Helping tommorow
2 months of quarantine – and no end in sight. The pressure-cooker of life in Brazil during Covid-19
Covid-19 took it´s time to get to Brazil, though now when it´s here, it´s making up for it´s late arrival. The two-month long quarantine in Rio have just been extended for another month since the numbers of infected as well as the deaths keeps rising steadily, passed over 7,000 deaths in Brazil this week. And the political shenanigans in this country is resembling a better soap-opera with all it´s intrigues and unexpected events! My personal life seem to be a daily roller coaster of emotions, highs and lows in the same day! And in the midst of death and economic despair caused by this pandemic, there are moments when this is great!
There are moments when this is actually great. When I forget why I am at home, when I am in the moment, in my home, enjoying the generous offerings from my yoga and capoeira teachers. The quarantine has enabled me to have access to their thoughts, practices and comforting words daily. In normal circumstances, that would be impossible since they are based in LA and the Caribbean’s. Just as my capoeira mestre who normally holds morning practices, 8am on the other side of the city. As much as I love these classes, it has been impossible for me to attend due to the logistics. Now, I literally roll out of bed and participate in the classes from my bedroom floor!
All of that is great! It´s more than great, it has been a gift to be able to pause the usual routines and see what then happens. My capoeira group don’t have capoeira classes at the moment (we are organising food-distribution instead..!), and in the place of our daily evening classes, I could participate in other capoeira classes online. I could.
But I don’t.
Instead I find how I gravitate to meditate at the sunset, dancing under the stars, and doing yoga practice in the moonlight. It is curious that, how I don’t stop moving, can´t stop moving, even though I can´t leave my house. Here, I move in different ways. More dancing, more meditation, handstands on the terrace, and organic flow in my bedroom, and I am so happy to have found myself back to my yoga-practice, which somehow got a bit, if not lost, so sporadic in the last months of house moving, visa-stress and capoeira practices.
Though life is rather strange right now. My mood swings are huge and I guess, not weird, considering all that is going on in the world and in Brazil, how many people that are suffering in general and in the city where I live in particular. And my favourite things to do, and mood up-lifters such as capoeira, seeing friends, running be the sea and dancing with my maracatu group have been zapped out of my life. Nowadays, on any given day, I tend to feel it all! I go from yoga bliss, gratitude for here and now, to feeling sad by the suffering around me, worrying for this city and country, to feeling grateful for all the help we receive in our food campaign! Up and down, hyper and exhausted, crying and laughing out loud, I seem to experiencing it all in one day!
Besides what is going on in my own little world, living in Brazil right now feels somewhat like being in a pressure cooker, considering what is going on in my community, this city and country. Controllable as long as the lid is on, though you feel the force building up on the inside, and if you don’t treat it correctly it can unexpectedly explode and cause a lot of damage. What will people do when they get desperately hungry and the government provides no support? What will happened to the health system as more and more people keep getting infected? Here in Rio, where the state of Rio declared bankruptcy already a few years back..!? What you need in a crisis like this, is strong leadership and politicians that put their personal agenda aside for the bigger picture, work the communal good, and a quick as possible resolution. The opposite of that is true right now in Brazil, and I find that to be a fine line to balance – to stay informed enough to know what is going on, through media, social media and podcasts without being over whelmed by the bleak picture that is being portrait. I have found myself, on more than one occasion, wanting to catch up with the news, and while doing so feeling all my inspiration, energy and hope being sucked out of me… leaving nothing than a puddle of hopelessness and heavy heart left.
The political situation in Brazil is a mess to be honest, where the president is undermining the work done by the governors, while trying to protect himself and his family and allies. The president keeps going against all health recommendations and have ignored the quarantine (despite that one of his colleagues was confirmed with Covid-19) he continues to meet the public, shaking hands, and openly questioning the work done by the governors including closing the school and business, as well as making recommendations of the usage of medicine against Corona virus that is still untested. To the point that Twitter had to block two videos that the president had posted, when he met and spoke with members of the public a few weeks back, since what he said about recommending untested medicines was in accordance with Twitters rules and regulations, a threat against the health for the general public.
