Transformation

Transformation

We can only transform when we uncover the knowledge to understand the facts and details that will provide our sense of knowing. As we journey home from Recife above the earth and sense the essence of the colors that shade all below, we are able to feel the interconnectivity of all. We have seen and felt the stories of the poorest of the poor in the Brazil, yet we cruise in luxury to our homes far away.

What does this journey mean? We have sensed the multi colors of Brazil in all its beauty, from the symbolism of its flag of yellow sun and life, the green of the Amazon and the growth of the nourished earth below and the blue of the sky and waters. We have also seen and tasted the fruits of its flowers that nourish all of Brazil. We have experienced the colors of its diversity that have touched us. We have been presented with the colors that influence its culture formed from its history. The colors of the future Brazilian reality have been communicated.

How does such richness of colourful extremes know itself and find the wisdom to transform? Can the multi layers of color transform all that encompass Brazil? Humanity is becoming the centerpiece of a sustainable and transformative Brazil. We have been blessed with the graces to experience and conceptualize the unfolding of this Brazil. The transformation is not only within the reach of the tangibles but is found within the intangible spirit that the peoples are uncovering within their souls.

Transformation

(Of light and darkness,

Of life and death)



Beauty sensed

Blissful green earth and blue sky

Nourished, flowered

And allied.

Selected, evolved,

Above and below

Shown the yellow light

through the prisms rainbow.



Changing light

Withering earth and sky

Where, what,

When and why.

Loss of order,

Ebbing and flowing,

Flicker the prism

of a diminishing glow.

Transform life,

Balance earth and sky

Heart exclaims,

The who and the why.

Process, reconnect,

Relationships unfold

Magnificence regenerates

the hope through the prism shows.



Find the presence of order

In what is sensed,

Darkness to light

Found here and now.

Colors of remembrance,

Within existence flows,

Through the prism again,

the crystal clear rainbow.

Sandy Gibbons

Thanks for following our journey to a new reality.

Danny, Kathy, Ann, Caroline, Brenda, Kerrianne & Sandy

Boa viagem (Bon voyage)

On our last full day in Brazil we had a very special last session with our new friends and long-time partners at EQUIP. After a tasty meal in the lower level of the EQUIP office the seven Canadians plus Joana, Rose, Tico, Rejeane and Graça of EQUIP and our translator Leo "voyaged" upstairs to debrief on our trip. This movement from downstairs to upstairs was part of our evaluation process and represented our leaving Canada and journeying to Brazil. Upstairs as we sat around the board table Graça singled out each of the Canadians and said a few words about their personalities and gifts. She said that she did this to emphasize that while we are two groups coming together as partners, we are also individuals who bring our individual gifts to the relationship.

Sandy shares some reflections
on our time in Brazil

We were each given a rectangular sheet of paper and some markers and asked to reflect on what we take with us as the seven Canadians leave Brazil. We were to represent our reflections visually on the paper. This popular education technique gave everyone a moment to express themselves and then pass their visual representations on to another person at the table. Everyone - EQUIP staff, D and P visitors and Leo - in turn spoke about what a very meaningful experience the solidarity visit was for them. Joana spoke about the deepening of a partnership  that is much more than a donor - recipient relationship. All of us spoke of the gratitude we feet for a relationship which has given us understanding, renewed vigour and spiritual strength in the knowledge of our togetherness. It was an emotional experience for all of us. One particular highlight was when Kerrianne, who is a trained opera singer, sang a beautiful song about how she (and each of us) has been changed by what the other has given to us. She had a written Portuguese translation of the song on hand so that the EQUIP staff could follow along without having to hear the words translated. It was a tearful moment on top of an already emotional time.

After our evaluation, we got up and walked into another room where we held hands and did a folk dance and song that comes from the island of Itamaracaa (which we visited Sunday). It was a very happy song which all the Brazilians knew the words to. The movement to the other room and the dance represented a Boa Viagem for us as we prepared to leave Brazil. Afterwards there was an exchange of gifts and more formal thank yous. It is hard to explain the feelings we all had in writing, but I trust that anyone who has followed our blog posts can guess at how strongly we seven travellers appreciate the work of EQUIP in putting together a very full itinerary on short notice, for accompanying us every step of the way and for helping to make this a very personal partnership between two mutually respectful groups - D and P and EQUIP.

Tomorrow we are in our van at 6:30 a.m. to head to the airport. So it's farewell Pernambuco and farewell Brazil. We will always remember you.

CIDA to leave Brazil

Yesterday (Monday) we visited the office of the Canadian International Development Agency located in the Canadian consulate in Recife. The CIDA program officer, Simone Direito, had offered to meet with us after we made a request. We were given an opportunity to talk about our experiences and also hear about CIDA's work and future in Brazil.

Brenda and Graça, our EQUIP companion for the meeting, spoke about the work that EQUIP has been doing with the Centre for Youth Communication (CCJ) and how lives have been turned around by the programs they offer. Sandy related our experience in Santa Maria de Boa Vista with the Quilombo communities whose lives and culture are threatened by hydro electric projects.  I spoke about our experiences with the landless and recently settled landless.

Graça, Brenda, Caroline, Danny, Simone Direito of CIDA,
Ann, Kerrianne, Sandy and Leo

Simone told us about the various funds that Canada, through CIDA, has offered in their current five year program which ends in 2011. There have been many worthwhile projects supported by CIDA within a program that is geared to create better equity in society (more equitable access to health services and education for example)  EQUIP was one of the beneficiaries of CIDA funding for a very successful popular education project that ended last year.

Graça and indeed all of us were dismayed to hear that CIDA will have just 20 priority countries next year and Brazil will not be one of them. The reasoning is that Brazil is a country that now has the resources and capacity to lead its own development. I explained that D&P also recently went through a process to determine priority countries and the reasons why Brazil remains a priority country for D&P. The two main reasons are that, first of all, despite its wealth and the good face Brazil is showing to the world, it remains one of the two worst countries in terms of economic disparity. The fact that 50% of the land is owned by 1% of the population is a very alarming statistic that translates into extreme poverty for masses of people. Favellas, dangerous, dirty urban slums, exists through Recife and most other Brazilian cities and the plight of the rural landless has been well-chronicled in this blog. The other key reason for D&P remaining in Brazil is that its sheer size, population and potential all make it a continental leader. If Brazil's development can be done with a strong social conscience and preferential treatment of the poor, what an example it can set for other developing Latin American nations. Unfortunately none of this will stop the process of CIDA closing its office in Recife and two other Brazilian cities by next year.

Simone has been meeting regularly with colleagues in other agencies and their conclusion is that the non-government organizations (NGO's) will need to rely more and more on the middle class of Brazil. The middle class will need to value and trust the work of the NGO's and begin to contribute more private funding to their work, which is essential to equitable development. The government must also contribute more to this work. The sector she most fears will be hurt as more and more donor countries think of Brazil as a non-priority, is the rights organizations - groups working on land rights, human rights, access to services - groups like MST and MAB who help the poor find their voice in the face of incredible odds stacked against them. It is a shame that Canada is also pulling out of a country when so much poverty exists everyone one looks and where organizations that still need outside support will find it harder and harder to find that support.

Danny

Leave it All to Leo

Igarassu! Igarassu! These were the first words the Portuguese heard when they sailed into the country that is now called Brazil. The indigenous people of the area were so impressed with the ships of the Europeans that they were shouting "Big canoe! Big canoe!" In turn the Portuguese called the settlement they built on that spot "Igarassu".

Sunday was a "tourist day" for our group. We took advantage of a free day of our schedule to go to the site of the first Portuguese settlelment in the area, the village of Igarassu. It is also the site of the oldest church in Brazil, named for St. Damien and built in 1537. As usual our guide for the trip was our intrepid translator Leonardo, Leo for short. Together with Rose, our Equip companion-for-the-day, and her sweet daughter Victoria, we toured the beautiful area around Igarassu and the nearby island of Itamaracaa which was once completely turned into sugar cane fields but is now the site of some small towns, a simple beach resort and a reforestated area. All the way out to Igarassu, Leo keep the chatter going, told us interesting tidbits about the places we were passing through, found us the best place to shop for souvenirs, gave us all the history of the area, found a nice restaurant to eat in etc. etc.

As a tour guide, Leo has led many groups of English speakers through the history and culture of Pernambuco, but ours was the first group for which he was hired as a translator. His skills as a translator are very good and he has been very sympathetic to the issues he has been learning about and wonderful with the groups he has met with us. But it is also his outgoing personality, his sense of humour, his enthusiasm for life, his patience and his leadership abilties that have also been a tremendous help to us seven gringos. Need money changed? Leave it to Leo. Need to pick up some medicine? Leave it to Leo. Need to change some arrangements? Leave it to Leo. Need to negotiate a better price? Leave it to Leo. Need someone to lighten the mood? Leave it to Leo and so on and so on. When we do our evaluation with Equip on Tuesday you can be sure we are going to give fourteen thumbs up to their choice of translator.

Leo, in the foreground, translates for Fr. Herminio Canova (left)
of the Brazilian Bishop's Pastoral Land Commission.
Fr. Canova was a D and P solidarity visitor to
Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in 2003

The Cry of the Poor

typical flora of the sertao

Yesterday (Saturday) was a day spent mostly in our 15 seater van, with our expert driver Andre at the wheel. We travelled for ten hours from Santa Maria de Boa Vista through the semi-arid sertao region of Pernambuco, through the agreste (the lush cool plateau) and back to our home base on the coast.  

Before leaving on our longest trek, at breakfast we had an encounter with a local politician (former mayor) of Santa Maria who heard from the hotel owner about our group and wanted to see what we were up to. He arrived with an entourage of attendants and asked a lot of questions about our purpose and our perspectives on what we had seen. He claimed to be sympathetic to the plight of the people of the quilombos we had met the previous day, the people whose communities and culture are jeopardized by the massive hydro-electric dams that are planned for the San Francisco River. The politician thought we should not just be hearing from MAB, the D and P partner who showed us around, but should be hearing from other groups in the area as well. Sounds good (if we had lots of time). But I could tell from his attitude that this was not a politician who listened... he was one who knew all the answers before waiting to hear other's opinions. His attitude was such a stark contrast to that of the D and P partners - EQUIP, FASE, the CPT, the Landless Workers Movement (MST) and the MAB (Movement of those affected by dams) we have met over the past 10 days - all these groups wanted us to hear directly from the poor about their lives, their aspirations, their struggles, their joys. The staff from these partner groups sat with us in each of these meetings and listened, learned and took pride in hearing the poor find  their own voices.

While we drove across the state of Pernambuco, we called ahead to hear from the MST staff about the community of Fazenda Jabuticaba which we visited Thursday, the one that was preparing to be evicted from their acampamento. We found out that they indeed had been evicted. They had left peacefully and had been able to negotiate, with MST's support, a deal whereby their crops and their ramshackle houses would not be destroyed. The bishop of the diocese also agreed to let them stay on his land. They will be able to return to the encampment in 48 hours and again begin to till their crops and petition the government so that they can expropriate the land they have occupied for six years and through twelve evictions.

Later as we passed through the agreste within just a few miles of these evicted and desperately poor people, it began to rain. I thought of them huddled close to the bishop´s outbuildings and trying to keep warm. The rain, harsh as it was for them, seemed to me to be the tears of our God who weeps for these suffering people who continue to have faith that the Lord hears the cry of the poor.

Danny

The River is Our Father

                                                     
                                                         THE RIVER IS OUR FATHER

From the mid 1500’s until 1888, when slavery was abolished in Brazil, the Quilombo peoples, who had the fortune to escape their bourgeoisie masters, hid in fear in the country side.  Yesterday we drove 10 hours to the city of Santa Maria de Boa located in the west of the state of Peramebuco along the San Francisco River. There are three Quilombo communities that can be found within a thirty minute drive from the city. The road to these communities is along a winding gravel dusty road. The three communities, Sonnote, Inhanum and Cupira have between 500 -750 inhabitants each and were settled over three hundred years ago. The  land in this area is semi arid with sandy rocky soil and low growth trees and shrubs.

