Perfect Easter

If Easter is about resurrection, I had the perfect long weekend.

It all started with the idea of visiting a charming town called Paraty (meaning "river fish" in the indigenous language tupi), 350km far from São Paulo.

As we started to read about the region, we realised there were a lot of nice beaches, waterfalls and hiking tracks around. So, why not staying at a guesthouse in the middle of the Atlantic Forest, 6 km from indigenous communities and close to desert waveless beaches?

Our guesthouse


The view from our room

Trekking

Wide smile after a refreshing swim at a waterfall

More pictures of our Perfect Easter

Old centre of Paraty

Paraty's pier under the full moon

Chimarrão, sun & sea



Great company for special times

Human Scale Development, by Max-Neef

Manfred Max-Neef is a Chilean economist who has worked for many years with the problem of development in the Third World, articulating the inappropriateness of conventional models of development, that have lead to increasing poverty, massive debt and ecological disaster for many Third World communities.

Max-Neef and his colleagues have developed a taxonomy of human needs and a process by which communities can identify their "wealths" and "poverties" according to how these needs are satisfied.

Human Scale Development is defined as "focused and based on the satisfaction of fundamental human needs, on the generation of growing levels of self-reliance, and on the construction of organic articulations of people with nature and technology, of global processes with local activity, of the personal with the social, of planning with autonomy, and of civil society with the state." (Max-Neef et al, 1987:12)

The main contribution that Max-Neef makes to the understanding of needs is the distinction made between needs and satisfiers. Human needs are seen as few, finite and classifiable (as distinct from the conventional notion that "wants" are infinite and insatiable). Not only this, they are constant through all human cultures and across historical time periods. What changes over time and between cultures is the way these needs are satisfied. It is important that human needs are understood as a system - i.e. they are interrelated and interactive. There is no hierarchy of needs (apart from the basic need for subsistence or survival) as postulated by Western psychologists such as Maslow, rather, simultaneity, complementarity and trade-offs are features of the process of needs satisfaction.

Max-Neef classifies the fundamental human needs as below.

Fundamental Human Needs	Being (qualities)	Having (things)	Doing (actions)	Interacting (settings)
subsistence	physical and mental health	food, shelter work	feed, clothe, rest, work	living environment, social setting
protection	care, adaptability autonomy	social security, health systems, work	co-operate, plan, take care of, help	social environment, dwelling
affection	respect, sense of humour, generosity, sensuality	friendships, family, relationships with nature	share, take care of, make love, express emotions	privacy, intimate spaces of togetherness
understanding	critical capacity, curiosity, intuition	literature, teachers, policies educational	analyse, study, meditate investigate,	schools, families universities, communities,
participation	receptiveness, dedication, sense of humour	responsibilities, duties, work, rights	cooperate, dissent, express opinions	associations, parties, churches, neighbour- hoods
leisure	imagination, tranquillity spontaneity	games, parties, peace of mind	day-dream, remember, relax, have fun	landscapes, intimate spaces, places to be alone
creation	imagination, boldness, inventiveness, curiosity	abilities, skills, work, techniques	invent, build, design, work, compose, interpret	spaces for expression, workshops, audiences
identity	sense of belonging, self-esteem, consistency	language, religions, work, customs, values, norms	get to know oneself, grow, commit oneself	places one belongs to, everyday settings
freedom	autonomy, passion, self-esteem, open- mindedness	equal rights	dissent, choose, run risks, develop awareness	anywhere

Max-Neef shows that certain satisfiers, promoted as satisfying a particular need, in fact inhibit or destroy the possibility of satisfying other needs: eg, the arms race, while ostensibly satisfying the need for protection, in fact then destroys subsistence, participation, affection and freedom.

Synergic satisfiers, on the other hand, not only satisfy one particular need, but also lead to satisfaction in other areas: some examples are breast-feeding; self-managed production; popular education; democratic community organisations; preventative medicine; meditation; educational games.

