Beach volleyball, Jin, and Street Children

Thanks again for following my blog, all y'all!: Emma, Jin, Susanna, and Justin the man, Eddie, Sandon, Allison, and Meagan! I just got back from two hours of beach volleyball with Jin, a Korean Canadian hunk I randomly asked on the street to borrow his phone. He bought me dinner (older Korean thing to do) and we talked about the Japanese Brazilian population in Sao Paulo, the largest Japanese diaspora in the world. Korean and Japanese live harmoniously together in the industrial districts. It's interesting that I met a Korean Brazilian on the DMZ who emigrated to Brazil fifty-five years ago after the Korean War, then returned to South Korea only to see her hometown in North Korea through the barbed wires that compose the demilitarized zone on the 38th parallel.

Anyway, Jin is derivitive investor from Columbia University attracted here by the ethanol alternative energy boom going on. With Obama's $150 billion investment in alternative energy and green-coller jobs over his first term, plus the world's line-up for Brazilian ethanol (from sugar cane productions), this area for investments is a gold mine in the next five to ten years.

Ok, so do I even have a personal life here? I have for the last few days, but I plan to finally visit my research facility and get started on my studies. Senator Shin cancelled for May 1st because he has to travel back to Korea, so Gene is probably scurring fast to find a replacement. I wanted to impress/educate the Great Senator on gay issues, specifically around HIV/AIDs in Rio. I guess I can forward him a copy of my paper once complete.

Oh! So how is it living in Ipanema, you ask? It's FANTASTIC! Besides the language barrier, people are chillaxed like in Cape Town. It's really the bourgies who look like they have something stuck up their....but besides that, what really saddens me is the abject poverty that many children go through.

According to Inciardi, there are around 2-3 thousand children begging on the streets of Rio. Salvador has the largest child prostitution ring in South America, so it's a bigger concern there, but Rio's children (like all Brazilian children) are the most marginalized group in Rio due to their vulnurability. At least the gays have some dough, children here are tossed around. This is why many become hostile and violent, because they have to steal to survive. Brazil's government has tried to pass policy protecting street children, but the lobby's don't give a shit about them.

Many children have pimps who exploit them, kind of like the gypsies in Europe, or better yet, the street children from Slumdog Millionaire. They form networks where eighty or ninety percent of the funds goes to the pimp (or their parents), and they are forced to beg. On the beach yesterday, I say a girl no older than four, going from one European girl to the next, digging in the sand as a gesture of innocence. Not far was her mother, guiding her other children to do the same. At first, you want to blame the parent, but they too seem to be out of options and if they want to provide for their family, this seems to be the one of their only options. Or, they can sell small commodities, which is more sustainable then begging. I usually try not to give money to beggers, and would rather buy a handmade wrist-band since it's harder work than begging.

Before I go to bed, I just want to say that I've been seeing a lot of attractive people in Rio. I hope to meet someone at church. I'll be praying, and then I'll turn around to see him there , leading the choir in a hymn. After that, he goes home to speak about faith and politics around the dinner table with his family.

Those gym barbies......I'll keep it at that. Hey I can look right! ;) Good night y'all and stay posted!