Beach view in Rio de Janeiro. Photo © Gilberto Santa Rosa, licensed Creative Commons Attribution.
As in much of Latin America, however, there is a significant disparity in the distribution of wealth. In Brazil, one in every five person lives in poverty. Nearly 10 percent of the population is illiterate, while one in five are functionally illiterate (reading and writing skills are insufficient to manage beyond the most basic daily living and employment tasks).
Due to bureaucratic restrictions, Brazil has fewer local organizations catering to international volunteers than many of its neighbors. However, independent opportunities can still be found. Volunteers can work with disadvantaged youth in favelas (urban slums), plant trees in the Atlantic Forest, teach English in a tourist beach town, or even brainstorm new ideas in jewelry and fashion design at a small business association in a community center.
Brazil is Latin America’s only Portuguese-speaking country. It was a Portuguese colony from 1500 until 1822, and the language remains as its legacy.
Check out this video on community gardening in Rio de Janeiro from Iko Poran, an organization that places volunteers in a variety of programs around the city:
Excerpted from the First Edition of Moon Volunteer Vacations in Latin America.
