Indianapolis, IN

Mon 23 July 2007

So, I’m thinking about the Partners of the Americas. Last week, a TAM Airlines Airbus skidded into a fiery crash in São Paulo, Brazil. The flight originated in the southern city of Porto Alegre, Brazil. Porto Alegre is the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. (I spent three weeks there in 2003 volunteering in English schools and working on my Portuguese. I also spent one week in Curitiba, about 13 hours north.)

In 1963, President Kennedy helped create an organization called Alliance for Progress (now called Partners of the Americas). It was created as a “people-to-people initiative, one that would allow private citizens to work together for the good of the Americas.” (I was quoting from the Partner’s website.) Almost every state has a partner. Indiana’s partner state is the state of Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state in Brazil, bordered by the state of Santa Catarina to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the country of Uruguay to the south, and the country of Argentina to the west.

The reason this state was picked for Indiana is because Rio Grande do Sul has many similarities with Indiana. Agriculture is a very important industry. That area of the world has the best beef I’ve ever tasted. Most people think of Brazilians as being darker skinned, with dark hair and dark eyes, but that’s not the case in the southern part of Brazil. After WWII, this area was inundated with German and Italian immigrants. So, there are many blond-haired, blue-eyed Brazilians there. While the north of Brazil deals with poverty and illiteracy issues, it’s not so much the case in the south of Brazil. Rio Grande do Sul is the home of Mario Quintana (poet), Erico Verissimo (writer) and Gisele Bundchen (model). Porto Alegre is quite a modern city, with a population about the size of Indianapolis. It is often frequented by world class sports, entertainment and cultural events.

Indiana Partners of the Americas has several programs and does many exchanges with our partners in Rio Grande do Sul. We have a Youth Ambassador program for 15-17 year olds, where they do an 8-week homestay overseas (we are always looking for host families!). We have had groups that have gone down to do medical learning trips/ volunteering. There are also a number of grants that people use to go do individual research trips in Porto Alegre and in Rio Grande do Sul. Partners of the Americas have a booth at the International Fest in Indianapolis every November. And every February (or March) we have the annual Feijoada (a traditional Brazilian dinner) in honor of the youth ambassadors from Brazil.

So, if you are interested in Brazil or have been there, come check out the Indiana Partners of the Americas booth at the International Fest in November.

: Partners of the Americas, President John F. Kennedy, Indiana, Indianapolis, Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre