NEWS/BLOG

Greetings All!

A special welcome to those of you who recently joined the Network as Associates. If you haven’t explored liveabroad.com, please do. You’ll find information on more than a few countries with links to other sources of information such as books. To search for resources by topic, visit our Links pages where you’ll find such categories as Expat Sites and In-Country Contacts. To stay current, keep checking this News/Blog. You’ll find a link under the logo on our home page, or just bookmark this address: http://liveabroad.com/index.php/news/index/

Those of you who’ve been following the blog know that I’ve been very concerned about the future of Antioch College, where I got my degree with a year abroad in France. Earlier this year, the college announced its intention to close its doors after the current academic year. In the months since then the alumni have made enormous strides in getting organized and raising money. The decision has been reversed and the college will remain open, but more funds are needed. To find out more, see antiochians.org/

Will next year be the year you move abroad? Or will it be further in the future? Sometimes the stumbling block is simply having too many possessions. If you’ve reached the point of having more of everything than you need, why not ask friends and family to make a donation that will help in parts of the world where help is really needed? Or start a new tradition with your family and friends by making donations in their names to an agency that helps poor people help themselves.

In any event, have a joyous holiday!

Give Where Help Is Needed

Women in Kenya are using solar cookers and have started small businesses selling them to other women. The cookers enable them to harness solar power to purify water as well as to cook food.  Their use makes clean water available to more families and eliminates the need to burn wood, which is a scarce resource. A donation of $150 trains and provides follow-up for a village group and $30 trains one family in solar cooking.

Women in Malawi are building small businesses and providing for their children through small business loans from what the women “Banki Yanga” My Bank, which serves only the poorest women. One woman, Dorothy Kanjautso received a $70 loan to buy play mats and games for her small nursery school. This amount enabled her to build a primary school in her village for 200 children. In addition, she has taken three AIDS orphans into her home, and charges no tuition to other AIDS orphans.

Many of the women who receive the loans are community leaders. They also meet regularly for support and sharing ideas. Loan repayment rates average 98%, allowing funds to be loaned out to others who continue the process of lending hope. Just $86 provides the average first loan to a Malawi woman, and 15 provides one share of a micro-loan.

Alternative Gifts International works with over 100 agencies with excellent track records. AGI allocates 90% of funds received to cooperating agencies, with just 10% used for administrative and fund-raising expenses. Other projects range from planting trees in Haiti to providing medical aid in Dafur. For more information, see www.alternativegifts.org/

What Women Travelers Need to Know

Way back when the web was young, or almost nonexistent, we published a newsletter that arrived in the mail. Another newsletter from that time - the mid-nineties - was Journeywoman. I started corresponding with its editor, Evelyn Hannon, whom I had the pleasure of meeting when we were both traveling in Ireland 10 years ago.

If I recall correctly, she had just launched her website, journeywoman.com, at that time. It’s now an extensive site and has been reviewed by The New York Times and other major media. And it has lots of travel tips for and by women. If you want to know whether to take a cab or the bus when you land at the airport in Prague, you’ll find out here. I checked the advice on restaurants in my hometown, Santa Fe, and found the recommendations were right on. Men will surely appreciate some of the advice offered, but there’s info especially for women, such a matters of safety, what to wear and which personal items aren’t available in stores.

Do visit Journeywoman, even if you aren’t currently planning any trips. It’s professionally done but also lighthearted and fun.

Brazil: Big and Getting Bigger

With a population of nearly 180 million and an area of 3.2 million square miles, Brazil is the largest and most populous country in Latin America. It has made amazing strides since emerging from military rule in 1985 and is undeniably is the leading economic power in South America. Politically, Brazil manages to have friendly relations with the U.S. as well as with its left-leaning neighbors.

The currency, the real has enjoyed a big run-up in the last two years. Inflation has been curtailed and overall the economy is growing faster than expected..Brazil is rich in minerals such as gold, iron ore, nickel, platinum and tin, among others. It can more than met its energy needs, with reserves of oil, uranium and hydro-power. It has one of the largest reserves of fresh water on the planet and its offshore oil fields discovered last year are even larger than first estimated.

Known for its agricultural products, Brazil is attracting expatriates, including U.S. citizens, to buy and operate farmland. A global leader in biofuels. Brazil has been producing ethanol from sugar cane since the 1970s (This is cheaper than making it from corn.) A total of 80% of all vehicles in the country now use ethanol or an ethanol-gasoline mixture. By law, gasoline must contain a minimum of 25% alcohol or E-25. Despite high tariffs, the U.S. is buying ethanol from Brazil, where farmers there are increasingly replacing their soybean crops with sugarcane.

In spite of the country’s economic progress, there remains an enormous gap between rich and poor in Brazil. The World Bank, ranks Brazil second only to South Africa in inequality and the northeast region has the single largest concentration of rural poverty in Latin America. Another negative is that business people have difficulty navigating the bureaucratic regulations and the tax system.

Nevertheless, Brazil’s Bovespa Index has surged 41 % this year before taking a downturn in late November. Brazilian stocks returned 33% in 2006 and 44% through the end of October of 2007, though it has been far from a smooth ride. The index sank 7.5% after hitting its latest all-time high on Oct. 31.

The only closed-end fund focusing exclusively on Brazil is iShares MSCI Brazil Index Fund (EWZ), which seeks to offer returns corresponding generally to the performance of publicly traded securities in the Brazilian market, as measured by the MSCI Brazil Index. It is the top-performing iShares fund through November 23 for three-months at 34.0% and year-to-date, 65.3%, as well as three- and five-year annualized returns, both of which are above 60%.

Its holdings include the preferred and common stock of multinationals companies Cia.Vale do Rio Doce (RIO), the world’s largest iron ore producer and Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR). Note that both of these companies are under the control of the state. Other major holdings are Banco Bradesco (BBD), Banco Itau (ITU), Cia De Bebidas Das Ame (ABV), Unibanco-units (UBB). Gerdau (GGB) and Cia Siderurgica Nacional (SID).

Investors interested in large cap stocks may want to investigate some of the individual companies. Since the large caps have already enjoyed impressive gains, some strategists recommend Brazilian small caps such as processed meat company Perdigo (PDA), Cyrela Brazil Realty (CYRBY) and Brazil Fast Food (BOBS). The last two are sold OTC.  Do your own due diligence. In the interests of full disclosure, I currently have a small position in RIO.