Empowering Young Brazilians - Art and Mobilization

Dear Friends and Supporters

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Our first GOOD NEWS of the year, is that, due to your generosity, we have nearly reached our fundraising target! We’re happy to say that the work goes on, so this is a heads up that we’ll be increasing our fundraising target over the next few days, so that we can carry on receiving the amazing support of all our donors.

ACTIVITIES in 2023

I. CEO Circle Retreat 2023: Learning, Connecting and Dreaming Forward.

And now to our latest Success Story, this time about our involvement in the Global Fund for Children’s (GFC) CEO Circle Retreat 2023: Learning, Connecting and Dreaming Forward.

We had the great privilege of participating in this meeting of NGOs leaders from around the world, which was organized by GFC. It was a unique and extremely important occasion for us at Viva a Vida.

The invitation really frightened me, I don’t speak English and it was a great challenge for me to participate. I felt like a project beneficiary attaining a very distant dream.  I come from a context very similar to that of our participants and this was a moment that showed me how 15 years working at Viva a Vida has given me opportunities and invested in my career.

Évelin, General Coordinator

The meeting took place between 25 and 27 September in Istanbul, Turkey. Sixteen global leaders and the GFC team came together to share their challenges, experiences and ideas. The meeting objectives were: to create a space for connection, reflection and well-being; to celebrate resilience and the group’s achievements; to foster stronger inter-personal relationships and partnerships; to connect with the context, history and social movements of Turkey; and to discuss how to influence global philanthropy.

The recent CEO meeting in Istanbul helped us to properly understand our work within an international context, allowing us to see that our work is valued and valuable beyond our local context.  It was a fantastic affirmation of what we do and gave us and the team renewed energy on our return.

Cressida, Consultant for International Relations

Viva a Vida was one of the few organizations asked to run a session - Connecting young people to their aims: the leadership and transformation process. We talked about the process of building leadership to transform young participants into community leaders and leaders of their own organizations. We discussed the tools that can be used and the importance of involving young people in social organizations, how significant it is for them to participate in the democratic process, which influences their own autonomy, and which can support the sustainability of their own communities.

The session was mediated by our General Coordinator Évelin (with translation provided by Cressida) and by Muhammad, from the Chanan Development Association (CDA).

We presented a video about three beneficiaries who have become part of our team – Thiago, former Human Rights Workshop participant and Social Educator; Ana Clara, former member of our Theater Group and Education Assistant; and Lucas, also a former Theater Group member and Administrative Assistant.

The video described their trajectories and demonstrated the importance of training young leaders, showing how providing an opportunity to experience community and administrative processes in practice is a hugely important part of this training.

To encourage the retreat participants to reflect on their own practice, we connected them to their previous aims, what led them to become educators, leaders, what motivated this pathway, why they chose to be there. We gave each participant a mirror and asked them to connect to their image, as they listened to a song.

The session was full of emotion and reflections and helped them to return to the feelings and motivations that led these normal people to become people who transform lives. 

We would like to thank musician Paulo Dantão, whose composition Plataforma inspired us with its narrative of childhood memories, full on yearning, connection and links to his ancestry. This song made a huge contribution to our activity – despite not understanding the words, the melody helped everyone access their feelings.

II – AFROTECA MUVUCA – AFRO-LIBRARY

a) Literature Workshops: At the end of the year, we finalized our assessments of the kindergarten, 1st, 2nd and 3rd year classes who have used the library. We applied instruments (completed by the children and including educational assessments from our Educators) designed to monitor the children's learning about the topics discussed over the year. We were very pleased with the results:

       i.          Self-esteem, ethno-racial relations and the recovery of Black and Quilombola identity:72% of the children understood the themes and the importance of empowerment through their own history, towards a happier future with less childhood racism.

      ii.          Understanding educational content: 70% demonstrated progress in their learning, particularly in terms of concentration and sociability among their peers

     iii.          Evaluations of behaviour, attention, commitment, interest in the activities: 64% were more open to the activities, adapted to the proposed workshop format and were more cooperative with the team and their peers.

To round off the year of Literature Workshops, we welcomed writer Regina, who wrote Alika, the very first book we read at the Afroteca. This time she told us the story of Eva, another of her creations. Our team, funders and some potential partners joined us for this final get together.

b) Storytelling: In November, we opened a lot of magical chests filled with fascinating stories! On 1, 7 and 8/11, the kindergarten classes (aged 4 and 5), welcomed Maju in a change to their school routine to listen to a story about the Day and the Night. On 11 and 18 November, we came together in the quilombo’s square to bring this beautiful year to a conclusion filled with magic.

c) Itinerant Afroteca: We visited local schools to tell the story Amor de Cabelo (Loving your Hair) to more than 800 children, encouraging them to think positively about how they look. This project really touched our hearts. We heard so many stories of childhood racism, which strengthened our determination to expand the Afroteca into schools.

III – YOUNG PEOPLE:

a) Human Rights, Racism and Violence Workshops: we ended the workshops with a fantastic arts event involving of all the high school's students, around 1,200 in total, some in the morning and other in the afternoon sessions. Some of the students recited the poetry they wrote during the workshops. We also held an exhibition of the 30 black personalities they had learnt about during the workshops.

b) Exhibition at the Rotary College Literary Fair - FLICOR, where Thiago, the Revolutionary Poet, recited his poetry and we discussed certain black personalities and their historical erasure due to structural racism.

IV – LINKS: We had the immense pleasure of taking part in Litearte: Integrated Circuit of Educational Practices in the North and Northeast, which took place at the Mãe Lalu Institute in Santiago de Iguape, Cachoeira, Bahia. It was a great expression of the surprising impacts of regionalized education. We took part in conversation circles, creative stalls, cultural circles, literary workshops and artistic productions.

ACTIVITIES in the NEW YEAR – 2024

V. INTEGRATION

We started our year with Viva a Vida’s traditional Integration Day. This is a very special day when we bring together the board, staff and volunteers to analyze and celebrate the results of the previous year, and plan the year ahead.

This year's program was packed with knowledge and sharing. We talked about who Viva a Vida is, our Mission, Principles, Child Protection Policy, Educational and Financial Report, and our Projects for 2024.

We also enjoyed two training sessions, the first about racial literacy with Thiago (Social Educator), followed by the 3^rd Meeting on Ethnic-Racial Relations and Education with Vanessa and Mariana (Education Consultants).

This year we welcomed new members, Betânia and Tamara, who will be responsible for the activities with the children, as well as Lucas and Marcos, researchers on the new A Favela Vive project, and Ícaro will provide administrative support. Welcome All!

VI. NEW PROJECTS

We ended 2023 with some fantastic news! We have been awarded grant funding by the Bahia State Government's Department of Justice, Human Rights and Social Development (SEADES) for their Pontos de Cuidado (Points of Care) funding stream, for our project A Favela Vive (The Favela Lives)!

Viva a Vida has been involved in studies and research for many years, through our founder, anthropologist Gisella Hanley. The organization was founded with a focus on the use and abuse of psychoactive substances and has since expanded into issues of human rights, racism, young people and mental health.

Throughout 2024, we will be conducting a survey of 400 public school students regarding mental health, drug use and harm reduction. In addition to creating educational booklets and training harm reduction workers in Vila de Abrantes’ traditional and indigenous communities, we will write an academic/scientific article containing the research results, which will contribute to the formulation of social and public policies related to our work.

Dear Friends and Supporters

Here we are again, with so much to share about the Afroteca (Afro-library) and the other Viva a Vida activities we’ve been able to carry out with your support.

I - SUCCESS STORY – Children’s Book Launch

The story of a boy who loved to study, learn and go to school, this is how we sum up the book “The Little Prince of Cordoaria”, presented to the public at the Pelourinho International Literature Fair (FLIPELÔ) in Salvador. Little Davi’s book was launched during a poetry performance by Tiago, the Revolutionary Poet. Tiago is also Viva a Vida’s Youth Mobilizer.

Davi is a pupil in the second year of elementary school at the Nossa Senhora de Santana Municipal School, the main school in the Cordoaria Quilombo. Since April he has participated in our AFROTECA activities.

As part of the racial-ethnic workshops run by Educators Mariana and Ana Clara, Davi and the other children were encouraged to write booklets based on the book Alika by Regina Luz. The children were asked to reread the book and write their own, based on Alika, on their community or by making up their own story.

Davi’s book “The Little Prince of Cordoaria” was the most striking of almost 30 booklets, and we were so impressed that we decided to give wings to his imagination and publish it. This was how he became the first quilombola child to write a book.

Davi’s mother Jéssica, who is a manicurist, explained that, before he joined the project, she had received complaints from school about Davi’s behavior. “The school’s Director told me afterwards that she’d seen great improvements, and he’s so happy with the book he’s written, it’s so emotional for a mother,” she said showing how proud she is of her little author.

“This project has the right tools to drive local development through education, it has great potential to positively transform the community’s life,” said Magnólia, Manager of Institutional Affairs at Braskem in Bahia.

We are so happy with the repercussions this had in the press, with supporters and the community, with everyone present at the launch, including Alika’s author, Regina Luz, who gave our young writer a warm hug.

As a result of this, every now and then children turn up at our offices with their scribbles and drafts, wanting to transform them into books. A huge surprise and a great joy for the community, which now has motivated, potential new authors.

HERE’S TO MANY MORE YOUNG QUILOMBOLA WRITERS!!

II – AFROTECA ACTIVITIES

 1. Regular workshops: regular workshops continue with children from the 2 elementary schools in the quilombo. We have been focusing on quilombola and local authors, such as Dona Cadú (from Bahia) and Esmeraldina Santos (from Pará). These two black women are practitioners of samba de roda and provide a lot of great content to explore with the children. Fifty children participated in the workshops.