Our group of seven accompanied with representatives from the national groups EQUIP and  MAB (Movement of the People affected by Dams) travelled to west of the state to meet with these communities. The National Government of Brazil, the state of Peramebuco and private companies are pushing for economic development and have indicated that they want to build two massive hydro dams along the San Francisco River within a short distance of each other.

The push to develop this massive development will have major adverse effects to all communities along the San Francisco River. The communities will be destroyed, homes dislodged and lands flooded by the waters of the proposed dams. There are many conflicting statements associated with the proposed developments including undisclosed terms of references, lack of public input and a total lack of conscienceness about the need of the desperately poor of this area. This push for development is further exasperated by the wealth disparity between the rich and poor of Brazil where 1% of the population control over 50% of the land.  In a country where the existence of a middle class is sadly lacking the distance between the economically wealthy and the poor is enormous. We have been advised there is a lack of public policy by government for any preferential treatment for the poor.

Bookmarked between these circumstances are three vibrant communities. As like most Brazilian communities there is little of any public support for basic community and social infrastructure. We have seen this over and over again through our travels along the country side. However, we have noted that the social and familarial infracture of these communities is strong and vibrant. We have seen and heard that outside of these communities the rich take care of themselves and the poor are left to fend for themselves. The infrastructure paradigm is inconsistent with the spirit of the peoples we have met continuously during our visits over the last ten days. Stand from a distance and you see a broken and underdeveloped infrastructure however stand out side the door steps, sit at the kitchen tables and in the community halls and you get to the interiors of a beautiful humanity.

Elders of one Quilombo led us on a procession to a shrine to the Virgin Mary

The opportunities we have been blessed with to sit, speak, play, listen and hold the most wonderful peoples can not be imagined. We have heard their stories of injustices, saw their smiles, felt their pains, ate the food from their lands and dined at their tables. We have walked through their sacred spaces and felt their extensive and highly established cultures. These are peoples with a lot less material wealth than North Americans and the Brazilian rich but hold an enormous spirit found in the hearts and smiles of the children, youth, adults and elders.

What is the plight of the Quilombo people? The government in partnership with the  wealthy business plan to destroy the Quilombo homes, lands and communities, flood all including the farms that they cultivate, the lands their animals graze and the San Francisco River where they fish. There will be a complete destruction of the land that nourish their children and the cultural heritage that they have developed. There is a grave fear that the Quilombo are again under seige. The Quilonbo peoples found these lands many centuries ago and the decandents  that we met are resolved that these cultivated and nourished lands will not be sold, destroyed or taken for the benefit of the rich. The Quilombo peoples with whom we established friendships maybe poor materially however they exude the riches of humanity. As an elderly amazing story teller indicated to our group, we will not let anyone destroy this river that is our Father.

Because of this journey the spirit of the Quilombo will now lie within us.

SANDY GIBBONS

Wherever the Rio San Francisco passes through the semi-arid sertao,
it creates the potential for an fertile oasis

"Land reform helps people who have nothing"

We are finally able to post to our blog, delayed due to Internet problems and long days of travel. Yesterday, we set out on our visit to the landless community, Fazenda Jabuticaba, and almost did not make it. After turning off the highway, we began a long slow drive along an endless farm road lined on both sides with stick fencing separating the road from a wide expanse of private land interspersed with boulders of flat rock. We were in the agreste, the plateau region of Pernambuco. The occasional horse drawn cart and one or two motorcycles competed with us for space. It had rained that morning and our large van got bogged down in the mud. After several attempts to get unstuck, 11 of us gratefully accepted a ride in a small four wheel drive truck that had seen better days, five of us in the front and the rest in the back, pitching and heaving as the road became even more difficult with boulders and mud. There were times when we thought the truck would not make it.

And then we saw it, the flag of the MST (Brazil's Landless Workers Movement, mentioned in an earlier blog) flying high above a tree. We drove in and members of the community came out to greet us. We were expected. One hundred families live in the acampamento (encampment), although most were away at the market, selling their produce. The most striking feature of the acampamento was the stark black plastic tents that the people call home. Close at hand was a large gong. A big man quickly went to get his axe and, as if it were as light as a small hammer, swung it at the metal disc. The loud piercing noise could be heard far away in the fields. This is to warn the community in times of danger or to call them to gather, we were told.