The current political situation in Brazil scares me. I guess I should say worries me, though truth-fully it scares me when the president of this country behave likes he does and says what he does, since it is allowing for an out-leash of hatred, ignorance and stupidity from his supporters, who in “support” of the president held yet another demonstration on Sunday. Despite of the quarantine, and the strong recommendation to stay isolated at home, supporters gather in Brasilia to hold a demonstration in support of the president and AGAINST the Supreme Court and AGAINST the congress. I know, contradiction in terms…! How could you support the president but wanting to shut down the political institutions that he represents!? And the president, came out to meet the crowd. He didn’t tell them to go home. Rather, just like the leadership in the famous 1984 by George Orwell, this president is using the same kind of “New-speak” where his words mean the opposite to what they use to mean. He said on Sunday that he had enough of negotiations and that it is time for the People of Brazil to be in charge! Well, as a democracy the people are technically in charge, since the country is, so far, led by the democratically elected president, and the elected members of the congress. The president is openly initiating a potential military coup to put the “people in charge”. Since when does a military regime, like the one that Brazil was ruled under during the years of dictatorship, mean that the people “are in charge”!? It doesn’t. Never have and never will. But in accordance to the new-speak vocabulary of the president, military rule means people are in charge, 100,000 cases of confirmed Covid-19 in Brazil means that all is well and working according to plan, and Covid-19 means a virus which is actually not dangerous at all,” not worse than a flu or a “little cold””, as he put it in a speech to the nation a few weeks back.
The last few weeks, we have seen nurses and doctors protesting in Brasilia against the poor conditions that they are working under. And now, supporters of the president have started to protest against the nurses and doctors, even physically attacking them! It sounds like a joke but I am afraid that it isn’t.
And that is what scares me, that his ignorance and stupidity give other people permission to act the same. And how that will end I do not know..! There are a number of politicians that calls for an impeachment process to be opened against the president. I am personally surprised that it has not been done already, considering that he participated in his third demonstration against the congress and supreme court this week. One could think that should be enough for him to not be a suitable leader for a democratic country. Or the fact that his respond, when he was asked to comment on the death-toll in Brazil had just risen over 5,000 deaths, surpassing China (that was 10 days ago, now the official number is over 7,000), was;
“And? Am sorry. What do you want me to do? I am Messiah, but I do not do miracles.” Followed by “I feel sorry for the families who have lost a relative. But most people were old. Its´s part of life.” Heartfelt compassion from the president.
(https://oglobo.globo.com/brasil/e-dai-lamento-quer-que-eu-faca-que-reage-bolsonaro-apos-numero-recorde-de-mortes-por-coronavirus-24399480)
The political situation is bleak to say the least, with the popular health minister fired, since he did not agree with the president of the priority to save lives over businesses. Also, the popular justice minister quit after accusing the president to trying to intervene in the Federal Police´s investigations against him and other friends of his. The president strongly denied these accusations! Only to, a few days after, nominate a good friend of this family to be the new leader of the Federal Police. A move so obtrusively bias that the supreme court bloc the nomination. The president obeyed the ruling, only to the following day nominate an assistant to the said person to be the new leader of the Federal Police. The newly appointed leader started his job with suggesting a change of leadership in the Federal Police department in Rio de Janeiro where these investigations are being made… meanwhile the now former justice minister spent 8 hours giving evidence in the case against the President… and the soap opera of what once was leadership of this country continues, all while the number of Covid-19 cases doubled in about a week, from 50,000 to now over 120,000 cases confirmed.
Also, life nearby, here in the favela Vidigal where I live looks quite bleak. As much as I can make the most of working from home, studying from home, training at home, as soon as I leave the house I am reminded of why I am isolating in there. And the reality outside my front door is also a frightening one.
