Two weeks ago, our program sent us (in pairs, mostly) out of Fortaleza to do mini-research projects in one week’s time. Lydia (student from Univ. of Vermont) and I were sent to a Christian Children´s Fund Project/school in Russas (pop. 57,000), 150 km south east of Fortaleza and about 50 km inland. (The CCF does some really amazing things, and it's one of the best organized humanitarian/educational/health-based foundations in Brazil!)
The setting?... Rural. High daytime temperatures (95-100 degrees F). Very dry climate. Cool, breezy nights (80-85) with EVERY star in sight. Gorgeous sunsets. Wide-open skies. Red dusty roads. Very few cars; mostly bikes and motos . Some mud houses, some brick. Some painted, some not. All with ceramic-tiled roofs and open ceilings. Thousands of scattered palm trees (used to make wax). Some small-scale agriculture: corn; onions; and orange, acerola, graviola and banana trees. A couple independent ceramic-roof-tile manufacturing co-ops. What used to be the largest dry river bed in the Northeast. (Rain is their main source of water.) A new highway being built straight through the area--for better and for worse. Literate population = 75% men, 85% women.
The Project/school is located about 9 km outside of town and serves nearly 450 students (ages 3 to 16) from the surrounding rural community. Our hosts fixed up an old office space in the school for us to stay; so, you can imagine the students’ frustrated curiosity in wanting to sneak a peak at us or watch our every move. Unfortunately, if we wanted privacy, we’d have to lock ourselves in, latch the shutter-windows, and suffer the heat. Nevertheless, we only did this when we want to do work or nap. Other than that, we’d hang with the kids (most of whom have CCF sponsors) during their breaks, visit their classrooms (or other parts of the community), and play ping-pong with some of them after school but before the bus came—at sunset (5:30)—to take them home… Good times.
For my research project there, I looked at the community service work that 43 women did for the Project. As animardores comunitários (community leaders/“animators”), they each visit 10 families (enlisted with the CCF), check on their living situations (from housing to health and child development), “orient” the family around improving these situations, “accompany” their learning, and report everything (esp. the “red flags”) to the CCF (for the Project to take steps in helping their situations)… I was particularly interested in looking specifically at the women animadores that work outside the home, maintain their homes and families (a socially-constructed gender role, ingrained in every part of Latin American culture, that involves doing every household chore by hand and from scratch), AND manage to volunteer.
---------------------------
Last week, I spent most of the time writing up this mini-research project and finishing the write-up about Canindé (the religious movement I mentioned in my previous entry). I rewarded myself by going out with friends and going to the beach with my host-siblings. Now, I’m supposed to be doing independent research for my ISP (research project). I’ve finally narrowed it down to a specific topic, but I still need major help in figuring out how to conduct the research (i.e. what questions to ask, etc.) and how to pull it together (i.e. the writing). The topic/ “problem” asks, What are the internal (personal experiences) and external (societal and cultural influences) forces that drive and empower young Afro-Brazilian women activists (specifically 3 to 5 of them, ages 15 to 25)? What obstacles have they overcome to be vocally strong women? How can/do they serve as an inspiration for other young Afro-Brazilian women?
On Thursday, we fly to the state of Bahia (to Cachoeira and then to Salvador), and we’ll be together as a group for 2 weeks before we’re released into the wild to do our independent research projects (ISPs)—for only 3 weeks! Some will return to Fortaleza, but half (including me) will stay in Salvador to do ISPs. On 7 Dec., everyone returns to Fortaleza to turn in and present the ISP projects… I’m already dreading that part.
So, that’s it, I guess, for now. Don’t forget to send me quick email (hopedeifell@hotmail.com) to let me know you’re alive and interested in hearing more…
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
Monday, October 13, 2003
a diversity of cultural experience
Movimento Sem Terra—MST:
The last weekend of September we took a 2-hour bus ride into the interior of Ceará to visit a settlement (Ze Lourenço) and an encampment (Paz Lenin II) of the Landless Workers Movement (MST). The MST organizes the Brazilian landless and/or homeless to occupy unproductive land (belonging to large landowners) until they achieve ownership—a semi-dangerous but legal process which takes a painstaking 2 years of squatting or camping out before the government recognizes them, evaluates the land, and forces the sell of the land to the MST. We visited an encampment, where landless workers had been for only 2 months, but we stayed in a settlement, where landless workers achieved land, built houses, began producing cajú (cashew), and had been living since 1998.
