Empowering Young Brazilians - Art and Mobilization

Dear Friend and Supporter

Today we’d like to tell you about the launch of the Afro-library (Afroteca) we opened with your amazing support! It was a great celebration in the main square of the Cordoaria Quilombo. The Afro-library is a community library set up to receive up to 20 children at a time for activities related to black, quilombola and indigenous literature; the library contains over 140 books. 

We are working with 70 children in play and education activities that reinforce the concepts of grammar, reading and, above all, racial identity. In the second semester, a further 400 children from public schools in the region will also benefit from the itinerant Afroteca.

Our group of educators have organized a timetable that includes storytelling, cinema, workshops with play, handicrafts, music and poetry, all to improve the education rates that were hit so hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, when classes were interrupted for 3 years. And, clearly, to promote the reclaiming of quilombo identity by the people who live there.

Maju, our lovely storyteller, launched this literary landmark through tales from the books I feel what I feel and Makeba goes to school by the Bahian authors Lázaro Ramos and Ana Fátima.

Former project beneficiary and current Viva a Vida Culture Coordinator, Thiago the Revolutionary Poet, performed his poetry.

Representatives from government and private companies also attended, but what really set our hearts beating was the fantastic community presence!

Afroteca activities will continue throughout the year with regular workshops held during the after-school period, and as a lending library with storytelling on Saturdays.

Viva the Democratization of Literature and for a world in which the Human Right to Read also matters!

Huge thanks to all of you who donate to Viva a Vida and make this great work possible.

AFROTECA ACTIVITIES 

1. Regular workshops: since March we have worked with the two schools located in the quilombo, with children aged from 3 to 12 years old, almost 70 in total. Three times a week, the children spend their afternoons in the Afroteca, following an educational development plan devised for each child. The books read during these activities were: Alika by Regina Luz, I feel what I feel by Lázaro Ramos, What face? by Solange Barros, Koumba and the Diambê drum by Madu Costa and I want a hug by Stela Barbieri.
2. Storytelling in the Square: we’ve had three storytelling meetings, with about 30 children attending each, sitting in the middle of the square and enjoying the stories. These always involve characters who relate their experiences and talk about where they live, such as, I feel what I feel by Lázaro Ramos, Makeba goes to school by Ana Fátima, Love of Hair, by Matthew A. Cherry and Me and my place by Vânia Abreu
3. Community Library: on Saturdays, the Afroteca’s doors are thrown open to the community. Our team receives children who turn up to read, draw, play and, to our delight and surprise, even create their own storybooks!
4. Prevention and Combatting Sexual Violence and Exploitation: to mark 18 May, when all our efforts are dedicated to remembering the need for public policies that protect children and adolescents from sexual violence, we went to the Quilombo School and discussed the book Don’t touch me, you fool which addresses this topic. We then held a large circle debate to discuss myths and realities and listened to what the children had to say in this delicate moment of learning.

RASTA CINE EVENING

In May, we held our first Cine Evening with the theme KEMET or Egypt. These events constitute a strategy to involve the young people from the quilombo in our activities. The idea is to create a safe space for young people to discuss relevant themes so that later we can return to running Political Awareness training with adolescents and young people from the community.

There were many attractions including: the quilombo’s Aquilombar capoeira group, poetry from the Revolutionary Poet and Luca, and a showing of the film Nó from Midi Alves, focused on valuing black women.

It’s worth noting that all of this was organized by our Culture Coordinator, Thiago, who is also, as mentioned, a former beneficiary, volunteer and now a member of our board.

WOMEN’S COLLECTIVE

In March, Évelin, our General Coordinator, received homage in an event at the first school we worked with in Vila de Abrantes. The idea was to pay homage to women who provide social and educational well-being activities in the neighborhood. This led to many ideas, culminating in a proposal to set up a collective for women in the region to discuss their issues in a safe space and break paradigms. The Render Women’s Collective was thus born – the group, which meets monthly, is currently reading the book “Women who run with Wolves”.

POLITICAL TRAINING WITH YOUNG PEOPLE

At their invitation, we visited a public school in Monte Gordo, a neighborhood close to where we work, to hold a circle dialogue with young people about “Racism and Youth: what does this have to do with me?” Educator Marcos Paulo and the Revolutionary Poet turned the auditorium into a space for debate and reflection.

THEATER

The V2 theater group has long been in recess because of a lack of funding, but came together to support the doctoral thesis of director, actress and theatre teacher Simone Requiao, who worked with the group for more than 5 years. Simone and the Viva a Vida actors presented a sketch focused on topics that are highly relevant today: homophobia, racism and violence against women. The presentation took place in the Martins Gonçalves theater at the Federal University of Bahia’s Theater School.

THEORY OF CHANGE

Juracy Bahia, our President, is in the second phase of helping us construct this important instrument for conscious and appropriate planning. During June and July the team is coming together to consider pathways, possibilities and interventions for the community where are work is focused.

Dear Friends and Supporters

Success story – coming back home!!

One of Viva a Vida’s principles is to apply your amazing donations to train young people and provide the community with new experiences, in terms of both qualifications, and social and political development. All of this is undertaken from the perspective of empowerment and the pursuit of autonomy. Over the years, we have developed important projects with our Viva Juntos group of young people, training them in different areas of art and social management. And little by little, at various times, some of them have joined our team.

Now in 2023, with your help, we have started the year reinforcing this approach and today, three of our young participants, former project beneficiaries, have joined the team and are being paid for their work!

Lucas, who is 22 years old, has joined our team as Assistant to the Coordinator. For five years, Lucas was a member of our V2 Theater Group; when he began taking theater classes he was feeling extremely vulnerable because of his sexuality. He had been involved in gay relationships but was experiencing a lot of internal conflict and problems with his family, who practice a religion that does not ‘accept’ homosexuality. These conflicts and excessive suppression meant that he was very shy and ultimately led to depression; at one point he was cutting himself to deal with his mental anguish. Through the theater, he began to feel much more liberated and to develop his potential. Today, he is a member of the team, occupying a very important position advising the General Coordinator in administrative activities and transforming, day by day, into an empowered and autonomous young man, passing on his learning to his peers as a knowledge multiplier. His target for this year is return to education and study administration at university. He has gained the respect of his mother, who is also now a volunteer at Viva a Vida!

“I was very depressed again, at home and with no prospects, which was when I asked Evelin if she knew of anywhere that was hiring people, and I was so surprised when she said, yes, Viva a Vida was. I cried! Talking to my mum that day, I said I was starting to live again.”

Ana Clara is 23 years old, a psychology student and has been hired as an Assistant for our Afroteca library. Ana Clara was also a member of the theatre group, she had moved to Bahia from another state and was having a lot of difficulties adapting, until she joined Viva a Vida and started learning the art of theater. Although she was shy, she was very dedicated and acted in significant roles. She started studying psychology and, although she has overcome a great deal, she still suffers from shyness and problems with her self-image. For Ana Clara, returning to Viva a Vida has provided her with a new opportunity to carry on conquering her frailties.

“I am so honored by this invitation to work at Viva a Vida. The NGO is ‘saving’ my life again.”

Thiago is 22 years old and a youth cultural mobilizer; today he is known as the Revolution Poet. Some of you may have heard of Thiago, he has a long history of partnership and love with Viva a Vida, and you can follow his story in many of our reports and publications. Thiago found out about our work through our Human Rights and Racism workshops and then became a member of the Viva Juntos project, since when he has reached incredible heights. Having got mixed up in a drug-trafficking gang, he came to Viva a Vida feeling very bitter, with family problems and few prospects. Through literature, Thiago discovered poetry and so far he has written five books. He has become a role model for other young people in the State of Bahia. This year, as a member of the Viva a Vida team, he will be responsible for running Arts Events aimed at engaging young people and training them in how to mobilize political support.

“I’m so pleased to represent Viva a Vida, it changed my life. Now I have to do the same for other people.”

Afroteca Muvuca

Viva a Vida has received funding through the Projects that Transform Lives grant of Braskem, a private company, to set up the first physical Afroteca Muvuca library in Bahia. This is aimed at working with literature and identity with 90 children from the Cordoaria Quilombo in Vila de Abrantes, pupils at four local elementary schools. The Afroteca Muvuca will be located in a container equipped to receive 20 children per day, three times a week, with monthly storytelling activities open to all the community. It will contain 150 books on black, indigenous and quilombola themes, which will be used in classes applying an educational plan constructed by educators specializing in Afro-centered Education.

New office

In order to run a project of this size, we have decided to open a new office in the Cordoaria Quilombo and establish Viva a Vida there as a mechanism to support the community. Working with traditional peoples strengthens our mission and our strategy, whose main aim is to combat racism.

This is also part of Viva a Vida’s institutional strengthening strategy, which, over the coming years, will be focused on creating strong links with public and private bodies in order to become a center of reference for work with Human Rights in the State of Bahia, specifically with traditional peoples and black youth.