Yesterday, I left my house to go fetch some vegetables from a vendor at the Vidigal square, at the very entrance of the community, at the bottom of the long hill where we live. The compulsory mask on my face and bag on my back and off I went. Walking down the hill I saw quite a lot of people. Most people wearing masks, shops open, perhaps seen as essential, from a vegetable shop, to construction materials and tools for your house, and even beauty salons and a flower shop.
The further down the hill I got, the harder it got to breath.. I can be like a sponge sometimes, absorbing the energy around me, and the heaviness in the air felt like a layer of think clay over my chest. I love the favela where I live due to it´s business and buzz and I have always felt Vidigal to have a very light and sparkling kind of energy. Not yesterday. We are not in a good situation whereby many have lost their jobs due to the quarantine, and in the favelas many people live from pay check to pay check so a lost job can have immediate harsh consequences for the ability to pay rent and buy food. For those who are still working, the situation can also be grim, since few can work from home, rather need to using public transports and working with the public. What is the better option? Not working, or having a higher risk to be exposed to the virus?
At the Vidigal square, there is where you can get a ride with one of the motor-taxis up the hill. I don´t know how many times I have stood there, waiting, to get a free moto to take my up the hill. Yesterday, a row of 20 of motor-boys were standing there shoulder to shoulder, desperately shouting out to anyone who came off the public transport offering a ride. It was sad to see. It is obviously hard for them to earn a living right now. Heaviness and a seriousness in the air. Here in Vidigal where people are used to greet each other, make eye contact with people in the street and physical contact with your friends and family, there is a strange seriousness around here these days. The air is think. Silence in the supermarket. No one chit chat to one another, respecting the personal space around each other. Although I have given up going for runs, and wander as far as the square only once a week, I couldn’t wait to get home again. I couldn’t stand the sadness in the air, it felt as if everyone´s sorrows were choking me, so I opted for supporting one of the motor boys and contribute with at least a few reais to his income. I jumped into the shower as soon as I was home. In order to rinse off any remaining of the virus, and trying to rid the dire feeling off me..
I am somehow convinced that the long terms outcome of this will have a positive effect on us humans and this earth. Somehow. Though it´s very apparent that the short term impacts are harsh. And here, it will get worse before it get´s better. I am glad to know that just as in China, things are starting to look a tiny but brighter in some places in Europe. There is a light in the end of the tunnel. However, here in Brazil, although things are dire, I believe we have not seen the worse yet. The hospitals, both public and private, have run out of equipment, and I heard that there is a queue of 1000 waiting for a free bed.. Still, many people don´t respecting the quarantine, and I hear reports of people hanging out in bars across Rio, and people mixing and hanging out as if the virus did not exist. The cases doubled from 50,000 to 100,000 in little over a week last week. 130,000 cases as of today and over 7,000 deaths. And we may have not seen the worse yet.
What already feel like a lump in my heart is that Rio, my beloved city, the city of carnaval and beaches may not be the same again, for a really really long time. Or, ever. Perhaps a new kind of Rio will emerge when all of this comes to some sort of end. I know that Sweden have applied a very different approach to all of this. And even so, when I have thought of it, I can´t see how Stockholm will be That different with or without quarantine where the main place to see ones friends is in the home. But here..!? Yes, that undeniable saddens and frighten me a fair bit, that the Rio that I love and know, might just be a memory.
However, I am though, very certain that all of this will lead to positive changes, somehow, in the end. That is my conviction and perhaps up to each and everyone of us to implement changes in us and our communities to make that true!?
Thank you for listening and I truly wish, from the bottom of my heart that you and your loved ones stay well, stay sane, and wash those hands!
And yes, I am still collecting money for food packages in Rocinha and other favelas and each contribution is more than welcomed!! At the time of this publication, we are preparing for 50 packages to Rocinha, next week.
Yours sincerely
x Fia x
For those who wish to support our support of families with food-packages (Cesta Basicas) any penny is gratefully received through: paypal.me/sofiasunden / Swish 0704 39 87 69
More information of our project at Facebook: Acorda Capoeira and Mestre Manel
Instagram: @fia,sunden, @acordacapoeira, @mestre.manel