The people took us to their community centre, a small mud brick room with a dirt floor. As our eyes adjusted to the darkness we could see that there were already people standing or sitting along benches against the wall. Then they began to speak. Voice after voice spoke of struggle, hope, longing, and deep faith. "We want to live out of our sweat. We are not stealing. We are working with these tools, with our sweat running."

Kathy and our translator Leo listen to Joao
 tell the heart-wrenching story of his community

They told us that they moved onto this unproductive land six years ago and have made this difficult land productive. With pride in their voices, they named all the crops they produce. In those six years, they have been evicted by the state authorities 11 times. Each time, their crops are destroyed and the children are taken out of school. When he told us this, Joao's voice broke with emotion and frustration. Sometimes armed men have come to threaten and frighten them. Each time they are evicted, the communities leave, only to return again to the land in 48 hours.

They told us that the day after our visit, they were to be evicted again. In the face of so many impoverished landless people and so much land in the hands of a few, Brazil's agrarian reform law states that all lands that are unproductive and have no social return must be expropriated. But the process to gain that land is a long and difficult one. "God said there is supposed to be land for everybody," Jose said. "We are here to work. Land reform helps people who have nothing. We are working this land that had no production, so why can't we stay?"

The homes in the fazenda are made of stick frames
covered with heavy plastic sheeting

We were privileged to visit this community, to eat the roast corn they shared with us, and to hear their stories, stories they wanted so much to tell. Their words and their weary faces are now etched in our hearts and minds. As of today, we have been unable to find out if the community was evicted on Friday as they expected.

Kathy

Eviction from the land and a hard fought victory

Men of the community being forcibly evicted from their land

Caroline here, writing on Day 7 of our amazing experience. We spent the day with another of our D&P partners, the CPT, the Pastoral Land Commission, an organization of the Brazilian Catholic Bishop's Conference. Leaving the city, we travelled to an assentamento – a word we became very familiar with today. The assentamento is an agricultural settlement made of peasants who had been formerly landless.

Arriving in the settlement we found about thirty men and women gathered in a small community hall. After a mystique (ritual and prayer) the people began to tell us their story We found that in 1997 a paramilitary group hired by the sugar cane company arrived in their self-sufficient village to evict them. They tore down their homes and left them homeless by the side of the highway. The people refused to leave the area, preferring to set up tents on the side of the road rather than disperse. The paramilitary physically and mentally abused them. They poisoned their water supply. They killed the fish they were farming. They put sand in their wells and terrified the children with big guns. They beat the men while they worked in the fields. Big trucks owned by the sugar cane company constantly drove by shaking the ground and the more than 600 people inside their tents.

On May 1st 2003, the women decided to replace the men in the field as a strategy to stop the abuse of the men. The women refused to leave despite threats from the hired goons and in the end many people came to support the community and not allow the paramilitary to attack. Today the community celebrates May 1st as a turning point in their struggle.

In November 2003 the community acquired a “land replacement” so that they were able to settle on  land that was not being used by the sugar cane company. This measure is made possible by Brazil's land reform laws. Even as the first houses were being constructed, the hired goons set up barricades so that the people had to walk for miles around their land to get anywhere.

Now the community is settled with houses and the beginning of agriculture. CPT continues to help them in their organizing and in petitioning the government to give them the material support that has been promised as part of the land replacement order.

We were welcomed with such great appreciation, pride, courage, strength and love. They know that D&P is a very important support in their struggle and we were proud to actually see the wonderful results of this support that were beyond our imagination. Needless to say it was a truly emotional day for all of us and we felt so blessed to depart feeling such love from this community.

Our evening held quite a different experience in store for us. Leo, our translator, took us to a soccer game featuring two division two teams. 17,000 people were in attendance and we cheered the underdog team from Recife to a 4-1 win. We girls enjoyed it as much or more than the guys. The fans were so dedicated and gave us a great performance themselves.

Land for the Landless

Mauricei Matias with Kerri-anne

Today, Wednesday, we left the coast  and drove two hours inland onto the great plateau of Pernambuco called the agreste. Here we met with representatives of one of the world's most important social movements -the Landless Rural Workers Movement, or MST.  For more than 25 years the MST has been the leading force in obtaining land for landless workers who once had a connection to the land.  The MST has a radical methodology that has put them in direct conflict with those wealthy people who own vast tracts of unused land.

Today we met a community of people who benefit from the work of MST. One of the people is Mauricei Matias, a young mother who moved from the forested area to the Normandia Atrandol Assentimento (settlement) to start a new life. Mauricei proudly showed us her home that has a bathroom, three bedrooms, a t.v., a tidy kichen, a washing machine and her yard, where chickens, goats, fruit trees and a cistern full of water indicate a lifestyle that wouldn't have seemed possible a few years ago.

Mandela in the community garden that is part of
the Paulo Freire Formation |School. 
The mandela has a duck pond in the 
middle that irrigates a circulate 
vegetable garden and fruit trees.

What made this new life for Mauricei's family and 44 other families possible is a process that we in Canada would find very hard to fathom. Seventeen years ago the people of this settlement entered into a process that began with an occupation of many hectares of unproductive land. After a number of forced evictions by the landowner and legal applications by the MST on behalf of the community, they finally were able to claim legal title to the land. Now all around their village of 45 homes where once stood only barren land, grow fields of corn, manioc, beans and other staple crops.

Also located in the Normandia Atrandol Assentamento is a formation centre named for the great Brazilian popular educator Paulo Freire who was born in Pernambuco.  The centre includes 2 auditoriums, 2 classrooms, a cafeteria and a dormitory for 250 people. Here leaders from the 120 MST settlements in Pernambuco and like-minded groups come to learn technical skills, production skills and community organizing. After a 90 day program that includes 60 days at the Centre, the graduates of the Feet on the Ground program return to their communities to take on stronger leadership roles in their communties and organizations.

Danny

How do you measure change?

That was the question in my mind this morning as we left in our van for a visit with FASE: Fundaco de Atendimento Socio Educativo. Our D and P group had reflected on this question prior to our day's activities and the question stayed with me as we walked in to the office of FASE. We were greeted by Evaneldo, the national director, Aselmo, the local director, Yuri an architect and educator and Marli who works with issues related to coastal areas. They explained that the role of FASE within Brazil was the work of sustainable social development. FASE works to influence public policy and change the concept of development in Brazil. They work with citizens, with scholars, with researchers to present the government with alternate policies and processes for social development. They also help to strengthen grassroots groups that are trying to better the lives of their communities.

FASE has 2 main areas of concentration. In rural areas it advocates for food security and agroecology. In  urban settings it works to achieve sustainable social development.

The truth of the wealth of Brazil is hard to uncover. Brazil is seen as having a strong economy, as prospering and being a wealthy nation. FASE presents us with a different reality. They tell us that close to 400,000 people in Recife live in precarious housing conditions They tell us that the poor do not have the same rights as the rich. The poor do not have rights to homes, to clean water, to sanitation, to health services and many of the other social benefits we assume when we come from a country like Canada. FASE works to mobilze citizens to demand these rights. They organize people to lobby government, they write position papers, they organize forums, they provide assitance to grassroots groups who do not know how to change government policies.

Teacher plays a game with children at Recife's newest
social housing made possible by a six year
struggle aided by FASE.

FASE helps to bring about change. We were privileged to visit two of the communities where they have had an impact. In both cases people who had been living in slum areas, after years and years of presentations, protests, and political pressure have finally moved into their own homes. The FASE staff and the organizers in these communities showed us with great pride their homes, their yards, their kitchens, their play areas, their children. One lady told us that she finally felt like a real person because she has an address. They have access to water, to sanitation, to electricity. Everything is far from perfect but FASE persists in mobilizing, in advocating and in effecting real change. Change is hard to measure until you talk with the parents, the grandparents and the families that now have a place to call home, a place for their children to play safely, a place to plant a garden and hang out the laundry. Then you understand that change is not measured, it is visable in the eyes and smiles of the people who show you their homes.

Ann

Olinda ( Oh Beautiful)

Cathedral, Olinda

The weekend has been a time for soaking up the history and culture of Pernambuco. On Saturday we did a city tour of Recife. A unique part of the history of Pernambuco is the 20 years of Dutch rule which began after Spain and Portugal united (the Iberian Union) in the mid 16th century. Spain decided to punish its enemy Holland by cutting them out of the lucrative sugar cane trade. In retaliation Holland sent 70 ships to this area and captured the weakly defended capital of Olinda. They abandoned Olinda and instead settled on an island at the mouth of two nearby rivers, a place which would be more easily defended. This was the beginning of the city of Recife. The Dutch had a very liberalizing effect on the area and the free thinking inspired during this period led to a number of resistance movements in Pernambuco. This spirit continues to this day and is manifested in D and P partners like Equip.

On Sunday our day began with mass at the church of San Francisco, one of the seven historic churches of Olinda. Olinda was not subjected to the same modernization as the new and more bustling capital of Recife. It was therefore able to retain much of its historical architecture. In 1982 UNESCO declared the city centre of Olinda a world heritage site, ensuring its preservation through the ages.  The picture above shows the cathedral of the diocese of Olinda and Recife, where the tomb of Dom Helder Camara is located. This simple, unadorned church is the second oldest church in Brazil. Olinda is also a centre for art. Many artists have studios throughout the old city and sell their wares in  the small shops which can be found at every corner. Olinda is also home to the third largest carnival in Brazil.

Giant dolls serves as mascots for the annual Olinda
Carnival held in the days leading up to Lent

On Sunday afternoon our group went to a museum to see a depiction of the history of  the northeast of Brazil. The exhibit shows many aspects of history, including the influences of various foreign powers, but it was the life of the African slaves who were brought across the ocean that made the greatest impact on us. They were forced to labour in the sugar cane fields and make the produce which filled the sugar bowls of Europe. The average life span of these slave was less than three years. When slavery was abolished, rather than hire the former slaves as labourers, the latifundia (plantation) owners imported workers from Europe. The African-Brazilians had to settle in improvised camps called Quilombos. Oppression of the former slaves led to a number of resistance movements including one in the Quilombo of Palmares. It is from this resistance movement that our partner Equip takes its names. Escola de formaçao Quilombo dos Palmares. (School of Formation of the Quilombo of Palmares)

Understanding the history and the unique cultural heritage of the area will help put the rest of our travels in perspective.

Centre for Youth Communications

Teenagers outsides CCJ building interested in each others art

Friday, August 13th.

Another beautiful, hot day on the coast of Recife, Brazil.

Our guide and translator, Leo, arrives at the hotel at 9am to escort us to the CCJ youth centre. A program run by our partners at Equip. Before long, we are standing outside of a rough looking, fenced in, white washed building. The outside of the building is detailed with and array of colorful, intentional graffiti, strategically and artfully painted all over the walls and fencing. Inside this building, awaits us, Grace and Caja, two of our new Equip friends. Along with them are about 20 of the youth who are a part of the CCJ (Centro Communiciao Juventude) youth centre, one of Equips primary programs.

We are introduced to the youth and they to us. They are young men, young women, ranging in ages from 17-25. They are representative of a great majority of the youth in Brazil; poor, at high risk to become drug users/trafficers, young offenders, prostitutes.

Today we have the privilege of meeting Wagne. Wagne is a 19 year old young man who tells us how his family has suffered . Several years ago, his older brother was swept up into the life of drugs and at the age of 18 become yet one more victim to the epidemic of crack cocaine in Brazil. Wagne now works with the other young men and women in the centre to empower youth to choose to live drug free.

The youth in the CCJ centre use out-dated video and photographic equipment to produce video, photographic and paper anti-drug campaign materials. They share their most recent production with us; a 5 minute video, depicting the graphic realities of drug use. Their realities. It is both shocking and heartbreaking. These are the messages that they are bold enough to share with other youth in their communities....offering hope and giving others like them the strength to choose a drug-free lifestyle.

In the youth centre, human connection is at the heart of all that they do. We are included in their circle ceremony of love and support. These youth are connected. They are united. The young men raise their fists at the word resistance. It is these youth who will fight for change in Brazil. These youth who will be a part of changing the world.
It is on this day, Friday, August 13th, that I both cry and rejoice.
 
