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Project progress: Start - Earlier - Later - Latest
this section - October 2011 thru December 2011

Wednesday 28th December 2011

Aguapé Project donates to Gravataí Municipal Environment Foundation

Project Coordinator Silvio José Ourique with Francisco Pinho, deputy-mayor of Gravataí

December 15, the Gravataí Municipal Environment Foundation (FMMA) received 21 life vests, given by the Aguapé Project as a result of partnership between the two institutions. The presentation took place at the city's central plaza during the Cultural Competition awards ceremony, promoted by Aguapé in Gravatai's school systems.

Project Coordinator Silvio José Ourique presented the life vests to Gravatai deputy-mayor Francisco Pinho, and emphasized the importance of the partnership between the Aguapé Project and FMMA, in the sense of showing the Gravataí River to students in the public school system. Pinho was appreciative of the donation. The vests will be used by children during boat trips conducted by FMMA during environmental education classes.

During the award ceremony, FMMA also showed to the public the 10-person boat donated by Aguapé in June 201 during Environmental Awareness Week.

Aguapé promotes award ceremony in Gravataí

Project Coordinator Silvio José Ourique presents a bicycle to one of the award winners from Gravataí city schools.

December 15, the Education and Consciousness-Raising Module of the Aguapé Project held an awards ceremony in Gravataí, to recognize the winners of its municipal Cultural Competition in the categories of drawings, phrases, and essays. Schools from the city and state systems participated in the competition. The ceremony took place in the city's central plaza. Project coordinator Silvio José Ourique, Gravataí vice-mayor Francisco Pinho, secretary of education Mário Sá, secretary of public works Paulo Martins, municipal environmental foundation president Sergio Sampaio, environmental engineer Paulo Muller, RC Gravataí vice-president Silvio Bittencourt, and Food Bank vice-president Luiz Paulo Ferrugem were among the dignitaries who participated. First-place winners received a bicycle, while second and third place winners received school kits.

Winners of the Gravataí city Cultural Competition

In addition, ten entries in each category received medals and certificates of participation. Following are the winners of the 2nd annual Cultural Competition of Gravatai:

Drawing (City System):

Drawing (State System)

Phrase

Essays

Besides the awards for the students, a computer was awarded by random drawing to one of the participating schools, Nossa Senhora Aparecida.

District 4670 Group Study Exchange leader talks about visit to England

The 2011 Group Study Exchange was held in conjunction with District 1110 from England. The GSE visits to Brazil and England took place from September 25 - October 25, 2011. GSE visits can have diverse focuses. They may be only cultural in nature and not have a specific area of study. They may also be uni-vocational when all of the group's members belong to one profession. The GSE 2011 was thematic; that is, all of the team members worked in the area of environment. The principal focus of the GSE visit was the Aguapé Project, which promotes the cleanup, conservation, patrolling, education, consciousness-raising, and replanting of native forest along the margins of the Gravataí River. The GSE was held in conjunction with RC Portsmouth & Southsea, District 1110, international partner of the Project, along with local partners RC Cachoeirinha, Cachoeirinha Industrial, Alvorada, Gravataí, Gravataí Ulbra, and Porto Alegre- Anchieta, São João, Sarandi & Lindóia Passo D'Areia. The GSE team from District 4670 was composed of leader Tarcísio Docílio Borba from RC Cachoeirinha, and participants Beibi Daiana Lamb (RC Parobé); Cacinele da Rocha, (RC Imbé); Jamile Halam (RC São Leopoldo Industrial); and Trícia Wenzel (RC Porto Alegre Sarandi).

Cleanup Mobilization garners attention in local media

Cleanup participants working hard.

On November 25, the city of Cachoeirinha's official site showed a story about the local cleanup mobilization, with quotes from environmental secretary David Cafruni and biology teacher Tania Mares from Mario Quintana School. Both professionals emphasized the importance of the cleanup in making the community aware of the necessity to preserve and protect the Gravataí River by placing trash in proper containers and avoiding river dumping.

The local newspaper, Diário de Cachoeirinha, published a story about the cleanup in its Saturday, November 26 edition.

Cleanup Mobilization promotes action of consciousness-raising

More than two tons of trash were removed from the cleanup site.

The Aguapé Project held a cleanup mobilization on November 24 in Cachoeirinha, where two tons of trash were removed from the Gravataí River. Participating in the event were the environmental offices of Alvorada and Cachoeirinha, public works of Cachoeirinha, RC Cachoeirinha, volunteer group Angels of the Asphalt, scouts from Guarujá Mirim group, members of APN-VG, students from Mario Quintana school, and the riverside community.

