Protests in Brazil

By now many of you have heard about the protests that are taking place in Brazil, including here in Rio de Janeiro. 

Short Version

The short story is that there was an increase in the price of a bus ticket, which has proved to be “the straw that broke the camel’s back”.  The people are mad at the government about wasted public funds that could be better used to help the people, like better hospitals, public transportation and the school systems,  just to name a few.

We have a team of 3 Interns here currently and so we are closely monitoring the situation and prepared to be flexible and make any changes in our plans as needed.

Long Version

Here is the long story.  Roughly 60% of the population of Rio earns the minimum wage, which is about US$2 per hour.  When you consider that the cost of living in Rio is higher than any city in the USA, including New York City, that has a huge effect on a Brazilian's income. 

In light of the low incomes the average person depends greatly on public transportation (in Rio roughly 90% of the households do not own a car), public hospitals (which are free) and so much more.  Diane, Hannah, Drew and I have all spent time in the public hospitals here.  They are not good.  The bus systems are improving but when we pass a typical bus at rush hour (2-3 hours in the morning and evening) we see that each bus is full beyond what is humane.

An example of the horrible spending is an Art and Music Center that is located about 20 minutes from our home.  When we arrived in Rio 7 years ago this facility was under construction.  The original cost was projected to be about US$40 million.  It was finally completed this past year and the cost ended up being around US$400 million.  So many pockets got filled by this project.

Another example is the former president of Brazil “Lula” was the first to come out of poverty to rise up to power.  Lula was an amazing story, which President Obama has praised repeatedly.  Lula did some good things while in office; he really tried to help the average poor person.  Once again, some changes happened, but few and far between.  Last year it was revealed that Lula’s sons have billions in their bank accounts.  

If you asked 10 Brazilians what the number one problem in their country is, 9 of them would respond "corruption".  This, in spite of extremely high levels of crime (8k murders per year in Rio in the early 2000's), rampant drug use, abortions in huge numbers and much more.

The protests are going on in roughly 80 different cities.  Today in Rio a protest is planned at a major bus hub.  In light of this, they are shutting down the public schools and our Rio Trio will not be able to teach their classes, as planned.

Brazilians are angry and want changes!  To read more in English, here is the link to the Rio Times: http://riotimesonline.com/

Please pray for this city and country!!

Serving together,

Jeff, Diane and the Rio Trio