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The Latest from Minha vó Flor
Pietro is throwing Annie straight into the complexities of local life. Yesterday they visited our friends at the Minha vó Flor orphanage, and Annie was able to see the awful contradiction: orphanages are by definition one of the saddest places in the world, and this one is even sadder for its sorry state, yet it…
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A New Mini-Apartment and a New Volunteer
The first of the five new mini-apartments is finished, and the others aren’t far behind. Although all this building represents a significant strain on our finances, it is of course an important investment in the ICBIE’s future, and is a central part of our growth, permitting us to offer hospitality to more volunteers, social workers,…
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New ICBIE Friends
In order to foster international friendship and understanding, especially among children, we are always ready to hook up with groups or associations, and, in that sense, the most recent ICBIE partnership seems to be a particularly good fit. The Anguillara Basketball Association, located in the beautiful Italian town north of Rome on Lake Bracciano, trains…
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ICBIE Memories
Hello World! Coming back from the ICBIE in Salvador de Bahia I can confirm: this place really exists! What a truly amazing experience… Every night it was a never ending smile for what had happened and one couldn’t wait for the next day! Meeting Pietro, his wife Marlene and many of the other ICBIE co-workers…
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A Mestre Pedro Performance for some Special Guests
Between Christmas and New Year’s, Mestre Pedro again brought his whole crew to the ICBIE, to give a show for our new visitors. Gabriele Fabozzi is one of the most active students in the Bridge to Bahia project at the American Overseas School of Rome. A high school senior, he has been interested in the…
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An Official Visit from the Mayor
The previous post bragged about exciting contacts with important people, and among them, the mayor of Salvador João Henrique, who has received us several times in his office at City Hall. Little did I know that, more or less at the same time that I was writing the article, the mayor and several city councilmen…
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Reaching out to the Needy
Although the ICBIE faces constant challenges to make ends meet, we know how lucky we are, considering the conditions in our neighborhood. For example, just a few blocks away, on Rua Marques de Santo Amaro, is the Minha Vó Flor orphanage, where fifty small children live in a crowded and decrepit building. Founded in 1997…
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Bridge to Bahia Toy Sale at AOSR
From kindergarten to twelfth grade, the American Overseas School of Rome spurs all its students to share their human resources to fight poverty and ignorance, and to tackle the injustices of the global economic divide. Instead of superficially plowing the platitudes of the world’s tragedies, AOSR chose instead to form a meaningful relationship with a…
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New ICBIE Cineforum
After the successful film cycle that was presented last July and August, Pietro has assembled a new series. This time the subject is The Masters of Italian Cinema, and it is intended primarily for our many Italian students, as the films will be shown in the original language, without subtitles in Portuguese. The cycle will…
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A Pianoforte for the Favela
Visitors to the ICBIE are immediately impressed when they see the beautiful old baby grand piano stationed under the stairway of the entrance hall. Unfortunately, the instrument is beautiful only in its appearance: it is in terrible mechanical shape and it would be prohibitively expensive to restore it, even if a capable technician could be…