-Brenda

Meeting with Equip at Recife HQ

Awed, blessed, impressed, overwhelmed, amazed...some of the words that describe the feelings of myself (Kerrianne) and the group regarding the work and dedication of the people we met today who work at Equip in Recife (A D&P Partner). These people, from a diversity of backgrounds, come together along with other staff and volunteers around Brazil to do some amazing things for the people of their country. The focus of Equip is popular education. Popular education draws on peoples own lives and is geared towards the transformation of lives and communities. Through this work Equip empowers the people of Brazil (specifically the North East) and helps them to navigate their way through the democratic system in order to exact change and create a better future for themselves and other poor people of North East Brazil. Arguably, a better future for the poor also means a better future for everyone...though trying to express that to a multinational corporation can be a challenge to be sure.

These people who, as we learned in a wonderful and informative morning session by Claide Bernal (a smart and passionate woman who has been involved with the organization since its birth 22 years ago), have seen improvements in their lives due to government initiatives over the last 20, and especially the last 5 years, yet they still live without equal education and healthcare and under great subsceptability of falling victim to the dangers of drugs and violence. I was struck by the clarity of expression, and knowledge of every individual present during our discussions; and though I cannot possibly express all of what I learned, here are some snippits.

1) Government initiatives to boost the Brazilian economy through industry, tourism, dramatic increases in minimum wage, and availability of family packages with childhood education initiatives have not only stimulated the economy and abated the impact of the world wide financial crisis, but have helped to bring many (but far from all) people out of absolute and extreme poverty (into just regular run of the mill less than $3/day poverty).

2) Don't judge a book by its cover; Brazilian government tends to downplay the poverty remaining in the country, and the huge disparity between the rich and the poor (not only the very rich and the poor, but between basic middle class living by our standards and the poor). This has lead to a huge decrease in funding for local NGO's and diminished the capacities of these organizations to exact the changes needed to make a truly democratic nation with equal rights for all.

3) Equip and other organizations are working through many means to achieve their goals, and working in co-operation with each other to produce a stronger front for action and social change. This can be difficult in a capitalist economy, especially in an emerging democracy still lacking some important regulations and enforcement capacities.

4) Though public education for minors is free, it is not up to any standard that we would consider adequate. Everyone that CAN afford to send their kids to private school DOES. Public Universities, however, are the best post-secondary institutions. Unfortunately for the poor, the students that do well enough on the entry test for Public Universities are almost exclusively students with Private school educations....huh?! This, to me, needs to be fixed in a Country considered one of the emerging democratic powers (perhaps it is the Academic in me...or my amazing public school experience in Canada)

5) There seems to be a great dichotomy between supporting growth through business initiatives, and supporting social change through programs and small-scale local projects (this is universal). The world needs to look closely at up and coming democracies and help them to not make the same mistakes we see in our past, and learn about in our schools today.

6)Chicken cooked in its own blood tastes pretty good.

arrival and first meeting with Equip

Dom Helder Camara
Archbishop of Olinda and Recife from 1964 to 1985

Our group has arrived in Olinda, the historical capital of Pernambuco, and have settled into our hotel. On our first afternoon in Brazil, we had the pleasure of meeting with two members of Equip, a partner of D and P based in the northeast of Brazil. We will visit their office on Thursday and will be able to give a fuller picture of the work of Equip then. In our first meeting we went through our itinerary and also received a general overview of the history of Pernambuco. Two staff from Equip, Caja (he is our trip coordinator and works out of the Equip office in Recife) and Cledei (she is formation director of Equip in the city of Fortaleza) led us through the orientation. Caja also spoke to us about the great friend of the poor Dom Heldar Camara who as bishop of the diocese of Olinda and Recife transformed the role of the church in the diocese. Dom Helder embraced liberation theology and during his time as bishop in the 1970s and 80s he implemented a program of base ecclesial communities that brought church and comunity together to interpret the bible and their own social and economic reality through the eyes of the poor. The government of Brazil, a military dictatorship, did much to disrupt Dom Helders work once the people began to insist that they had human rights and their poverty was not an accident but a result of a corrupt system. To this Dom Helder responded "When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist".