Well, I will be honest these past 2 weeks have been busy but I personally feel not as productive as I would have liked. I have felt very overwhelmed and somewhat lost at times. But I hope that I the next reporting period will be much better. I have spent time reading and responding to emails from the various country sites that I had contacted about receiving input on what they feel is relevant content for their site. Also, I have spent time working on translating for the Spanish website. Many people have been out of the office so I have not had the ability to ask questions if I needed help. So I think I could identify with Adam and Alex in this respect. However, Jen and Nick have helped me sort through this, and now I am hoping that by producing a Regional Monthly Newsletter this might also spur on and increase membership engagment in Latin America and the Caribbean. I do have to admit though it is pretty cool corresponding with people from so many different countries! Well, i hope for the best! Hope all of you are doing well.

I was just thinking today that i have been here for almost a month! crazy, the time has gone by fast, i don't know if that is good or bad, good for how fast the time is going which means that it has been a pretty good experience thus far. and bad because i feel like i have so much more to accomplish!!! Well, anyways, i have finally succeeded in finishing the overview document which assesses the membership engagement of LAC country sites. Also i have developed a strategic plan for obtaining relevant content for each country site (which i think i can be fleshed out more). As well, I am in the progress of contacting existing TIG members to ask them for their feedback of what content they think and feel should be on their country sites.
On the more local/community side of things. I was able to go to last Friday to a community near a favela (i.e. shanty town/slum). It was a placed called the Digital Garage. We were able to tour the school with a teacher who took us to each class room and we introduced ourselves to the students and teachers. I was able to talk a bit about the TakingITGlobal site as well as the Brasil country site. It was great to see a grassroots initiative first hand, where youth had an education opportunity that they would otherwise not have access to. I hope to go back and take pictures of this, especially when I have TIG promotion materials in Portuguese. From seeing the Digital Garage, I thought that the new TIG-ED platform would be relevant and helpful to the youth that take classes there. It is a possibility to connect these two iniatives.

As well, I was able to attend a gathering which is held every first Monday of the month. I was able to network with youth, however, it is still a bit difficult with the language barrier. Overall, people are nice and understanding with this. Also, I have been in contact personally with youth activists who have been able to give me a bit of insight of what they face here in Brasil in the area of social activism. I feel if the TIG website is used to its fullest potential, this can be used to benefit the networking capabilities of youth and youth serving organization throughout Brasil.