Marcos said:

I also think that more material in Portuguese would be a plus, in academic environment, we manage to grasp the English, but the general audience does not, so for the medium level / technical workers, Portuguese would be a plus.

Which materials do you have in mind?
How about starting out with important Wikipedia articles and translating them to Portuguese or updating Portuguese articles that already exist?

We have talked about that for French and Spanish a bit here on the Forum:
forum.susana.org/component/kunena/284-la...s-other-than-english

Regards,
Elisabeth

Marcos, Cecilia, and Chris,

You said it very well, Marcos.

I also think that more material in Portuguese would be a plus, in academic environment, we manage to grasp the English, but the general audience does not, so for the medium level / technical workers, Portuguese would be a plus.

How can we speed up the translation process? Portuguese is a mainstream language. Brazilian Universities have talented graduates in language and literature. Could they help with translation and spread the word about sanitation at the same time? Do you have ideas on how this could be done? Maybe partnerships among academic departments? Formal translation can be onerous and expensive so I'm wondering if English-Portuguese translation programs could speed up the process. Students with good editing skills could make sure the Portuguese was correct and easily readable and help with page layout. These editors wouldn't necessarily need great English. Perhaps quick technical reviews could be done by technical experts.

We've now got cheap video and inexpensive through flawed online translation programs. Isn't it time we broke down some of these language barriers?

I look forward to your thoughts on this. And to hearing more about the sanitation in Brazil and how people in the sector learn and exchange new information.

Carol

Dear Cecilia,

Sorry that took me a long time to find the time to write back.

I kind of agree with Mr. Canaday, I came to know SuSaNa when I was working with GIZ (at the time was GTZ), but I also think that the rural sanitation, that is the area my students came to my for guidance and tutoring, is not a hot issue in Brazil; as well as we kind of hold to the idea that in Brazil, what works are big Sewage Treatment Stations, that could be runned by private companies (concessão).

I also think that more material in Portuguese would be a plus, in academic environment, we manage to grasp the English, but the general audience does not, so for the medium level / technical workers, Portuguese would be a plus.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you think I could be of some help.

Looking forward to hear from you:

Marcos

Marcos A. Teixeira
UFF - Federal Fluminense University
Dep. of Agr. Eng. and the Env.
Rua Passo da Pátria 156,
CEP 24.210-240,
Niterói-RJ, Brazil
www.ter.uff.br/
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Dear all,

Thank you for your support!

@Trevor, I will consider your advise and try to post more about Brazilian sanitation issues.

@Chris, your idea for the Olympics is very tempting, but at the moment I don't know if there is in Brazil any group doing such projects in this scale or offering the technology. I joined recently a small group of enthusiastic young Brazilians but we are in a very initial stage. We are thinking of a project to build some UDDTs in precarious human settlements in São Paulo, similar to refugee camps, where water is scarce. We are fond of having a dismantleable toilet, since these people may be evicted at any time. We are currently researching some mobile models and reading about emergency sanitation. I would be very interested in having a look at the UDDT you built in Pantanal. Do you have your experience published somewhere?

We have a long list of challenges ahead us, but first and foremost, we have to deal with the cultural acceptance. Let's see how it goes...

Thank you once again! I will keep you posted!
Cecília.

Dear Cecilia,

I am sorry that there has not been more of a response from our Brazilian colleagues. I suspect that there are many who read the Forum but do not write, maybe because they do not feel comfortable writing in English. We could potentially invite them to write their comments to you and you would then translate them into English and post them (together with their original versions in Portuguese).

I built some UDDTs for a tourist camp in the Pantanal in 2007. It was a big challenge because everthing had to be dismantleable, since the camp only functioned in the dry season (and was flooded in the wet season). It was nonetheless very successful ... and was located within the same tent where the tourists sleep.

It would be a pleasure to contribute to projects there ... and I am not so far away, upstream in Ecuador. I can also understand Portuguese, so feel free to send documents to be reviewed (and I could also help translate those comments we mentioned).

I have a dream that we could showcase UDDTs at the Rio Olympics, operated by enthusiastic, young Brazilians who want the ferilizer to go into the soil, instead of into the rivers and bays. The organizers currently have a big headache trying to clean up the bay where the sailing competition will take place ... and UDDTs could be part of the answer. Also, with respect to the massive social protests, the UDDTs built for athletes and spectators could later be given to other Brazilians who need them. It is a wild idea, but there may still be time to do it.

Best wishes,
Chris Canaday

Hi Ceília

Nice to see you on the forum again.
I was thinking of some easy ways for you to build up a network in the Brazilian sanitation sector and wanted to share them with you:

• Start posting Brazilian sanitation news and topics in the forum in Portuguese(with an English translation so as to reach a wider audience)
• Send sanitation events and meetings that are taking place in Brazil to the SuSanA secretariat for inclusion in the SuSanA events calendar
• Consider including a Portuguese translation when you answer other posts on the forum

I look forward to learning more about what is happening in the Brazilian sanitation sector!

Kind regards
Trevor

Dear all,

my name is Cecília, I am a Brazilian social scientist and I have been working on urban sanitation issues over the past three years. I had the pleasure to work with the SuSanA Secretariat team in Germany and afterwards at the GIZ Sanitation Project in India. I recently moved back to Brazil and now I am trying to restore my contacts in the sanitation field.

If you are a practitioner, a researcher or even an enthusiast on ecological and sustainable sanitation, please get in contact! Also if you are aware of any platform, group or discussion forum in Brazil, I will be glad to know!

I am looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Kind regards,
Cecília.

p.s.: I decided to add the Portuguese translation below, so this post can be found with Google by Portuguese speakers.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Olá a tod@s,

Meu nome é Cecília, sou brasileira e cientista social, e tenho trabalhado nos últimos três anos com questões relacionadas ao saneamento urbano, basicamente planejamento e participação. Eu tive o pazer de fazer parte da equipe da secretaria executiva da SuSanA na Alemanha e depois trabalhei com a equipe de saneamento no escritório da GIZ na Índia. Eu recentemente voltei ao Brasil e estou tentando ampliar minha rede de contatos por aqui.

Se você trabalha, pesquisa ou simplesmente se interessa por saneamento ecológico e sustentável, por favor entre em contato. Também ficarei feliz de saber mais sobre grupos de discussão ou alguma plataforma de diálogo do setor aqui no Brasil.

Agradeço desde já!

Um abraço,
Cecília.