First meeting about Education for Ethnic-Race Relations

To add more value and new social technologies to our project, on 25 February we held our First Meeting about Education for Ethnic-Race Relations, mediated by educational specialists and Viva a Vida consultants Mariana Barreto and Vanessa Lemos and held in the building of the Cordoaria Residents Association. The meeting was attended by the Viva a Vida team and board members, community leaders, a representative from the Department of Racial Equality, and representatives from other quilombos and funders.

We discussed strategies about how to develop and apply the ethnic-racial approach within formal education arenas, specifically focusing on quilombola children. The mediators discussed the history of education and racism in Brazil and encouraged participants to consider their own identity and self-image, relating this to their personal experiences of racism and other rights violations. Their empowering and sensitive approach led to a rich debate about the real impacts of racism and other violations, and how we will combat these using a Afro-centered approach in the Afroteca Muvuca.

Without your support, none of this enriching work would have been possible, so please accept our thanks and our huge appreciation of your generous donations!

Dear Friends and Supporters

Viva Democracy!

Thanks to your generous support, over recent months we have been able to run the following peer-to-peer empowerment activities with adolescents and young people from the state of Bahia. This work has been dedicated to the fight for democracy and the promotion of Human Rights for all:

• Training young people in how and why democracy works
• Participating in neighborhood marches to promote democracy
• Community mobilization, focused on young people
• Public recitals of political poetry
• T-shirt spray painting

One of Viva a Vida’s founding principles is non-partisan political involvement, maintaining neutrality and ensuring that our young participants have free access to our work and a voice in the fight for their rights.

In line with this principle, we have fought, and continue to fight, for civil and political rights, through activities such as our Vila Jovem group, in which adolescents and young people in the community were trained in how to exercise political oversight and actively participate in the drafting and decision-making of social and public policies concerning their rights. In the last five years, our Viva Juntas Project has trained more than 1,000 young people, promoting Human Rights and combatting Racism and Urban Violence, using an extensive curriculum centered on youth policy.

These activities are always aimed at giving the community the opportunity to diagnose, debate and propose policies in line with their needs. We believe that this is the only ethical way to transform the reality of communities in extreme vulnerability, such as the one we work with.

This year Brazil has been through a political process that culminated in an election with two potential candidates: one who represents democracy and another who asserts a position of racism, homophobia, classism, corruption, violence against women, the promotion of armed militia and State violence, and similar.

Within this context, we have used urban arts – poetry, graffiti, spray painting – to dialogue with young people at Bahia’s busied public transport hub, Lapa bus and metro station, using art to connect and debate. These activities were carried out in partnership with the Poetic Committee Against a Coup (a local group of poets, artists and musicians).

Our young artists used their talents to discuss the importance of democracy and rights for young people. Thiago performed his inspiring, political slam poetry, our graffiti artists Jessé, Miquéias and Romário, spray painted T-shirts, while others sang, gave out leaflets and talked to young people as they passed through the station.

Viva a Vida’s President Juracy, Coordinator Évelin and Consultant Cressida also participated in these democratic debates, to guarantee that the Brazilian Constitution is respected and democracy is maintained. In all, we estimate that, with the support of your donations, we reached approximately 1,000 young people in our debates about fight for democracy.

“Thank you! It’s so important to have active young people here, who know what they’re talking about”, said Danilo, one of the Committee’s leaders on hearing Thiago’s poetry performance.

“What a great experience! It’s so good to be able to contribute to democracy in my country,” said Jessé, who was engaged in T-shirt spray painting.

“Next year I’m going to going the youth group in Camaçari and do more to change things. I decided this after being involved in these activities.” said Romário, who was also engaged in T-shirt spray painting and helped to organize the group.

Another piece of good news, is that, through your generosity, we have almost reached our GlobalGiving financial target. But the fight goes on! We are therefore going to increase this target, in the hope that we can continue to count on your support to empower more adolescents and young people to become healthy and productive global citizens.

Huge thanks to you from all of the Viva a Vida team, young artists, leaders and supporters of democracy!

Dear Friend and Supporter

Today we’re going to update you on the amazing story of Thiago, our Revolutionary Poet, so you can see how your generous donations really do transform and save lives!

Spreading poetry, art and transformation

Thiago became a Viva a Vida beneficiary through the workshops we run on Human Rights, Racism and Violence at the State College of Vila de Abrantes, very close to our offices.  In the first workshop, our Youth Educator, Marcos Paulo, talked about the importance of having dreams.

Thi, as we affectionately call him, didn’t want to participate in the workshop and questioned Marcos Paulo about his choice of theme. He left the classroom! Disturbed by this, Marcos approached him in the school yard for an informal chat.

