Dance Lest We All Fall Down - Margaret Willson [58]
I thought for a moment. “You know Rita, what really interests me is the infrastructure. There are tons of good projects and a lot of change needed, God knows, but I’m interested most in how it’s put together, in the creation of the organization.”
“Go on.” Rita topped off my glass and refilled her own.
“Well, grassroots projects here have good ideas, but the middle class doesn’t give them any money, the people involved lose heart and give up.”
“Or,” Rita said, “if they get any money, they steal it. You can’t give money to someone who doesn’t have enough to eat and not expect them to use it for themselves and their family first.”
“And if they get any money, they just seem to end up fighting over power.”
“Or when they are perceived as having money, one of their volunteers or staff sues them. The same kind of laws that protected me protect them. And contract systems are very complicated. If a worker or volunteer sues, they almost always win.” She laughed rather nastily. “So, the worker wins and takes everything the nonprofit owns. Even the fridge or whatever. And the whole project collapses.”
“Nice,” I said. “Pleasant country, this.”
Rita saluted me with her glass.
“But on the other side,” I continued, “and you’ve said this yourself: I see middle-class or foreign ‘aid’ groups coming in telling people in the favelas what they are sure is best, and most of the time not understanding the reality at all. These groups get funds for, say, computer projects in favelas where food and electricity is a problem. These groups make lots of money themselves, and in the end little or no change happens at all.”
“Which is why we have to ask people what they want. Otherwise we’re doing the same thing.”
“True.”
“Another problem is that when you get the middle class involved, you run into the patronage system,” Rita said.
“Special favors for those who give you their ‘charity.’”
“Exactly. My sister needs help, or my uncle wants to start a new business, or the computers you buy have to come from my wife’s company. They’ll control the whole thing in no time, and in the end the entire project will be assisting them and their families more than anyone else.”
“Of course the foreigners will likely do the same thing.”
“Which is why the power—the center—has to remain with favela people.”
“The power and the idea have to be grassroots, but must have an infrastructure designed with international accountability.”
“Is that what you’re saying interests you? To take the best of both, mesh them, and see if we can make it work?”
“Yeah, I guess so …”
“Well, you have the international understanding to do it.”
“Maybe.” Nelson brought another beer. “You order that?” I asked. Rita nodded. “Yeah. This is hard work.”
“So, I’m thinking of this infrastructure as more of a circle than a top-down hierarchy,” I said.
“Yeah? That would be different. But how would you make it actually work?” Rita filled our glasses.
“So, this is just an idea, right?” Rita nodded. “OK. I’m thinking we visualize the structure of the project, whatever that is, with the people here at the center, and all other people involved in a circle around it.”
“You’re still a bit abstract,” Rita said.
“All right.” I began making marks on the table with my finger. “Instead of one Board of Directors in the States, say we have one here and one there. The program becomes a legal nonprofit here in Brazil, independent.”
“With you and me on the board?”
“No, no. Not me. You and people who are somehow involved with the project. I form my own board in the States, a U.S. nonprofit, completely independent as well. That way the