The Aguapé Project holds monthly cleanup mobilizations in the cities of Alvorada, Cachoeirinha, and Gravatai, with the goal of raising awareness among the municipal public powers resulting in long-term cleanup of the Gravataí River and its tributaries, thereby improving the quality of life of the local population. The cleanup mobilizations also hold an awareness project with the local riverside population, educating them to not throw trash into the river and contributing to preservation of its waters.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Aguapé Project highlighted in Zero Hora newspaper

(This article ran in Zero Hora, December 20 edition; the article was titled "The Gravataí cries for help." The article cites Aguapé Project as one of the leading initiatives to clean up the Gravataí River).
Wednesday December 1, 2011

Aguapé Project is highlighted in Evidence magazine

Story published in the November edition of Evidence magazine highlights the boat donated by the Aguapé Project to the Municipal Environmental Foundation of Gravataí, in order to enhance the city's environmental education initiatives.

Thursday November 24 2011

Committee meeting will be on the 28th

On Monday, November 28, at 7pm, at the Trade Association of Cachoeirinha, the next meeting of the Aguapé Project's Steering Committee will take place. The monthly meeting is an opportunity for the project modules to present their latest efforts and recommend new actions for the project.

Cleanup mobilization on November 24

Poster advertising the cleanup mobilization in Cachoeirinha scheduled for November 24

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

District 4780 seeks collaboration from the Aguapé Project

Rotarian Ruben Beraldo, governor indicated for the 2013-2014 term for District 4780, has contacted the Aguapé Project of District 4670 in hopes of strengthening ties between the two districts toward cooperation and friendship in working on environmental issues.

During a telephone conversation with Project coordinator Silvio José Ourique, Beraldo described a project called "Operation Jacuí" that is being developed by Rotary clubs in the city of Cachoeira do Sul. Beraldo asked for assistance from the Aguapé Project in terms of suggesting actions to develop their project. Beraldo noted that upon hearing about the success of the Aguapé Project, he entered in contact in hopes that the Project's members could help motivate the revival of "Operation Jacuí," an existent project that has been inactive for some time.

Beraldo believes that the Rotarians of Cachoeira do Sul need a newfound stimulation to continue Operation Jacuí, and that this stimulation could easily come from the Aguapé Project's members. Project Coordinator Ourique sent Beraldo a copy of the DVD that tells the story of the Project and the Gravataí River, as well as other important information about the project, so that Beraldo can present these materials to fellow Rotarians in Cachoeira do Sul as a way of motivating them to preserve in their own efforts. The Aguapé Project and Operation Jacuí could be future partners in actions of environmental protection in two distinct regions of the state, each one producing specific events for preserving their water sources.

Monday, November 21, 2011

GSE Participants return from England

The GSE team from District 4670 at the District 1110 conference in England

The GSE team that traveled to England and District 1110 to participate in the annual Group Study Exchange has successfully returned to Rio Grande do Sul.

Tarcisio Borba, from RC Cachoeirinha, was the leader of the GSE group, whose participants were: Beibi Daiana Lamb (RC Parobé); Cacinele Mariana da Rocha (RC Imbé); Jamile Machado Hallan (RC São Leopoldo Industrial); and Trícia Lorena Derlan Wenzel (RC Porto Alegre Sarandi).

More details will follow in a special post about the GSE team, with Tarcisio Borba presenting his thoughts on the trip and the experience on English soil.

Monday, October 31, 2011

Aguapé Project presents at Roberto Silveira School

Sixth grade students at Roberto Silveira School in Cachoeirinha talked with Aguapé Project member Eliseu Gonçalves da Silva about the environment and the Gravataí River during a special presentation that occurred last Thursday the 19th.

The meeting was one among several activities of the MultiFair, an event that the school promotes with the school community. The theme of this year's edition was environmental education, and more specifically, water and its global conservation problem.

Alvorada City Hall and Aguapé Project confirm partnership

The Aguapé Project, through its Cleanup Module, presented a Poli Container to the city of Alvorada, with the capacity to hold 4.5 cubic meters of waste.

Rotarians from Alvorada present the container to Mayor Brum.

The event took place on October 20th at the city's Urban Services office. Mayor João Carlos Brum was on hand to receive the container from Project Coordinator Silvio José Ourique. Also present were secretary of Urban Services Roberto Coutinho dos Santos, secretary of Environment Mauricio Henrique Castro de Oliveira, secretary of Health Isaac Batista, as well as other municipal authorities of the city of Alvorada and partners of the Aguapé Project.

