There were a range of speakers, including the Manager of the IBM Uberlândia office, the various "owners" from the NGOs for the projects our team is to undertake and the Mayor, Gilmar Machdo, seen here keeping a close eye on me.
After the various ceremonies were over we all posed with the Mayor for a group photograph which I gather has been seen throughout the region. There was a video camera there too so who knows where we might have turned up.
Once the dust settled we found Laerte, the President of the NGO whom we will be working with and we went to lunch (our first experience of a Kilo restaurant, more of that later) and spent some time discussing the proposed project. After lunch we went back to the headquarters of the NGO and spent another couple of hours discussing the project before Laerte dropped us back at the hotel, as he had to go to another appointment. However we agreed to meet at the hotel later as Laerte was speaking at a function about the plight of children and invited us to attend.
When we got there we were introduced to a large number of Laerte's friends and associates and settled down to a mixture of songs, vidoes and speeches on the subject matter of the plight and abuse of children, and particularly so in Nigeria, where, when they become a problem at home for whatever reason, they are called witches and abused by one and all, mainly due to poverty, ignorance, neglect and a financial incentive for certain churches who charge large sums of money to exorcise the evil spirits. All pretty bad, but the hypocrisy of the churches concerned seems particularly deplorable.
Laerte's speech was well received and by the end of the evening we had been acknowledged and thanked by the audience for the work we are to do. Unfortunately it overran a bit so by the time the evening ended it was home to bed and be ready for an early morning...
#ibmcsc brazil
After the various ceremonies were over we all posed with the Mayor for a group photograph which I gather has been seen throughout the region. There was a video camera there too so who knows where we might have turned up.
Once the dust settled we found Laerte, the President of the NGO whom we will be working with and we went to lunch (our first experience of a Kilo restaurant, more of that later) and spent some time discussing the proposed project. After lunch we went back to the headquarters of the NGO and spent another couple of hours discussing the project before Laerte dropped us back at the hotel, as he had to go to another appointment. However we agreed to meet at the hotel later as Laerte was speaking at a function about the plight of children and invited us to attend.
When we got there we were introduced to a large number of Laerte's friends and associates and settled down to a mixture of songs, vidoes and speeches on the subject matter of the plight and abuse of children, and particularly so in Nigeria, where, when they become a problem at home for whatever reason, they are called witches and abused by one and all, mainly due to poverty, ignorance, neglect and a financial incentive for certain churches who charge large sums of money to exorcise the evil spirits. All pretty bad, but the hypocrisy of the churches concerned seems particularly deplorable.
Laerte's speech was well received and by the end of the evening we had been acknowledged and thanked by the audience for the work we are to do. Unfortunately it overran a bit so by the time the evening ended it was home to bed and be ready for an early morning...
#ibmcsc brazil
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