Rio de Janeiro March 2007

In March of 2007 we were lucky enough to go to Rio de Janeiro for Joe's "brother" Zak's wedding to his beautiful bride Luisa. It was an amazing trip. Brazilian people are so full of life and energy. They seem to enjoy everyday like it is a gift, we can all learn so much from them!

The famous Ipanema Beach-right outside of our hotel, it was amazing!

Wow! So many people!

We got to visit Zak's organization, Community in Action. From their website:

"About Us: Community in Action is a grassroots non-profit Non Governmental Organization (NGO) located in one of Rio de Janeiro’s largest favela (slum) communities. Our mission is to offer vocational and cultural classes for students of all ages, as well as personal development opportunities for volunteers. The majority of NGOs in Rio provide outreach programs on a service model: slum inhabitants simply use the services others (who live outside the community) deem they need. We implemented a new approach, a new vision - one that fosters the possibility of long-term community change by including residents in the operation of the organization. Currently, slum residents staff all human resource and administrative positions. These present and future community leaders are the volunteers, the teachers and the administrative teams. As social entrepreneurs, Community in Action has created a model for excluded and deprived people to create sustainable livelihoods and promote societal inclusion."

They accept donations on their website!

http://www.communityinaction.org/

It was a great opportunity to see the favelas up close and personal through such a wonderful organization. The volunteers are such selfless people, it was wonderful to see so many people helping each other to better their community.

Comunidade em Ação

A couple of the students, so sweet.

Another highlight of the trip was visiting the amazing Christ the Redeemer Statue. It sits high up on Corcovado Mountain above the city. It is 120 feet tall, a lot bigger in person than I expected. The view of Rio from Corcovado was awesome!

Cristo Redentor

And the best part of the trip, Zak and Luisa's wedding. It took place on a boat, I was on the decorating committee :)

The Cristo off in the distance, it is amazing how the mountains shoot right up from the ground in Brazil

The cute flower girl

It was a beautiful sunset ceremony

The reception was an unbelievable celebration at a mansion in the hills, the buses didn't go home until 2 am which was great for the Brazilians but the Americans couldn't hang, we were all falling asleep, we are wimps!