The donation of this waste container is one more action of the cleanup module, in partnership with the city governments of Alvorada, Cachoeirinha, and Gravatai, with the goal of facilitating the destination of trash to proper waste containers, in order that the local community preserves the Gravataí River and its creeks by not dumping waste into their waters.

For Mayor João Carlos Brum of Alvorada, the partnership with the Aguapé Project is extremely important for the preservation of the Gravataí River and its creeks.

Project Coordinator Silvio Ourique was quoted as saying, "Preserving the river means to preserve life; this isn't merely an obligation, it is a daily and conscious action to improve the life of all of our communities."

During the event, the terms of donation and partnership between the city of Alvorada and the Aguapé Project were signed by the dignitaries.

Official signing of the donation paperwork.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Award Ceremony in Alvorada

The Aguapé Project, through its Education and Consciousness-Raising Module, presented awards to the winners of the Cultural Competition held among schools in the city and state systems of Alvorada. The event took place on Sunday, October 2 at the close of Gravataí River Week, in the city's central plaza, attended by more than 10,000 people.

The Cultural Competition was developed among grammar schools students, a population of approximately 100,000, divided into categories of drawings, phrases, and essays. The winners in each category received a bicycle. Second and third places received school kits. In addition, 10 works in each category received medals and certificates of participation.

Following are the winners of the 2nd edition of the Cultural Competition in Alvorada:

DRAWING
1st place - Gabriel dos Santos Moraes, 8, from Cel. Aparício Borges School
2nd place - Vitória Isabel Assis Costa, 10, from Padre Léo Seidel School
3rd place - Eduarda de Andrade Caurio, 9, from Estella Maris School

PHRASE
1st place - Gabriel Peres da Silva, 11, from Antonio de Godoy School
2nd place - Nicolly Helena Duarte Becker, 10, from Normélio P. de Barcellos School
3rd place - Nicolas Adriano Gonçalves, 10, from Paulo Freire School

ESSAY
1st place - Franciele Meirelles, 15, from Cecília Meireles School
2nd place - Gian P. Henika da Silva, 14, from Paulo Freire Schoo
3º lugar - Mariane Pinheiro Perez, 14, da Escola Paulo Freire

In addition to the student awards, a computer was awarded by random drawing to one of the schools who participated in the competition. Dom Pedro II School was the school chosen to receive the computer, which was presented by members of RC Alvorada.

Winners of the Cultural Competition in Alvorada

Present at the event and overseeing the awards were Project Coordinator Silvio José Fonseca Ourique, Education and Consciousness-Raising Module coordinators Ary Cardoso and Márcia Souza, Cleanup Module coordinators Carmem Barcellos and Osvaldo Valdez, RC Cachoeirinha Industrial president Ricardo Bitencourt de Souza, and Alvorada's Secretary of Environment Mauricio Henrique Castro de Oliveira, who also was the Aguapé Project Coordinator for 2010.

Aguapé Project documentary launched

The Aguapé Project has produced a documentary that presents the five modules of the Project, to serve as a subsidy in environmental actions.

The documentary, approximately 20 minutes long, shows the actions developed by the Project in the modules of Education and Consciousness-Raising, Environmental Patrolling, Reforesting, Cleanup, and RCC (Rotarian Community Corps), during the first two years of project activity in the three cities of Alvorada, Cachoeirinha, and Gravataí.

City and state schools systems served by the Project will be the first to receive copies of the documentary. A partnership was formed with the municipal secretaries of education to secure the distribution of material. Project partners and environmental entities, as well as the Rotary clubs involved, will also receive copies.

Presentation on Environment to school in Cachoeirinha

Jardim do Bosque Sc hool, in Cachoeirinha, held a book fair on October 6, where the community was able to see several pieces developed by students in workshops, as well as take in some artistic presentations.

The Aguapé Project was present at the event with coordinator Silvio José Ourique, talking about the environment and the project´s efforts to more than 130 students at the school's patio.

That morning, students Tainá Micaela Vicente Mota, 13, André Luiz Tremphol, 13, and Tainá Maria Cardoso da Silva, 14, showed Silvio the works develope by their school in areas related to the environment. The students showed off their community garden, their compost pile, the trees they have planted, their herbarium, and their mandala All of the projects were developed and are being maintained by the students, under the supervision of Environmental Education professor Simone.

The students who have engaged in these actions of environmental protection show indignation when fellow students throw trash onto the ground or ruin what they have made with so much care.