Helping tommorow
Mão do bem – ´roda de conversa´
It feels so good to be back! Back in Rio after a visit to my family in Europe, and back to Mão do Bem! We had our first meeting last Friday after a break for the European Summer, and there were big hugs all around! We started up the season with a ´roda de conversa´, a coffee evening and conversation circle about what we have done so far this year, what everyone liked the most and would like to do more of. It’s very important to us that we do these catch up and check in meetings regularly, to make sure we all feel a part of the group and decide together in what direction we are going. We encourage the members to take ownership of the organization of the social meetings and these meetings are a good time to discuss different ideas. We have had a number of social events organized by the members, including a pre-carnaval get together on the terrace of Maria’s house and a visit to her vegetable garden, inspired by planting advice she learnt through Mão do Bem. Maria’s garden is a small piece of land, 4 meters long and 50 centimeters wide tucked in between a cement wall and a road in the favela in front of her house. From a distance it does not look like a space where anything can grow! Though Maria’s garden is just another evidence of the resilience and endless imagination by the favela habitants, who make the impossible possible in a seemingly hopeless place.
Our last social event was on the initiative of Suzanna and Tracy in the group. The initiative sprung up after the visit of community leader Marcelo Black, and his talk about the rights and duties of the favela habitants. It sparked Suzanna’s inspiration to organize a clean up in the favela. It was a great day! Beyond Mão do Bem, we invited members of the NGO Raizes Culturais, and their leader and dance teacher Raphael got us all warmed up by a dance class in the Rocinha Community school. The dance class was really fun and got us all warmed up and
after sweating and laughing we were inspired to clean up! We were 15 people and spent a few hours and collected 20 bags of garbage from mainly the nearby forest and the streets around the Rocinha Community School where we hold our meetings.
The clean up was partly our way of thanking the community of Laborioux, at the very top of Rocinha, who have generously received us for over three years now! We wanted to give our thanks back to the community and cleaning up the area seemed like an appropriate thing to do!
It also feels symbolically important to clean up in the streets and the forest, even if it won’t last for long. There is a lingering feeling of hopelessness in the favelas, which per definition are places which have been abandoned by the state. Only recently have electricity been provided by electricity companies, and garbage collection and sanitary problems are long-standing problems. Therefore it’s important to us to not only hand out food, but also to inject inspiration and feeling of hope and a vision of a better future for the members in the group specifically, and the favela habitants in general. There are so many great initiatives in the favelas, and so many strong inspirational people there, so part of what we do is to create a community within the favela which can inspire one another!
Our conversation circle was really fruitful and we started to discuss domestic violence and the support that is available for women who are in that situation, since two members are engaged in the subject, one as a part of a women’s group against domestic violence and the other leads a man’s-group to reduce the problem. It warms my heart so much to see the community we have built, and the support the group can give one to another! The vast majority of the members are women, and they are in a similar situation as mothers, many single mothers, and they struggle to make ends meet, on top of violence in the community, racism, sexism and domestic violence. If we can come together, inspire and encourage each other, and provide food and a resting place to see that we are not alone, at least that is something!
Thank you for following us on this journey and supporting us in all the ways you do! We couldn’t do this without all your support!
From my heart Thank You All and I am looking forward to our next Mão do Bem handout and meeting!