That was when Thiago said: “I don’t know what dreaming is. My life has never allowed me to dream. I don’t have any prospects, I come to school because I have to, I live with my mother because there’s nothing else I can do, I don’t see any point in your classes or anybody else’s. Can you see these marks (pointing to scars on his body), these are bullet wounds, that’s my story. Do you really think I’m going to start thinking about dreams?”

This difficult dialogue stayed with Marcos, who came into Viva a Vida’s offices and told us about it, considering a thousand ways he could reach out and work with Thiago.  Marcos approached Thiago tirelessly, invited him to workshops, suggested friendships, kept on talking to him.

This bond enabled Thiago to find out about our work, to become involved and, little by little, he fell under our spell!

Over these five years, Thiago has participated in training, become a young assistant and volunteer and a great artist.

Taking photography, poetry and literature workshops, Thiago has discovered that he can write about his experiences, touching and transforming the lives of other people, particularly the lives of other young people.

And Thiago learnt how to dream!

He began to write and recite poetry, has invested in a music career, has started studying again and participates in some of the most important artist collectives in the city.

He lives alone and supports himself through his art.  Reciting poetry on buses and in bars. The story of his involvement in the violent drug trade has been replaced by work to transform lives through his own life experience!

Finally, but this isn’t the end, now aged 20, in June, Thiago launched his first book of poems, called Akanni – Fruitful Encounter, containing his poetry of protest and the anti-racist struggle.

The book launch took place in the Cordoaria Quilombo and Thiago gave a copy to every one of the 23 women from the Flour House, participants in Viva a Vida’s Beijuzeuras in Resistance Project. The book contains seven of Thiago’s very powerful and impactful poems, focused on the social reality of most black men and women from Brazil’s city peripheries:

War on drugs, or war on black lives?

War on drugs, or war on black lives?

I see death in the ghetto and I say nothing

In the news we see only Ukraine at war

In real life I see a black mother abandoned

In real life I see my sister Maria abandoned

So many weapons in the world

And love has become small…

The meaning of life

Is everyone united.

Social attitudes tell people

That they are unequal

But no one is unequal

They are brothers of capital

Of the state, of the country.

They carve up the world

and tell you they are civilized.

Recently, Thiago presented his work to the Global Fund for Children’s (GFC) CEO Meeting, attended by GFC senior management and representatives of grassroots institutions from around the world, to discuss management, governance, social project planning and social technologies.  During the meeting, Thiago talked about his life experiences, how he came to know Viva a Vida and how art has transformed his life.  Here are some of the responses to his presentation from colleagues in Romania, Nigeria, Kenya, Pakistan, Guatemala and Washington:

“Great story Tiago and I love the fact that your transformation is so visible and you are also touching lives.”

“Powerful life story Tiago... we are super proud of the impact you are creating.”

“Very inspiring!!!!!”

“Maybe we cannot change the world, but just to change one life is worth it.”

“Incredible journey Tiago, thank you for sharing with us!”

“If more politicians were artists, the world would be a better place!”

“I couldn’t miss this bro. What a powerful platform.”

The group talked about translating Thiago’s poetry into other languages to use in their youth projects, and one of the participants said he had never understood the meaning of poetry but, through Thiago’s words and emotion, he has now begun to feel and understand it.

Viva dreams, Viva art, Viva Thiago, Viva a Vida!!!

Find out a more about this story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I29qilrAxxs – a short film about Thiago’s life (with English subtitles)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5VAoDtKTYw - Thiago presenting Viva a Vida’s documentary about Drug Policy (in Portuguese)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eWCKDKE1J0- Thiago’s first poetry performance on stage (in Portuguese)

“Beijuzeuras in resistance: getting back to work!”

On 5 June, after six months of hard work, and thanks to all your donations and words of support, the “Beijuzeuras in resistance: getting back to work!” project, supporting the beijuzeira pancake makers of the Cordoaria Quilombo in Vila de Abrantes, came to an end.  Your gifts have helped this project leave a legacy of knowledge aimed at combatting prejudice, promoting entrepreneurialism and overcoming difficulties.

There were 63 project beneficiaries 23 women, 20 young people and 20 children.  The closing activity at the Cordoaria Flour House was attended by all the beijuzeira women and was also the occasion for Thiago, our Revolutionary Poet, to launch his book of poems Akanni – Fruitful Encounter.

The project was set up to minimize the impacts the COVID-19 pandemic had on the community, and is a Viva a Vida initiative, with funding from the state government, through the Department for the Promotion of Racial Equality (Sepromi), in partnership with the Beijuzeiras women’s group in the Cordoaria Quilombo.

