And the 'Oscar of Twitter' goes to: Renê, a slum boy from Rio

Considered by "New York Times" as the "Oscars" of Twitter, the Shorty Awards believes that the Brazilians are amongst the best users of the microblog Twitter. 


This year, there were many Brazilians taking the "awards" home,  Marina Silva (Green Party), former senator for the State of Acre, won the "politics category"; Rene Santos Silva, who reported the conflicts between drug traffickers and police in the Complexo do Alemão slum, won the "Innovation category", and the twitter account  "Lei Seca" written by the advertising executive Edu Trevisan, telling what happens in the city of Rio de Janeiro, was the winner in the  "news category".


But the best moment was when it was announced that Rene Silva Santos, the 17 year-old Carioca (from Rio de Janeiro) had won the Twitter Shorty Awards on the "Innovation category" for his tweets reporting in real time, via Twitter,  the police occupation in one of the most dangerous slums in Rio, the "Complexo do Alemão" slum, in November 2010. 


Renê was one of the winners of the "Twitter Shorty Awards", he was in São Paulo in October to participate at the event "Infinite Think Google", where he was a guest speaker, when he was told that he had won the award.

Today Renê is the "editor-in-chief" of Voz da Comunidade, the twitter account where he narrates the daily activities of the people from Complexo do Alemão Slum, and he has been raising funds to start publishing a hard-copy of the community newspaper and has disclosed during Google Event that they are releasing 5 thousand copies (colour) next April, which will consolidate Rene's role in the information and news reporting  stage within the community.   For the future, Renê wishes to go to College and do a degree in journalism.  

Renê Santos Silva: "I published the news before the traditional media did"

To follow Rene on twitter, click here.
To watch the awards ceremony, visit the official page at http://shortyawards.com/

If you wish to learn more about the Police operations in taking over slums from drug traffickers, watch this space as we are going to publish a special article and interview about this theme.

The video below shows scenes of the Police Operation on the day Renê Silva started sending his tweets.

This week, Rocinha Slum and the Police Occupation were in the news worldwide. If you wish to learn more this slum, visit the dedicated pages:

Wikipedia entry with details of how Rocinha started: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocinha
The Official page of the Community: http://www.rocinha.org/

What kind of food do people in Brazil eat?

This is a recurring question I am asked by the people I meet and students.  They often ask me to talk about Brazilian food and what it is like but this is not an easy task due to its huge diversity but we can start our "culinary trip" from the most delicious - in my opinion - variety: The Afro-Brazilian Cuisine. 

The food in Brazil is a 'hot pot" of all cultural influences we have received along the centuries of mass immigration in the territory, as for example, back in the sad slavery times, the Portuguese Cuisine in Brazil was mixed up with the African cooking traditions and suffered adjustments as certain ingredients were different and sometimes non-existent.  

"The Africans arrived as slaves and were treated as sub-humans. The women were responsible for the feeding of the white masters and began to adapt their cooking ingredients according to the supplies available in the new land". says Leomar Borges, the coordinator of Special Diversity Projects at the Municipal Secretary of Restoration, in Salvador, Bahia (Brazil). 
"In that time, since the supply and diversity of food was poor, the African women had to adapt their knowledge of African cooking to the local products, having to improvise, create, reinvent their cooking. 
Seeds, roots, leaves, fruits and everything that could be used in response to the  the shortage of food in the slaves quarters and in the big farms were used and this mix brought new flavours in the local  art of cooking and thus, the very Brazilian cuisine. "The African cuisine enhanced both the Indian and Portuguese cuisine, thus creating the  Afro-Brazilian cuisine"

The oldest African dish in Brazil, carurú , dates back to the 1600s. It is a spicy stew made with smoked fish or shrimp, quiabo (okra), onions, dendê (palm oil), and peppers. In the twenty-first century, the African influence on ingredients and cooking techniques still thrives, especially in the northeastern state of Bahia. (Food By Country)

Feel hungry now? 

You don't need to be in Brazil to have a go on some delicious Afro-Brazilian dishes and see for yourself how tasty they are!  If you are in London, visit this page to see hundreds of Brazilian restaurants around the city and If you are travelling to Portugal, you will surely come across many Brazilian restaurants or Brazilian dishes in Portuguese restaurants and eateries.  

Check the video below to learn more about the variety of taste and colours that make up our national dishes: