Brazil: First Report

Dear friends,

Greetings from Brazil!

It's been one week since we arrived. Well, in fact our group arrived in parts.

I landed in Brazil on a rainy, late afternoon. Cached a bus from the Guarulhos Airport to Congonhas, a one and a half hour journey through a dirty and gray city center. The whole setting didn't look so welcoming – I was happy not to be out there on my own. Through the bus window I saw the homeless people sleeping on the tight sidewalks, the drug addicts sitting under the bridge, the feeling of widespread poverty and the apparently tense and unfriendly environment. How did this misery came about? One realization came fast, shortly after landing in Brazil: there is such a visible life power here... you can see it everywhere, wherever bare ground is left untouched for a while, how life blossoms and strives towards these romantic pictures of tropical vegetation. And you can also sense it in the human realm, in the untamable chaos of cars and people and in the full joy of the Samba. It feels like there is a very active and ever-present wall pressing and twisting these vivid and original life forces, and as a result we arrived at the current “state of the art”.

I finally arrived at the destination. A few moments later, Claudio, Tabea and Rafael (from Favela da Paz) arrived as well. “Now I will take you to the best area of São Paulo: I will introduce you to the slum. It is the best place to be.” Claudio said, creating a flare of anticipation.

As we were driving through the city, he explained the situation in the city-center: the people who heavily fell into drug consumption, rejected by their families and communities in the slum, move to the center of São Paulo. As a result, this is where you find the highest degree of violence and poverty. Unlike the slum, where you find a big sense of community, where people help each other in every possible way, and where the people connected to the crime and drug traffic scene hold a strong respect for their communities, in the city-center reigns only anarchy and homelessness.

Claudio took us directly to 'Cooperifa' – even before dropping our bags at home – a café/cultural-center where a poetry slam was taking place. Incredibly talented people, intellectuals, critical-thinkers, poets, musicians, and also courageous beginners with trembling voices, were received by a supportive audience, which listened attentively and clapped and sheered loudly after every performance. The slum is not the place where small-minded, illiterate people live. It is the place where, in many points, fabricated poverty meets an incredible potential.

The rest of the team arrived in the following days and we took some time with Claudio to get to know the people of 'Jardim Ângela', where he lives – a slum with more than 800.000 people. There we met several other light points. The family of Claudio and Fabio; the larger family around Favela da Paz; the humble and charismatic Roberto, a man with meningitis who raps about the scenes of violence he witnessed, using music as a way of transmitting his message; a mysterious man who spends most of his time in nature, at the edge of Jardim Ângela, taking care for this area; and Dona Rita, an eighty year old woman, with a contagious spirit of openness and joy. She is the care taker for the water spring that flows into Jardim Ângela, and she creates medicine for the community. One by one, she embraced us as if we were her dearest friends that she didn't see for a long time. An incredible frequency of love. She lost her son two months ago, due to drug overdose.

It feels like life has set the different puzzle pieces in place, for a different life to emerge. They 'just' need to be discovered, taken care for, and connected. Seems like this is the role of Claudio and Favela da Paz. They are the gathering point for these different elements, they are a reference for them, a source of vision and strength, and a bridge to the emerging planetary community.

Yet, there is of course a long way to walk. The drug traffic and consumption are quite present everywhere. It's a fashion within these realms to set up late-night spontaneous reggaeton parties – using the potent sound-systems of their cars – where a lot of traffic and consumption takes place. Nobody from the community likes these parties, but it is a risk to call the police. The police is widely corrupted, and nobody wants to call the wrong cop. Nevertheless, the police usually shows up and interferes. Two days ago we heard some shots at night, as a result. Lately, also among the traffickers things are getting tense. We already saw some power struggles at our door step. Claudio doesn't like how things are going, of course. But comparing to the surrounding both him and Hellem grew up in, they are living times of “holy peace”, Hellem says.

Yesterday, on the 25th of October we had an event where Tamera, Favela da Paz and the Oasis game presented their projects and the mutual cooperation. It took place in the center of São Paulo, and had an audience of around 40 people – people that were quite curious about Tamera, and that were the driving force for Ruth (from the Elos Institute) to organize this event. Additionally, we are in preparation for everything else that follows: our Favela da Paz Open Day on the 2nd of November; our community course with the Bolivians; the Oasis game, and much more. Also the Biogas Digestor construction already finished. There is a whole team behind this feat: Paulo Mellet, Fabio, the father of Claudio (Jerson); and our team – Janos, Simon and Nuno.

We feel incredibly welcomed here in the slum. These people are discriminated even by the inhabitants of the city-center, so to have a group like ours, traveling such a long way for the sole reason of visiting their community, it's something which is highly admired. People love us for our courage.

As to the people from the local government institutions and the local police station, they project on us. We come from Europe, we belong to an international organization. “What are they doing in the slum?”. Their curiosity opens new possibilities for us to place Favela da Paz in a pedestal, mentioning the meaning of their work and the growing number of people in the world that follow what is being done here. It's a pleasure to use our influence in this way.

Let's hope we can make the best out of our presence here.

Some days ago we had a larger meeting, where our team came together with our friends from Favela da Paz, and also with Gal and Rafael, cooperation partners from Favela da Paz. It was a moving space that opened, telling them about our work here in coordination with the other Global Campus stations, framed in the context of the emerging planetary community.

We wish you a powerful time in all other stations! We are connecting to your work from here in Brazil!

Sending you warm greetings,

Rui Braga