In the settlement, 71 families live a simple life—bathing with a cup and a few douses of water (no running water), cooking over wood-burning stoves, living in clay houses with limited electricity, studying in one school-house, etc… The encampment, however, was a different story. Among sixty families (30 children), there was no house, no school, no potable water, and no electricity—only white rice to eat (the day we went), a small “lake” nearby for bathing, and wooden poles, black plastic, and other random scraps for shelter. Seeing what these people go through to obtain land was both moving and disturbing… Moving to see their courage, strength, desire and determination to fight for land. Disturbing to see and understand their living conditions, the bureaucratic loopholes they have to go through, the unequal distribution of land, the high number of landless, the malnutrition, and the children, among others. The entire weekend was a real eye-opener to the reality that these landless live, the work the MST does, and Brazil’s need for agrarian (and social) reform.
Projecto das Quatras Varas:
On September 30 we went to a community located within a poorer neighborhood (Cristo Rendentor) of Fortaleza. This community, called Quatras Varas, hosted us for lunch and for our end-of-the-month reflection/discussion. What I found interesting about this community is its “community healing” project—the herbal healing, the massage therapy, the community kitchen, the alternative education, the theater group, the arts and crafts to sell, and (most of all) the group therapy, or “community” sessions. I would have never thought to find a community such as Quatras Varas in this part of Fortaleza, let alone in Brazil. I was impressed by their finding a true sense of “community” and by the model of “community healing” that they managed to construct by their own efforts. (I'd thought about doing my independent research project on this community but ended up deciding not to... more will come on what i've decided to do, as soon as i have a clearer idea on what it is exactly.)
Umbanda: Oxum’s night:
After our group discussion in Quatras Varas, our Portuguese class went to an Umbanda celebration/service. Second to Candomblé, Umbanda is the Orisha tradition (or worship of African deities) with Catholic syncretism most common in Brazil. (I don’t know enough to attempt an explanation, so I will leave that up to you.)
Each orisha has its color, music, element and purpose… The night we went was Oxum’s night… The women participating (the filhas do santo) wore various, big, fat, red, and white/silver dresses; the men (the filhos do santo) wore red shirts and white pants. Neither wore shoes… To begin the ceremony, a pai do santo “blessed” the room and its people with an incense burner, exactly like that of the Catholic church, and prayed to the Crucifix at the head of the room, asking God, the Father, for a blessing.
While passive worshippers sat or stood to one side of the room, these women and men danced (in their own places), sang (in Portuguese) to the various African drum beats, and periodically approaching the mães do santo for a “blessing” (from what I could tell) for nearly 1 hour before they took a smoke break. (Don’t ask me why, but smoking tobacco and, later on, drinking beer has something to do with relating to spirits of the middle passage). Next, 3 women—wearing red garbs, a bronze crown and breastplate, and no shoes, and representing Oxum—entered the room in what seemed like a trance. For 15 minutes or so, they blindly shuffled around the room waving their bronze “swords,” one in each hand, between the two lines of dancers. Without opening their eyes, they never once bumped into each other. Whenever the music stopped, they stopped and, at times, yelled out… Eventually, they made their exit, and the filhos continued dancing and singing.
In the hour and a half before the end of the ceremony, there were 2 other “smoke breaks,” more singing, dancing, spiritual “possessions”, “blessings” by the mães do santo, “counseling” by other spiritual leaders (beer in hand), and so much more that I wasn’t able to observe or interpret… Overall, it was a very powerful and interesting cultural experience, to say the least.
Festival de São Francisco in Canindé:
October 5-7, we went (as field researchers) to a spiritual festival in Canindé (2 hours into the interior of Ceará). This religious movement attracts people from all over the Northeast (and beyond), many of whom come to “pay their promise (for being healed)” to or receive a blessing from São Francisco (Saint Francis of Assisi). Some people come to witness this spiritual spectacle, others to sell their merchandise, and still others to plea for alms. In just that one weekend, according to the Globo news, there were nearly 700,000 visitors in Canindé, a town of only 25,000 inhabitants.
So many poor, distraught, sickened, disabled, injured, hopeless, desperate, and spiritual folks come to Canindé looking for a miracle that a “House of Miracles” was built to accommodate all their photos, symbolic body parts, cut hair, old clothes, and other representative objects to be blessed. Someone from our group mentioned that the appearance and feel of the place reminded her somewhat of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, except that people chose to bring their things to this place for spiritual cleansing.
