Saudade

There is no exactly translation to that Portuguese word,
but once you feel it (and we all have felt it too many times)
you don't need a translation, for it speaks deep inside your heart and soul.

The word saudade comes from de Latin solitatem, which means solitude. From that word came solidade, soidade e finally saudade.

That is the Portuguese word to describe sentiments like missing someone or something, yet not so simple as 'I miss you' or 'I miss my cat'.

Saudade is more than a pretty word, it is a feeling that can be strange, contradictory, bitter and sweet.

The bitter side is the one that hurts inside, a knot in the heart that makes us cry. Worse than solitude, where the hope to find or to re-encounter someone is possible. With saudade, the void inside can't be filled.

The sweet part is the inspiration; songs and poems inspired by saudade, to make one remember something that has been the source of smiles.

Like the cake that only a mother could bake. Useless to ask someone else to bake the same kind of cake, no other cake will taste quite the same as the mother used to bake. Her cake is part of a past, which will never come back.

Saudade is a complex word, in no other language a single word define it completely.

Saudade is among the 10 most untranslatable words.

Here few examples of saudade:

"Saudade is to tidy the room

of the missing child..."

"Saudade is like pain

felt on an amputated member"

excerpt from the song 'Pedaço de mim' 

by Chico Buarque - Brazilian song writer

"The house of sauade calls memory: it's a small cabin in the corner of a heart"

 Henrique M. Coelho Neto - Brazilian novels writer

"Saudade is a sentiment from the heart not from the reason"

Dom Duarte King of Portugal

Forever is a long time. Time doesn't stand still! Only saudade makes things stay still in time"

Mario Quintana - Brazilian poet and journalist

"The best cure for saudade is loss of memory"

Carlos Drummond de Andrade - Brazilian poet

If you want to read more about saudade...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saudade

Brazil Forgets Its Own Poverty In Aid To The Eurozone

It was not so long ago when Europe and USA were the “rescuers” of Latin America, Asia, India and Africa; now the roles have changed, and Europe looks forward to having financial support from Brazil, India, China, Russia, and South Africa.

It seems ironic that countries like Brazil and India are considering to lend a large amount of money to IMF, while their sore history with that institution is not far in the past; Brazil quit its debt with the IMF just six years ago.

The fact that Brazil, in 2005, paid off its debt with the IMF two years before it was due, does not mean that the country is free of external debt; the Brazilian external debt (public and private) is of € 227 billion (75% of the National Reserve) and the domestic debt of € 1,3 trillion (38,2% of the GIP). The numbers speak for themselves...

The Brazilian economy is growing remarkably fast, and the poverty in the country is decreasing; however, there is still a long way to go before the picture of extreme poverty is washed away. Today there are 16,2 million people living in extreme poverty in Brazil - from those 16,2 million Brazilian citizens, 4,8 million live with a monthly income equal to 0, and 11,4 million with a monthly income not higher than € 29.
"A rich country is a country without poverty" - this is the slogan of the Brazilian government for its project "Brasil sem miséria" (Brazil without misery). As we can see, there is still a great number of Brazilian citizens living in miserable conditions, and another large number living in extreme miserable conditions. With that, I can only conclude that, according to the words of the former and the actual president of Brazil, that country isn't rich...yet. I must admit that much has been done in that aspect, that the quality of life has been improved, but we mustn't pretend it's solved.
It would be a mistake, and above all, a disrespect towards those who have no conditions to feed and to dress their children properly, to offer financial help to Europe, to offer help to the Euro currency.

Poverty isn't the only problematic social issue which Brazil deals with; public health and analphabetism score extremely high as well. Public hospitals without proper equipments, medicaments and levels of professional staff, and even without the most basic needs as sheets and towels, make part of the lives of the 142.376.496 people in that country who do not have health insurance fundamentally more difficult.

What about education? Only 7% of the GIP goes to education. The complaints about the public education in Brazil are endless. They go from public school buildings in unbelievable unfavourable conditions to extremely low teachers' salary. The government doesn't invest enough money in education; even though the State has, without any doubt, the resources to improve the level of education in every region, and most importantly, to make sure that the teachers in Brazil start to get a decent salary.

Another area where Brazil could use its “spare” money is in sanitation. It would require about € 5 billion per year, during 20 consecutive years, to meet the deficit of sanitation in the country. Today, the federal government invests € 1,5 billion, from which half comes from private sanitation companies. The calculations were made by professor Wanderley da Silva Paganini, from the Environmental Health Department of the Faculty of Public Health of USP, based on preliminary data from the Census 2011, disclosed at the end of April by the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE). For the specialist in sanitation, the 2011 Census figures reveal a "worrying" situation regarding the access to the collection of sewage system and water supply in the country.

With all those deficiencies, which affect the lives of millions of Brazilian citizens, it seems rather illogical that the government prefer to lend money to IMF instead of to improve the life of its own people. Isn't like Europe has no money, the money is there, billions of Euros in companies like Electrabel, Exxonmobil Petroleum & Chemical and Janssen Pharmaceutics in Belgium.

It makes no sense that while a company such as Exxonmobil Petroleum & Chemical makes a profit of € 4,7 billion in the year of 2010, pays only € 10,000 taxes. There are 50 companies in Belgium that enjoy the benefits of low, or zero taxes; with a total of € 27 billions profit and € 280 million as paid taxes.
The average worker in Belgium still pays high taxes though.

So yes, there is money in Europe, but as long as countries such as Brazil and India are willing to stand proud as Creditor instead of Debtor, as they were in known in the (recent) past, countries like Belgium will still be the tax paradises for rich companies and their owners. That is, however, another story, which I will cover in more depth in a future article.