 “It’s so inspiring, these children need to have a different future. I’m full of emotion today, seeing my book [a seed] planted by such a committed team” Children’s author Regina Luz

 2. Storytelling in the Square: we’ve had two fantastic sessions, one to listen to the stories from the Book of Riachão, an important samba personality in the state, and the other to listen to the wonderful story of the Dangola Hen, a black hen that caused quite a stir among the children. Both activities were run by our storyteller Maju.

“What great work you do. I’m a fan!” Rosenubia, teacher at the Marques de Abrantes Municipal School

 3. Training: we held our 2^nd meeting about Education for Ethnic-Racial Relations, with our Consultants Vanessa and Maria. They discussed the theme of Territory with the team and volunteers, including the importance of mapping, studying and developing activities related to the history of the territory.

 4. Black Women’s July: we received the Brincandere project, designed by the Municipality of Camaçari’s Racial Equalities Department, which offered turban and doll workshops, while our educator Mariana told stories, and Tiago recited poetry. The Nossa Senhora de Santana school brought 30 children and other students visited. These activities were in response to the month of July, when we pay homage to black women.

5. Book launch: the first example of a booklet written by a quilombola child was launched by the Afroteca Muvuca at the Pelourinho International Literature Fair. Aged only 8 years, Davi wrote “The Little Prince of Cordoaria”.

“Congratulations to Viva a Vida for the project and for helping so many children from the Cordoaria Quilombo to develop a feeling of belonging! Wishing long life to the little princes and princesses of Cordoaria!” Mariana, Children’s Education Coordinator at SESI School.

6. Socio-environmental education: Braskem, one of the Afroteca's funders, organized a really lively group to run a workshop and construct a hanging spice garden. The children got their hands dirty and put up the garden in their school so they can continue to look after it.

7. Mobile Afroteca: in September we started storytelling sessions outside the quilombo. For the first session, we went to the Maclina da Glória Municipal School and the Esperança da Estiva Creche, both in Vila de Abrantes. In all, we will work with six hundred elementary school children (aged 5 to 12 years old). We are working on the book AMOR DE CABELO (Loving Hair) which tells the story of a girl looking for the perfect comb. The aim of the workshops is to raise the children’s self-esteem and bring racial identity into these discussions.

“Your work is really powerful and beautiful”, Mateus Ribeiro, Journalist

III – RASTA CINE EVENING:

We ran one more edition of the RASTA CINE EVENING on the theme of identities, with the launch of the Documentary Pra que me olha assim? (“Why are you looking at me like that?”). The short film was produced by Black Youth and Political Participation, an initiative of the NGO Cipó. The community got involved with a capoeira presentation by the group Aquilombar, Drumming from the group Tambores de Cordoaria, an Exhibition and Poetry performances. The Tupinambá Indigenous Community also attended. It was a great party!

“A beautiful evening. With important community involvement, sharing our documentary and exchanging our experiences and histories.” CIPÓ’s Youth Coordinator

IV – YOUNG PEOPLE:

a) Human Rights, Racism and Violence Workshops: this year the workshops are called “I believe in the guys”. We are working with 30 class groups from our long-term and supportive partner, the State College of Vila de Abrantes, meaning that approximately 900 high school students will participate. The workshops focus on 30 black personalities and discuss the erasure of their histories and memories. Poetry is one of the main instruments we use to engage young people and a poetry evening will be held in November. This activity is mediated by Tiago, the Revolutionary Poet.

b) Federal Institute of Bahia: we took some young people from the State College of Vila de Abrantes and others from the quilombo to visit and find out more about the Federal Institute of Bahia’s Camaçari Campus. The aim was to encourage young people to enroll in the technical and university courses the institute runs and to provide all the necessary support for enrolment and study materials.

V - THEATER:

Our former theater students were invited to perform a sketch for a presentation by teacher, actor and director Simone Requião, at the Theater of the Federal University of Bahia. The performance touched on racism, domestic violence and homophobia. It was a great opportunity to bring former students together and remember the power art has to impact on people!

VI – RACIAL LITERACY:

The NGO Atados invited us to run an intervention for five hundred people from the pharmaceutical industry on the theme of racial literacy. We took a team of 23 people who used the history of 30 black Bahian personalities and discussed what the groups knew about them. The idea was to demonstrate that most people do not know the history of great black intellectuals and artists, for an obvious reason: structural racism. The activity ended with the production of fantastic posters (donated to Viva a Vida to use in our exhibitions) and toys made by the participants and donated to children in the quilombos.

“You are amazing! What an honor to get to know you!” Daniela Lira, Atados Group Coordinator.

VII - CEO Circle Retreat 2023: 

Learning, connecting and dreaming about the future: we had the great privilege of participating in a meeting for NGO leaders from around the world, organized by the Global Fund for Children and held in Turkey. There, we presented certain aspects of our work in a session: Connecting young people to their aims: the leadership and transformation process.

This was a very significant moment in Viva a Vida’s history, but, for now, we’re leaving more details about this amazing journey until our next report, so we can focus on our most brilliant achievement over these months: the first children’s book written and published by a quilombola child!

Many thanks from all of us for your amazing support, which ensured all this could happen!