By Daniela Longato | Institutional Development Intern
Dear supporter,
In 2013, the Vaga Lume Team wrote a Report about the quilombola communities where Vaga Lume has established 19 community libraries since 2001. Quilombola people are descendants of slaves who escaped Brazil's plantations and fled deep into the Amazon rainforest for security and protection. In order to discuss with Vaga Lume's volunteers how to use books as well as reading and writing skills to empower quilombola people, Vaga Lume used some of the resources raised with your help in GlobalGiving to mobilize volunteers to take part in an event during four days, the so called "Encontro Bibliotecas Vaga Lume em Comunidades Quilombolas", Portuguese for Meeting of Vaga Lume's Libraries in Quilombola Communities.
That was the first time that Vaga Lume hold a big training event at one of the rural communities that it has been working at. It took place at the Reserva Extrativista Quilombo Frechal (more often called 'Frechal'), in the community of Mirinzal (MA) - as you can see at the map above. This community was chosen because its historical relevance, since it is one of the most important quilombos in Brazil. The community supported the event and some residents formed the cleaning staff and helped to prepare meals for all participants.
Hosting the meeting at Frechal brought positive impacts, such as increasing the local economy and benefits for the big house – by buying cutlery and kitchen utensils. Another positive mark was the integration of the community in the activities, such as the reading mediation session that was provided to children of the municipal school of Frechal.
The meeting gathered 45 people from 19 different communities of the Amazon. The public consisted of participants that were already Vaga Lume’s volunteers and others that hadn't participated of any reading mediation training before..
Based on the nurturing question: "how does the network of libraries in quilombola communities can contribute to the strengthening and appreciation of the identity and local culture of your communities?", the event started inviting participants to think about possibilities of actions that could be implemented during the meeting and after that.
The event counted with the participation of the Master Degree Kiusam de Oliveira, which addressed issues related to afro-Brazilian identity and its representation in books and academy; which leaded the participants to think critically about representation, positioning and language issues.
In every lecture and workshop, the participants had been building a line of thought, which helped them to discuss belonging and identity throughout the event and thus to strengthen themselves as a group and leaders who will pass on the knowledge to their communities.
The testimonials were really positive! Mr. Luziano, from the community of Murumuru in Macapá (AP) affirmed: "we came here today to take a seed that will be planted when we get back to our communities". For Ms. Rafisa, from the community of Cantinho in Barreirinhas (MA), the highlights of the meeting were the interaction with the people from Frechal – that held the event – and the appreciation of the heritage.
During the event were produced nine handmade books that are, indeed, full of quilombola characteristics and show the history of fight and resistance still strong in the hearts and minds of these people. It was also signed a document as a collective agreement between the participating community libraries and Vaga Lume, in which all municipalities listed its actions and commitments for the future.
Aiming to celebrate the four days of deep exchanges, the graduation of the participants was followed by a party that valued the dance, poetry and culture of each community.
After this very powerful event, we would like to thank you, our donor, for supporting all Vaga Lume's projects within the Expedition Program in order to value the importance of access to books and reading in rural Amazon as well as their diverse cultural expressions, such as the quilombolas.
If you want to know more about Vaga Lume’s stories, please visit our website: http://www.vagalume.org.br/home
Best regards,
Vaga Lume Team
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
