Summer outing

Our Changing Places programme aims to give people from the City of God an opportunity to visit parts of Rio de Janeiro they've never been to before-and that includes new beaches!

Our summer seaside outing this year will take us to one of the best beaches on the Atlantic Coast with a stop along the way at the Santa Cruz Fort in Niteroi built in the 16th century by the Portuguese to repel the Dutch.

People power

Because of the way politics works in Brazil it’s often difficult for people to participate in decision-making in their community and feel they can make a difference. Without local councillors there isn’t really anybody who can be held accountable for the work of government or champion neighbourhood needs.

Since September we’ve played host each month to a community forum sponsored by municipal and state government and being set up in each of the ‘favelas’ in Rio de Janeiro now occupied by the police. I am a member of the standing committee that plans the agenda for each meeting. 

It’s proving a good way for the church to help develop a stronger local democratic process that will ultimately be the way in which citizens will determine their future as political priorities come and go. Top of the agenda for the first meeting of 2012 is the City of God’s police commander who we’ve asked to report on his peace-keeping force’s activity over the past year.