Helping tommorow
Mão do bem – 3 year anniversary
Oh, I can hardly believe that this day has come! That we are celebrating three years of Mão do Bem! Three years of providing, so far, three thousand food baskets and organic vegetables boxes to Rocinha, the biggest favela in Rio together with 40 different events! We are celebrating three years of inspiration and friendships, three years of hard work and a lot of fun, three years of connection and community! Sitting here I can’t help but to think of how many people that over these years have poured and are still pouring their time and love into Mão do Bem to make it the beautiful project that it is today! So many people I want to thank from my heart! You know who you are, who have been getting up at dawn to get the vegetables and pack the bags with me, you who have chosen to spend your precious time with us, on Friday nights at the top of the favela handing out food as supposed to sit in a bar with friends, all the people behind the scene who has created this website, taken care of crypto currencies and other donations, making posters and flyers, leading favela tours, mentoring me, gifting items to our fundraisers, providing their space for our meetings and fundraisers, taking photographs and videos! The list is so so long though I am confident that You Know who you are, and I hope you can feel how grateful I am for all of
your time, efforts and love spent on Mão do Bem! All donors, all volunteers, we could not do anything without this massive communal effort! I am so proud of all we have done and who we are! I see nowadays how the impact of Mão do Bem goes way beyond the people in the group who receive the food baskets and come to our events. I had not foreseen that other part, though I feel it is tangible how many more people beyond the group have been affected by and touched by the spirit of community and good energy which defines Mão do Bem. I believe people keep being generous with their time and efforts, since they also receive a dose of the good energy and community which is Mão do Bem. May it continue that way! I feel so proud of what we have created and all we have done as a collective! Thank you all! From my heart, thank you. Thank you!
When all of this started, as a response to the severe food crisis caused by lockdown during the pandemic in Rio 2020, I could never imagine that we would accomplish all we have done over the last few years! It is lucky I did not know what I got myself into when I started to help to collect donations and hand out food baskets to people in need in the favelas! I could never have imagined then that we would continue to give out food for years to come, and build a whole community of people coming together fortnightly to learn and get inspired together. After a few months of the pandemic, it felt as if we were returning to some sort of normalcy, though many people were in a worse situation than before the pandemic had lost their jobs, or been forced to work less hours. Mão do Bem sprung from the idea to give something more than just food. We wanted to inspire to a better living, physically and mentally. First we added the education element with a class or workshop in the area of improved health, mentally and physically. As the group has grown tighter together, we have also introduced social events, where we visit parks and environmental projects, where everyone can bring their families, for a time to both relax and learn something new together.
We are celebrating all this with a super special evening with Selem Rufino Soares, residence in Rocinha for the last 30 years, actress in the documentary “Diga meu nome” about her and Diana Conrado, and their legal fight and victory as two black trans women, changing their first names
to female. I am so happy that Selem is our guest for our three years birthday celebration! If in Rio, get in touch if you would like to join! It’s going to be a beautiful night of celebration of all that has been, and of all which is still to come! Thank you all for that you have done to make us who we are today! Thank you!”
