Expert: Sandra - 6/29/2010

Question
Hi!
My name is Monika and I am from Poland. It is possible that I will be moving for a while to Salvador de Bahia, but before I will decide it for sure, I need to look for an opportunity to work there somehow. In September I will graduate from Political Science (University of Warsaw). I was also studying in Romania, Czech Republic and Chicago. I do have some experience with working with NGOs (Amnesty International, voluntary service in Serbia), with International work (Ministry of Social Work, department of international co-operation, United Nation Office in Poland, Polish Institute and Embassy in Romania). What is more, I co-operated with students organizations like: AIESEC or   ASSOCIATION FOR POLISH – AMERICAN COOPERATION . I speak english fluenty and bacid spanish and french. Oh! I don't know portugess at all unfortunetly. I am ready for challenges! What will you recomend to me? The problem is that generally during my research I contacted some voluntary services but most of them want people to pay a lot for that...and I cannot afford it now. Please, if you can help me somehow, I will appreciate

Answer
Monika, spend a few years learning Portuguese to a level where you can be useful. Then you can think about a valid volunteer opportunity in Salvador that does not cost money. Few people in Salvador speak a language other than Portuguese. Imagine how limited you would be if you were effectively without speech, reduced to gestures.

Of course, an organization that has to babysit the volunteers (most of whom may come so that they can feel good about themselves, and who may not accomplish much else), watch over them every minute so they do not run into trouble in any poor area and arrange a translator for them, charges lots of money for this service. The organization also has to go to a lot of trouble to obtain a valid volunteer visa for each person. (Note that it is not legal to work in Brazil on a tourist visa, not even as a volunteer.  A work visa, even for an internship, is also very difficult to obtain, because of many well-trained, but under-employed Brazilian workers.)

Also, many people have romantic illusions about Brazil, and Salvador in particular. I would recommend spending considerable time in Brazil as a tourist in order to understand the realities before pledging yourself to an extended committment in a place that might be very different from what you imagine.

Perhaps your best bet for living and working in Brazil is to marry a Brazilian looking for an EU passport, in exchange for which you could get permanencia (permanent residence) in Brazil. Of course, this is technically not legal, but I have heard that Polish marriages are sought after because they cost much less than those with citizens of other EU countries.

Best wishes for a productive future.