Parading back to Rio de Janeiro: the bookish and brainy
Some pack a bit of revolution in their bags when they come home. Others are making a getaway from the economic crisis abroad. Many want to contribute to Rio de Janeiro with something they learned elsewhere.
鈥淥ur journey began three years ago, when [we] began to imagine a different Rio de Janeiro, where the voices of all citizens would be respected and heard during the decision-making processses that define the city鈥檚 future,鈥� says Alessandra Orofino, co-founder of聽聽(My Rio), a new digital channel for increased political participation, around issues lacking public debate.
Raised and educated in Rio, Orofino and her school chum Miguel Lago both studied abroad. They decided to return and 鈥溾�ct now because we saw this was a unique moment, when changes that normally would take much longer to occur are unfolding faster,鈥� she explains. 鈥淲e thought, 鈥榥ow or never鈥�!鈥澛燭he nonstop duo convinced former Central Bank president Arm铆nio Fraga to provide seed funding.
Alexandre Fernandes and Ana Ester Rossetto left Santa Catarina for graduate study abroad 鈥� in the new fields of ecological and economic innovation. They recently returned to found聽, to serve Rio de Janeiro companies interested in the redesign of industrial processes that achieve 100 percent recycling, the 鈥淐radle to Cradle鈥� concept developed by Michael Braungart and William McDonough.聽鈥滻 found the pieces of my puzzle, what I want to do for the rest of my life,鈥� Rossetto revels. The couple sees Petrobras, Casas Bahia, Brastemp, and Carrefour as potential clients, capable of implementing reverse logistics such that consumer product and industrial waste don鈥檛 end up in Rio鈥檚 new landfill site, in Serop茅dica.
A sense of personal mission often provides the unflagging energy needed to overcome the many obstacles to successful readaptation.
The gain reverts to drain, at times
Some returnees do get out their suitcases again. 鈥淭he carioca鈥檚 tolerance with the pig sties made out of public spaces, the urban chaos, the noise and power outtages that I never experienced in the four years I lived in the US and that still occur too often,鈥� bring doubts to mind, admits Robson Coccaro, a musician.
Carolina Griggs came to Rio after completing a Columbia University masters in public administration, science and environmental policy, but was quickly disappointed. 鈥淚f you want to work in government you have to take an exam, but at the same time there are many people working with no qualifications. The model isn鈥檛 transparent,鈥� she points out. 鈥淚n New York they post jobs on sites with the needed qualifications. If you send your resum茅 and it fits, they interview you twice and you have a job.鈥� It鈥檚 time, she adds, to get politicians out of public administration; otherwise, the result is 鈥渢he absence of integrated planning and poor-quality public service.鈥�
While clientelism and bureaucracy are sources of frustration, there is also welcome progressiveness. Coccaro and his American partner Sean Gibbons returned in part because of the bad US economic situation and in part because of beckoning prospects here for their聽聽events design and production company. But they came foremost because otherwise they couldn鈥檛 have stayed together. Brazil gives out permanent visas to foreigners in an officially sanctioned same-sex 鈥渟table relationship鈥� 鈥� while this is still rare in the US.
But then come the outrageously high prices. Coccaro is teaching English and music while the company expands and has yet to enjoy the luxury of performing or composing.
鈥淚 bought a one-bedroom for $40,000 equivalent in 2007,鈥� he says. 鈥淭oday, the prices are between $100,000 and $120,000 equivalent, in the same building.鈥�
Partial consolation, he adds, is that telephones and the internet work much better now, and that cultural life in Rio is booming.
In the eyes of many returnees, Rio is not the city they left behind years ago.聽鈥漈he improvements in public safety make a big difference in Rio鈥檚 economic, social, and political life, and prove that it鈥檚 always possible to improve public administration, you just have to want to,鈥� says Carolina Griggs, who soon starts a new job 鈥� in New York.
鈥淲hen I left Brazil years ago,鈥� says author C谩ssia Martins, 鈥渢he favelas were very different. Today they are accessible to the cariocas, and with the introduction of [police pacification units] many people have been visiting and attending events in the favelas.鈥�
Martins returned聽quite happily聽to Rio for a period to write a semi-autobiographical novel, .
Joaquim Monteiro鈥檚 return wasn鈥檛 from any great distance, but the decision to come back to Rio was no small thing. 鈥淚 was living in S茫o Paulo, working for the largest communications holding company in Latin America, Grupo ABC, and had no intention of returning in the near future,鈥� he recalls.
鈥淥ne day I got a call from聽Carlos Roberto Os贸rio, saying he was going to work for the city, taking care of it and preparing it for the [upcoming events]. He asked me to set up the Secretariat for Conservation and Public Services鈥�. I鈥檇 be trading the certain for the uncertain, earning less and working in an area that was new to me 鈥� between working for a huge company or helping turn a city around, I thought the second option more challenging, and that it would be an enormous pleasure to work alongside such competent people who share the dream of turning Rio into the best city in the world to live in.鈥�
Monteiro, who is from a distinguished carioca family, not only took the job as Municipal Undersecretary for Conservation and Public Services, but also helped to found 聽(Rio I love it I take care of it), an NGO that works to create civic pride.
Despite such optimism and excitement, notes education specialist David Letichevsky, Brazil tends to develop in spurts, 鈥渓ike a samba de breque,鈥� a type of samba composed to include abrupt pauses. After twenty years abroad, he came back to work in the municipal school system, armed with a masters in the economics of education from Columbia University. Though he鈥檚 decided to leave once more, he offers inspiring advice for anyone considering a return to Rio:
鈥淏ring your critical spirit. Don鈥檛 accept things as they are; question, fight, argue. People will slap you in the face, try to trip you up, but don鈥檛 let your spirit break. The Brazilian mentality doesn鈥檛 much like contestation鈥� it鈥檚 very used to patriarchal, rural, slavocrat structures, in a continent-sized country that has little consciousness of its borders. If you not only saw the borders but also passed them, share with your compatriots what鈥檚 on the other side 鈥� for better and worse.鈥�
--- Julia Michaels, a long-time resident of Brazil, writes the blog Rio Real, which she describes as a constructive and critical view of Rio de Janeiro鈥檚 ongoing transformation.