This model forms the basis of an explanation of many of the problems arising from a dependence on mechanistic economics, and contributes to understandings that are necessary for a paradigm shift that incorporates systemic principles.

Source: Rainforest

Confrontation

Last night, I went to sleep as a child
Only to wake up this morning and find I was a man
In my hands I discovered the tools and the wage of my father
Into my heart I found the love and the fears of my mother
Into my seed I discovered the promise of the future
The soil to be nurtured, the wounds to be sutured and the essence of my nature
I awakened and a kokoon was resting gently on my leaves
And bounced insects from my limbs sending a flattering bye
My tender kiss, my butterfly
She appears hopeless in the fire and wind
But always manages to land sweetly in her destination
Confrontation

Extracted from 1 Giant Leap, a complete artistic statement by two English musicians who traveled the world. The project offers music, digital video, images, rhythms and spoken word content about time, god, inspiration, money, confrontation and other themes. I certainly recommend it!

Simple Women in Extraordinary Times

Last weekend I went to Caixa's Cultural Centre and saw a great exhibition called Simple Women in Extraordinary Times. The idea was to give women from Brazil, Cuba, Israel and Palestine a camera to shoot what they loved and what the hated. The result was followed by an interview and is kindly (and sometimes strongly) touching.

E.g.: Abiail, from Brasília, talking about she loved, said:
"To get married to the partner I choose. To see my children well, and with a conscient and independent sense of freedom. To travel heaps. To live in a better country, where citizenship, conscience, solidarity and cooperation thrive. I want to be kissed when I'm 80."

In the International Women's Day, I'd like to thank all the determined, loving and inspirational women for their example and wish every single woman strength to keep fighting for their rights and the respect they deserve, so we can build our own destiny our way.

Perceiving leadership in practice

One of the reasons why I always worked for entrepreneurial and small organisations was because I never believed a big company - with its uncountable processes, hierarchical levels and selfish motivations - could truly engage the individuals to do something bigger than themselves, driven by values and ideals.

Luckily, I was proved wrong. I've been working for ABN AMRO for the last 2 months and, although I keep various critical opinions against the way banks operate and the impact they generate, I've been experiencing an environment of smart, idealistic and hands-on people, who talk and act about systems thinking and sustainability, backed by the president of the company.

The president in this case is Fabio Barbosa. He led the merging of Banco Real and ABN AMRO years ago and was confirmed this week as the president of the Santander Group in Brazil. The unprecedented decision of keeping the leader of an acquired company has a lot to do with Fabio's impressive style of leadership, which is extremely visionary (he was the starter and is the main representative of the sustainability initiative), focused on relationships and, as a result, very effective (the bank's results grew 45% last year). The unanimous positive opinion about him from employees, shareholders and society is almost freaky.

Wanna know why? Below you can read a part of the message he wrote to the employees about being the new president of Santander Group in Brazil (free translation) and will understand his coherent, engaging approach.

"I want to use this moment and thank you for the support that I have received during all these years. To quote Isaac Newton, 'if I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants'. More than 32,000 [employees]...
[...] It is also good to see the recognition of our proposal to work with transparency and respect, driven by values, focusing on the customer and building a positive internal atmosphere. Or, as we say, a proposal win-win-win.
It's going to be cool (it has been and... is being)! Let's go!"

One of the many immediate comments from the employees said:

"Congratulations! This is nothing more than the fair recognition of serious work.

Wish you lots of success in this new challenge and be sure you can count on us to build a better bank for a better society."

Changing times

In 1997, the Brazilian General Telecommunications Law established that all operators of fixed telephony had an obligation to install thousands of telephone posts scattered across their regions of operation. The idea was to ensure the universalisation of the service. Ten years later, the requirement seems completely outdated. In the region attended by one operator (Brasil Telecom), over 60% of 2500 posts have not had a single user in 2007. Repeating: none!

Times change...

Source: Exame Magazine, Feb'08