Woodcuts with a Cause

Back in October, I posted a blog entry on Literatura do Cordel, epic poems or songs written to inform as well as entertain the inhabitants of Brazil's vast and isolated interior. Introduced in the early decades of last century when illiteracy rates were high, Literatura do Cordel remains popular to this day. At the end of October's entry, I mused that perhaps we should be using the typical woodcut-and-poem style for our outreach and public relations work. Enter the Federal Government of Brazil, stage left...

... the following banner is currently hanging in Recife's airport warning people that if they have been offered a job which includes transportation to the location, a place to stay, food to eat, and a salary that sounds too good to be true, it probably is. All too often, poor Brazilians with very few alternatives accept these offers only to find themselves living and working in conditions of abuse and near-slavery or being trafficked to other countries. In an effort to use traditional as well as modern means of communication, the awareness campaign sponsored by the Brazilian Government includes woodcuts and literatura do cordel as one of its ways of accessing potential victims. Let's hope that it works....