meet during my regular visits to the community, about the dangers of alcohol use during pregnancy. Paula’s habitual drinking gave me all the more reason to reinforce the information with her on each visit, about this leading known cause of mental retardation in the World today, with an occurrence rate of 1 in 750 live births. It is estimated that in the US alone, 5,000 infants are born each year with FAS and 50,000 with Fetal Alcohol Effects (FAE). Approximately 30 to 40 percent of all women who drink heavily during pregnancy will have a baby with FAS. It is found in all races and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Brazil has no statistics on the subject and I am apt to believe that the numbers will be much higher here if ever the health authorities get round to doing research on the subject. The incredible number of youngsters from underprivileged communities in this country, involved with drugs and crime and living on the streets, could very well have roots back to the abuse of alcohol during pregnancy. Almost all the kids I have worked with on the streets or in youth delinquent detention centres came from alcohol abusive homes and specifically alcoholic mothers.......

Paula now believes that her alcohol abuse during pregnancy is probably the reason for her first-born son, João Vitor, to be the “impossible” child he makes out to be, a belief that gave her good enough reason to take heed of my advice and to stop drinking during the last 6 months of her recent pregnancy. Last week Paula’s second son was born, only a few days after the above photo was taken. I hope for the child’s sake and his mother’s too, that they will both be shielded from one more frustrating problem along with all the others they must deal with in their daily hardship to survive.

FAS / FAE is preventable - 100% preventable. Research has shown that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption during pregnancy. The only sure way to prevent damage is to abstain from alcohol during pregnancy. There is no cure for FAS.

NB! As an important side note on this problem, our group of youth entrepreneurs, WINGS of Hummingbird, are developing a prevention programme about FAS / FAE to be introduced to Paula’s community next year.

Photo by Gregory J. Smith, São Paulo - BRAZIL.

Arsenic poisoning...

_MG_6075.JPG, originally uploaded by MPRPhoto.

Arsenic poisoning victim, Bangladesh.

Photo by Michael Rubenstein, Athens, Ohio – USA.

Reading the news

reading the news, originally uploaded by Tatiana Cardeal.

The brazilian newspaper "Folha de Sao Paulo" wrote yesterday in their editorial, that "the anti-Bush protests are reducing defensables causes to a bizarre, innocuous and infantile spectacle";. The editorial made severe criticism about the protesters, calling them a "harlequins' minority group".

There were no words about the Military Police' behaviour, neither a discussion about the possible consequences of the agro-business explosion...

The cover today says that "Ecological militance has a medieval world's vision", written by their columnist.

In this picture, Landless Worker's women, during the protests at the World March of Women and Anti-Bush protest this week in São Paulo, before their confrontation with the Military Police.



Copyright © 2007 - All rights reserved.
Photo by Tatiana Cardeal, São Paulo - BRASIL.

Buhay Basura

buhay_basura1, originally uploaded by Edwin_Martinez.

Life in Trash

A place forsaken by men but not by God, a place of waste but also of profit. A place where most would think hope has abandoned....most but not all. Few find this place a paradise to feed their families.

This is from my series of the children whose life evolves in one's trash.

Photo by Edwin Martinez, PHILIPPINES.

War is over

War is over, originally uploaded by Tous les noms sont déjà pris... pfff....

Photo by Rodolphe Simeon, Paris – FRANCE.

A light in the dark...

A light in the dark..., originally uploaded by carf.

...and hope for a better future for these Guarani children on the streets.

A sad sight to be observed in the city during the most important pre-adolescent years for these young Guarani Indian boys, who instead of wasting time on the streets, should really be at home in their natural habitat preparing for manhood, trained with special qualities expected of a responsible family man such as: strength, physical resistance, agility and dexterity, as well as learning to make working and hunting tools, adornments, and understanding techniques of self-sustainability such as: hunting, fishing and agriculture. Not to forget learning their cultural heritage through dance, song and rituals.

Instead of maintaining traditional values from the proud indigenous tribe of their ancestors, what will they have left to share with their children and humanity?

Unfortunately the conditions left by those in power offer very little to sustain the original needs of most indigenous tribes today and access to alternatives in a modern society are also minimal.

Photo by Gregory J. Smith (CARF), São Paulo - BRASIL.

Chronic Patients, Santiago 73

Chronic Patients, Santiago 73, originally uploaded by Marcelo Montecino.

Photo by Marcelo Montecino, Bethesda, MD, USA.

LAOS

LAOS, originally uploaded by BoazImages.

One smiling and one very shy.

Photo taken in North Laos by Boaz, Nanjing – CHINA

Hold me tight (suggested title)

, originally uploaded by viiny.

Varanasi, India

Photo by Vincent Marcil, Montréal – CANADA.

"Dam-damachak"

"Dam-damachak", Street Musicians - Pune Maharashtra. INDIA, originally uploaded by lecercle.

Street Musicians - Pune Maharashtra. INDIA

Photo by Akshay Mahajan, Mumbai - INDIA.

Worker

Worker, originally uploaded by Tous les noms sont déjà pris... pfff....

He is sitting under a porch. He's not begging. He's got no cup for the money. To give him something, you have to see him, to approach and to give him personnaly. He's small and thin. He looks very fragile. And a little bit shy.
He immediately tells me that he don't drink at all. But that he's smoking too much. "That's my sin !".
He was a worker in the book industry, then, for some reasons, he loose his jobs. His hands show all his life. Yesterday working. Today waiting.
We took a lot of picture. And after seeing at them on the screen of my camera, he made me promise that I will give one to him next week.
He said to me that he had no picture of him.
Before leaving, we shook hands. And, perhaps do you know that feeling, touching old hands are always a great moment.
(This picture is dedicated to Miss .N - hope you will love it)

Photo by Rodolphe Simeon, Paris – FRANCE.

Happy Hugging...

Happy Hugging..., originally uploaded by carf.

Happy Hugging!

I know our picture galleries will never reach as many views as 5.724.662 (five million, seven hundred and twenty four thousand, six hundred and sixty two) with 12.956 comments and 36.879 faves but THIS did!!!!

Go give someone a HUG!

Vigilante Justice

vigilante justice, originally uploaded by ko-knia.

Robber beaten by a mob.

Photo by Ian Taylor Toronto, CANADA.

Gihembe Refugee Camp

Gihembe Refugee Camp, originally uploaded by camera_rwanda.

During school hours, these children climb a sign promoting education.
Their classroom is the refugee camp where too many school-aged
children never set foot inside a real classroom.

Gihembe Refugee Camp
UNHCR
Gihembe, Rwanda. Afrika.
July 14, 2006.

Photo by Kresta King Cutcher, Based in East Africa at the moment.

Yagua Chief

Yagua Chief, originally uploaded by jto_.

....a more dramatic shot of the Chief

Photo by James, New York - USA.

World Ceasefire Vigil

World Ceasefire Vigil, originally uploaded by carf.

During the last week I’m sure there are many visitors to the Flickr photostreams who have noticed all the small black ribbons that Flickrites are now using as their buddy icons. Those icons represent more than just another Flickr identity, they represent a strong desire for world peace and a stop to the recent war breakout, by the many who have chosen to wear them for this peace action, an important action against yet another war to destroy thousands of innocent citizens, their families, their homes and their countries.

This is why over 4000 Flickrites decided to unite their actions this last week in a group called MUNDO UNO

…and the group is constantly growing as one of the fastest and most
meaningful on Flickr.

* MUNDO UNO means ONE WORLD.
* MUNDO UNO is a call for peace.
* MUNDO UNO is a virtual protest against the madness of the war.
* MUNDO UNO is a way to say: stop the killing of civilians in both sides.

Shall we be ONE, one world, one face, one people to change this?

I hope and believe so and that is why I am asking you, my Flickr friends and contacts and anyone else visiting this Blog, to be part of this important action for World Peace.

Please join us today and take part in the group's CEASEFIRE action in
support of Amnesty International's WORLD CEASEFIRE VIGIL.
More information about this can be found in the group's discussion
threads.

I thank you and I'm sure our group members thank you.
MUNDO UNO

Gregory J. Smith (CARF)
Social Entrepreneur and Founder
Children At Risk Foundation - CARF

COLORFUL INDIA

COLORFUL INDIA, originally uploaded by BoazImages.

The Bonda people live in a remote forest area.

Photo by Boaz based in Nanjing, CHINA.

A Violation of Indigenous Rights

A Violation of Indigenous Rights, originally uploaded by carf.

A Violation of Indigenous Rights

For the sake of survival, selling their handcrafts to visitors in the town, Guarani Indians spend their nights sleeping on the streets of Paraty in Rio de Janeiro.

As I conversed with this young Guarani woman from the village of approx. 400 Indians in Brakui, Angra dos Reis, I noticed her elderly grandmother in the background seated proudly upright and looking around at her sleeping people.
I could feel her humiliation and her pain and I felt very small indeed.
I did not take her photo because she did not wish me to.
The other Guarani in this photo series from Paraty will be receiving copies of their photos on my return trip to their village, where my organization is supporting some of the youth with their artisan efforts.