The activities were run along three action lines: Women, with a view to promoting the work of the beijuzeiras and strengthening entrepreneurship; Young people, who participated in racism and graffiti workshops as a way to generate income; Children, who participated in story-telling workshops based on the works of black authors.

All the material purchased for the project was intended to strengthen local commerce and generate income for other women, such as the aprons produced by the seamstresses of the Estiva de Buris de Abrantes Association.

Links:

• Short film about Thiago's journey

Dear Friends and Supporters

VIVA THE QUILOMBO!!!!

Since our last report, with all our reverence for ancestry and with all your help, Viva a Vida has been working in the Cordoaria Quilombo. The community, which has resisted for over 260 years, contains 300 families and around 1,200 inhabitants.

The relationship between Viva a Vida and the quilombo started slowly, through our response to the terrible effects COVID-19 has had on the community. With your donations and with support from GlobalGiving’s emergency fund, we’ve helped to meet the needs of a good part of the community, with food, hygiene kits, activities and respect. 

Today, we can say that we are really connected to the quilombo, structuring our work towards more activities and projects to improve lives. At the end of last year, we received funding from the Bahia State Government, through its Department for the Promotion of Racial Equality (SEPROMI) to carry out an intervention there.

We are providing training and emergency aid activities for 23 women who are members of the Cordoaria flour house. The training focuses on black entrepreneurship, given that the women live from the products, principally beiju pancakes, they make from manioc flour and all this production had to stop during the pandemic. Viva a Vida’s training was aimed at qualifying the women as black entrepreneurs as they started to get back to work, hence the name of the project “Beijuzeuras in resistance: getting back to work!” Other activities include a course on racism and rights in which they have been able to reflect on the importance of maintaining their traditions in order to strengthen their community group.

Looking at the family as a whole, we have been amazed by the talent of the young people in the community who have learned to make graffiti T-shirts and participated in conversation circles about violence (an important topic in a community which already contains individuals and groups involved in drug trafficking and violence). And with the children, we’ve had unique encounters, helping them reclaim their quilombola identity by telling stories that reflect their Afro-Brazilian history, and setting up an important partnership with the local school.

Other sustainability activities for the women beijuzeuras include restructuring their social media platforms, making uniforms, standardizing their audio-visual material, and financial support for the purchase of materials and kits with supplies and utensils. With your support, we have been able to ensure that the most important thing happens: QUILOMBOLA WOMEN ARE FINANCIALLY SELF-SUFFICIENT AND ABLE TO LIVE WITH DIGNITY!

Here are some of the things people have said about the project:

“My dear, we will never forget the affection you at Viva a Vida have for us. Not just because of the benefits, but for everything we're learning here,” Maria, Beijuzeira.

“Quilombo children really need this. Other people coming to talk to them about what we try to say every day... you are beautiful, beautiful black princesses” Alexandra, head of the local quilombo elementary school.

“I'm very excited about everything I see here. As a black woman, I know the importance of seeing other black women going through these formative experiences” Liliane, SEPROMI funding inspector.

Other Activities:

a)      Oxiteno Mentoring:

Some of Viva a Vida’s young people are completing the Letters and Careers project. At this stage, they are accompanied by volunteer mentors from Oxiteno, directing their life plans and focusing on developing strategies to enter the world of work.

“I never imagined I needed to have a professional life plan, but now I know how to put down different strategies on paper and choose the path to follow. I no longer feel frustrated or lost” Miqueias, young male participant.

“It's been wonderful to have a mentor, he was a great match, I'm learning so much” Valéria, young female participant. 

b)      Vocação:

We’re happy to tell you that we’ve just finalized a great partnership with the Vocação Institution, based in São Paulo, which provides unique and essential work supporting young people in their professional development and training. They focus on opening up opportunities for marginalized young people from the city peripheries, to help them access quality education and work. Together we’re going to train 500 students from the public school system in ways to enter the job market, with a particular focus on ‘soft skills’, to enhance interpersonal communication and self-esteem.

c)      Funder Visit - Global Fund For Children (GFC):

On April 02, Kimberly and Nayara, GFC representatives, visited Viva a Vida to find out about our work on the “Beijuzeuras in resistance: getting back to work!” project in the Cordoaria Quilombo.   During the visit, the quilombola children had great fun listening to Maju, our fantastic storyteller, telling them stories that reflect their Afro-Brazilian and quilombola history. The children absolutely loved it! To end the visit with a smile, representatives of the Cordoaria Quilombo presented the visitors, and Cressida (Viva a Vida International Consultant and former Coordinator), with souvenirs bags of delicious products made in the quilombo.