It has been challenging to get a sense of where the directors of CPCD want there organization to go, what topics will be most prominent in the future, what are the social problems that they are targeting. I guess what I would like to do for them is use my skills in some way that would help them get where they want to be.

I have been working in a small town that is a long journey away from the central office---the Chinese proverb “The mountains are high and the Emperor is far, far away.” is a good way to describe my relationship with the directors of this organization and my supervisor.

I spent the last few days in Belo Horizonte, visiting the main office. I just showed up even though the office was supposed to be closed during the January holiday. I learned some things there…

I also talked to the director for a few minutes.
We talked about poetry and folklore. I worked on a project with a group of teenagers who participate in CPCD´s projects. They made audio-visual interpretations of poems written by local poets. We were discussing how I might expand this project.

We also discussed this question:
Como podemos engarrafar a água do mar sem perder o azul?
[How can we bottle seawater without loosing its blue color?]



I think documentarians/artists consider this problem a lot.
But, in this case, he was talking about the future of CPCD.
Para nós a sistematização é uma epécie de engarrafameto.
[For us, systematizing (and i think, documenting) our programs is a way we can preserve our organization and bring it other places (sort of like religion)]

He told me that they are having a beginning of the year meeting in Curvelo (a different city not near Araçuaí). I invited myself to the meeting and told him that I would document it in some creative way. He said Ok. I think i am going to ask the staff to make visual representations of their hopes for CPCD´s future.