The indigenous women of our planet had their lands stolen, their cultures and spiritual beliefs lacerated, their lives sheared and then generations and generations of their children discriminated in the urban and agricultural society, rejected by politicians and businessmen alike. They had their cultures hung in Museums or demonstrated in Carnival parades, as beings of the past, or something folkloric, serving as jesters begging for alms in citadels. The men get drunk and turn weak or go crazy. Their children become fragile and a wave of destruction covers entire tribes, until strong women and men, like the many leaders to come, listen to the voice of their ancestry, seeing the marks of genipap set in the ethnic faces as a mark imposed by Me - NHENDIRU, the Creator - and then feel the eternal call of their INDIGENOUS IDENTITY to be respected and accepted as an example for the planet Earth. Example of a humane cultural society that bled, then recovered their ancestral voice and ethics, surviving the process of slavery of the past and the present so that it could really teach the philosophy of equality and fraternity. Because the indigenous peoples are my first-born children of the five continents, being the first ones whom I placed in this planet, for knowing the principle ethics of the balance of nature. Indigenous people should be examples of GOOD CONVIVIALITY WITH SOCIETY AND WITH NATURE. An example of ethical and spiritual prosperity.
Text by: Eliane Potiguara
GRUMIN – Indigenous Communication Network

A violação aos Direitos Indígenas

As mulheres indígenas do planeta terão suas terras roubadas, suas culturas e espiritualidades dilaceradas, suas vidas ceifadas e gerações e gerações de filhos discriminados na sociedade urbana e rural e desprezados pelos políticos e empresários. Terão suas culturas penduradas em Museus ou demonstradas em desfiles de Carnaval, como seres do passado, ou do folclore. Servirão de chacotas em cidadelas e pedirão esmolas. Os homens se embriagarão e ficarão fracos ou loucos. Seus filhos serão frágeis e uma onda de extermínio acobertará tribos inteiras, até que mulheres e homens fortes, como muitos líderes que virão ouçam a voz da ancestralidade, vejam as marcas de jenipapo cravadas nas caras étnicas como uma marca imposta por Mim - NHENDIRU, o Criador - e que sintam a chama eterna da IDENTIDADE INDÍGENA para ser respeitada e aceita, como um exemplo para o planeta terra. Exemplo de uma etnia humana que sangrou, retomou a voz ancestral e ética e sobreviveu a todo o processo de escravidão do passado e do presente e que realmente possa ensinar a filosofia da igualdade e fraternidade. Porque os povos indígenas são meus filhos primogênitos dos cinco continentes, foram os primeiros que Eu coloquei neste planeta, por conhecerem o princípio ético do equilíbrio na natureza. Povos indígenas devem ser exemplo do BOM CONVÍVIO COM A SOCIEDADE E A NATUREZA. Exemplo de prosperidade ética e espiritual.
Texto de: Eliane Potiguara
GRUMIN - Rede de Comunicação Indígena


Photo by Gregory J. Smith - CARF, São Paulo - BRAZIL.

Anandwan Logo + Leper

Anandwan Logo + Leper, originally uploaded by Meanest Indian.

A resident of the Anandwan Leper Community.

Photo by Meena Kadri, Ahmedabad - INDIA.

Watching the pigeons

watching the pigeons, originally uploaded by Tous les noms sont déjà pris... pfff....

Photo by Rod, FRANCE.

AIDS

AIDS, originally uploaded by camera_rwanda.

This little boy stands in the doorway of his compound where he lives with several brothers and sisters and two other families.
Gitarama, Rwanda. Afrika.
June, 2005.

"When it's my turn and God takes me, who will look after my children?"

Aids ravages Rwanda
By Jane Elliott
BBC News Online health staff

Selafina is just 39-years-old, but she is already preparing to die.

A refugee from the Rwandan genocide, the mother-of-two has Aids.

During the war she was captured by the militia and locked up in a house where the soldier repeatedly raped her.

After the war she began to get sick and, when she was tested, she was found to be HIV positive.

Sores

Now her arms are covered in scabs, which cause her great pain.

She finds chores almost impossible to carry out and even washing a plate is agony.

She cannot afford the medicine needed to prolong her life and knows she will die soon.

But her greatest worry is for her children Rose and Patrick and their two cousins for whom she is the sole carer.

The home they live in is rented and Selafina knows she and her family could end up on the streets.

"The most serious worry I have is dying and leaving them behind, where will I leave them?", she said.

"I have no-one else to turn to. When it's my turn and God takes me, who will look after my children."

Figures

Every 14 seconds, Aids turns children like Rose and Patrick into orphans.

The average life expectancy in Rwanda, one of the least developed countries, is only 49 years and almost one in six children die before they reach the age of five.

About a million people were massacred in the genocide in 1994 and now over 11% of the population are living with HIV or Aids.

Teenager Herana became the head of her household at just 14 after her mother died from Aids.

She had no relatives to care for her and her sister Rose, aged eight, and brother Jean Paul, aged two.

Starve

So each day Herana has to cultivate the land outside their home, leaving Rose to cook and care for Jean Paul.

Soon the vegetables left by their mother will run out and Herana is worried the family will starve as none of the neighbours are helping them.

"No-one came to help us with her dead body, they showed no concern.

"I gathered my sister and brother together and told them they had to be brave because we had been left alone."

Now a charity called Hope and Homes for Children has set up a project to help support the orphan of war and Aids.

They work to keep family units like Selafina's and Herana's together, sending the children to school and providing them with food and shelter.

Hope

Helen Harper, director of fundraising at Hope and Homes for Children said Aids was ravaging Rwanda.

"Genocide in Rwanda left thousands of orphan children in Rwanda, and now Aids is creating a new generation of children without hope.

"The scale of the problem could be overwhelming but our work is based on the belief that complacency in the face of statistics is not acceptable.

"Hope and Homes for Children must contribute to bringing hope back to the children of this wonderful and beautiful country and we work with the individual child, not the statistics to provide each with the love of a family, hope for their future and an opportunity to contribute to the future of Rwanda.

"In 2003 we will be working with 452 children in Rwanda and our plans are to grow the number of children helped significantly in the next few years.

"We are passionate about doing as much as we can without losing sight of the very individual needs of each child."
Story from BBC NEWS

For statistics on Rwanda:

Photo by Kresta King Cutcher

The Farmer

The Farmer, originally uploaded by joaobambu.

7:26pm, my friend Akio waits for the tractor to arrive patiently. He is the descendent of Japanese farmers who came to the state of São Paulo for a better life in the beginning of the century. They prospered and now they are Brazilians as well.

This is the first week his tomato plants are in the ground.

Taken with a 58mm pitch:0.75 HOYA CIR-polarizing filter I recently bought on a Canon Powershot Pro 1.

This photo happened by chance.

I was cruising around Echaporã late afternoon on my new motorbike...

I saw him in the city in his pickup truck and asked him where he was going.

".. To the new field, where we are planting tomatoes..."

I was on my new motorbike and sensed an opportunity. The weather was perfect and I captured some amazing shots afterwords of a rainbow, lightning, and the serenity and peacefulness of living in the countryside.

Photo by João Paglione, Echaporã - BRAZIL.

El ropabejero

El ropabejero, originally uploaded by Ram!.

Photo by Ram Martinez, Barquisimeto, Venezuela.

80 years later

80 years later, originally uploaded by Tous les noms sont déjà pris... pfff....

Photo by Rod, FRANCE.

Scream for your rights (suggested title)

167., originally uploaded by guilherme.schilling.

There comes a moment when it's necessary to scream for our rights.
Exchanging words with two street dwelling women, who received me very well.

------------------------------------

Chega um momento que é necessário gritar pelos nossos direitos.
Duas mulheres moradoras de rua que conversei e fui muito bem recebido.

Photo by Guilherme Schilling, Porto Alegre -BRAZIL.

Tattoos

Tattoos, originally uploaded by Jan Dara.

There were a lot of "up-country" people living next to the railroad tracks in Bangkok. They used this "free" area to construct wood and aluminum shanties to live in or set up shop

Photo by Jan Dara.

All That Fall / Tutti quelli che cadono

all that fall/tutti quelli che cadono, originally uploaded by centrifuga.

Potessi spiaccicarmi sulla strada come un grumo di marmellata, un grosso grumo colato dal suo vaso, e non muovermi più.
- Samuel Becket, "Tutti quelli che cadono"

Just let me flop down flat on the road like a big fat jelly out of a bowl and never move again!
- Samuel Beckett, "All that Fall"

Photo by Centrifuga, Rome - ITALY

Legally blind

legally blind, originally uploaded by stoneth.

...John from texas; gets SSI benefits because he's legally blind; the benefits pay for his hotel (about $700); he has $50 left per month after housing which he makes up by panhandling.

Photo by Tomas, San Francisco - USA.

B A I D E H I. Varanasi

B A I D E H I. Varanasi, originally uploaded by Claude Renault.

I know it's a simple portrait, not a very good image. But it has a story.
Baidehi is a old woman, people told me, 100 years old. She is a destitute woman from the state of Bihar. She came to Varanasi to die. She is living with other older women inside a house next to the cremation ghats.
A very nice woman, I forgot her name, has set up this place for those women to die peacefully.
She was adorable.

Photo by Claude Renault, Reykjavik - ICELAND.

Alan

Alan, originally uploaded by Keith Emmerich.

Alan has been homeless for 20 years and lived in 14 states. He now presently lives and has lived under this underpass for 4.5 years.

Photo by Keith Emmerich