Fabio Rosa - a Light Went Above His Head
3. The Light in My Head Went On
Fábio Rosa, Brazil: Rural Electrification
In 1982, at the same time that Gloria de Souza was launching her Environmental Studies curriculum in India, Fábio Rosa, twenty-two, a recent graduate in agronomic engineering, was trying to deliver electricity to poor people in Brazil. It all began when Rosa received a phone call from one of his university classmates inviting him to come to Palmares do Sul, a rural municipality in Brazil’s southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, an area famous for its beautiful grassy plains—the pampas—inhabited by gaúchos, Brazil’s cowboys. Rosa didn’t know that his friend’s father, Ney Azevedo, had just been elected mayor of Palmares. Azevedo had previously been the technical director at the state’s rice institute, and one evening, over dinner, he and Rosa got into a long conversation about the possibilities for improving life for local villagers. After listening to Rosa’s ideas, Azevedo offered him the post of secretary of agriculture. Although Rio Grande do Sul is one of Brazil’s wealthiest states, Palmares was a depressed area, reminiscent of the Mississippi Delta. The municipality had recently been cobbled together. When Rosa showed up for work his first day, he found no city hall, no records, no municipal employees, not even a pickup truck. A local priest let him work out of a church. Rosa dropped off his boxes and set out to talk to the villagers.
52/532
What he heard surprised him. Politicians in Rio Grande do Sul were always talking about building roads. But when Rosa asked farmers about their priorities, nobody mentioned roads. They spoke about educating their kids and escaping poverty and holding onto their farms. They didn’t want to move to the city. But unless they could find a way to boost their farm incomes, they would soon have no choice. The primary wealth in Palmares was the irrigated rice crop. Ninety percent of the land was lowland, good only for rice production. And Rosa quickly
Fábio Rosa, Brazil: Rural Electrification
In 1982, at the same time that Gloria de Souza was launching her Environmental Studies curriculum in India, Fábio Rosa, twenty-two, a recent graduate in agronomic engineering, was trying to deliver electricity to poor people in Brazil. It all began when Rosa received a phone call from one of his university classmates inviting him to come to Palmares do Sul, a rural municipality in Brazil’s southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, an area famous for its beautiful grassy plains—the pampas—inhabited by gaúchos, Brazil’s cowboys. Rosa didn’t know that his friend’s father, Ney Azevedo, had just been elected mayor of Palmares. Azevedo had previously been the technical director at the state’s rice institute, and one evening, over dinner, he and Rosa got into a long conversation about the possibilities for improving life for local villagers. After listening to Rosa’s ideas, Azevedo offered him the post of secretary of agriculture. Although Rio Grande do Sul is one of Brazil’s wealthiest states, Palmares was a depressed area, reminiscent of the Mississippi Delta. The municipality had recently been cobbled together. When Rosa showed up for work his first day, he found no city hall, no records, no municipal employees, not even a pickup truck. A local priest let him work out of a church. Rosa dropped off his boxes and set out to talk to the villagers.
52/532
What he heard surprised him. Politicians in Rio Grande do Sul were always talking about building roads. But when Rosa asked farmers about their priorities, nobody mentioned roads. They spoke about educating their kids and escaping poverty and holding onto their farms. They didn’t want to move to the city. But unless they could find a way to boost their farm incomes, they would soon have no choice. The primary wealth in Palmares was the irrigated rice crop. Ninety percent of the land was lowland, good only for rice production. And Rosa quickly