The last weekend of September we took a 2-hour bus ride into the interior of Ceará to visit a settlement (Ze Lourenço) and an encampment (Paz Lenin II) of the Landless Workers Movement (MST). The MST organizes the Brazilian landless and/or homeless to occupy unproductive land (belonging to large landowners) until they achieve ownership—a semi-dangerous but legal process which takes a painstaking 2 years of squatting or camping out before the government recognizes them, evaluates the land, and forces the sell of the land to the MST. We visited an encampment, where landless workers had been for only 2 months, but we stayed in a settlement, where landless workers achieved land, built houses, began producing cajú (cashew), and had been living since 1998.
In the settlement, 71 families live a simple life—bathing with a cup and a few douses of water (no running water), cooking over wood-burning stoves, living in clay houses with limited electricity, studying in one school-house, etc… The encampment, however, was a different story. Among sixty families (30 children), there was no house, no school, no potable water, and no electricity—only white rice to eat (the day we went), a small “lake” nearby for bathing, and wooden poles, black plastic, and other random scraps for shelter. Seeing what these people go through to obtain land was both moving and disturbing… Moving to see their courage, strength, desire and determination to fight for land. Disturbing to see and understand their living conditions, the bureaucratic loopholes they have to go through, the unequal distribution of land, the high number of landless, the malnutrition, and the children, among others. The entire weekend was a real eye-opener to the reality that these landless live, the work the MST does, and Brazil’s need for agrarian (and social) reform.
Projecto das Quatras Varas:
On September 30 we went to a community located within a poorer neighborhood (Cristo Rendentor) of Fortaleza. This community, called Quatras Varas, hosted us for lunch and for our end-of-the-month reflection/discussion. What I found interesting about this community is its “community healing” project—the herbal healing, the massage therapy, the community kitchen, the alternative education, the theater group, the arts and crafts to sell, and (most of all) the group therapy, or “community” sessions. I would have never thought to find a community such as Quatras Varas in this part of Fortaleza, let alone in Brazil. I was impressed by their finding a true sense of “community” and by the model of “community healing” that they managed to construct by their own efforts. (I'd thought about doing my independent research project on this community but ended up deciding not to... more will come on what i've decided to do, as soon as i have a clearer idea on what it is exactly.)
Umbanda: Oxum’s night:
After our group discussion in Quatras Varas, our Portuguese class went to an Umbanda celebration/service. Second to Candomblé, Umbanda is the Orisha tradition (or worship of African deities) with Catholic syncretism most common in Brazil. (I don’t know enough to attempt an explanation, so I will leave that up to you.)
Each orisha has its color, music, element and purpose… The night we went was Oxum’s night… The women participating (the filhas do santo) wore various, big, fat, red, and white/silver dresses; the men (the filhos do santo) wore red shirts and white pants. Neither wore shoes… To begin the ceremony, a pai do santo “blessed” the room and its people with an incense burner, exactly like that of the Catholic church, and prayed to the Crucifix at the head of the room, asking God, the Father, for a blessing.
While passive worshippers sat or stood to one side of the room, these women and men danced (in their own places), sang (in Portuguese) to the various African drum beats, and periodically approaching the mães do santo for a “blessing” (from what I could tell) for nearly 1 hour before they took a smoke break. (Don’t ask me why, but smoking tobacco and, later on, drinking beer has something to do with relating to spirits of the middle passage). Next, 3 women—wearing red garbs, a bronze crown and breastplate, and no shoes, and representing Oxum—entered the room in what seemed like a trance. For 15 minutes or so, they blindly shuffled around the room waving their bronze “swords,” one in each hand, between the two lines of dancers. Without opening their eyes, they never once bumped into each other. Whenever the music stopped, they stopped and, at times, yelled out… Eventually, they made their exit, and the filhos continued dancing and singing.
In the hour and a half before the end of the ceremony, there were 2 other “smoke breaks,” more singing, dancing, spiritual “possessions”, “blessings” by the mães do santo, “counseling” by other spiritual leaders (beer in hand), and so much more that I wasn’t able to observe or interpret… Overall, it was a very powerful and interesting cultural experience, to say the least.
Festival de São Francisco in Canindé:
October 5-7, we went (as field researchers) to a spiritual festival in Canindé (2 hours into the interior of Ceará). This religious movement attracts people from all over the Northeast (and beyond), many of whom come to “pay their promise (for being healed)” to or receive a blessing from São Francisco (Saint Francis of Assisi). Some people come to witness this spiritual spectacle, others to sell their merchandise, and still others to plea for alms. In just that one weekend, according to the Globo news, there were nearly 700,000 visitors in Canindé, a town of only 25,000 inhabitants.
So many poor, distraught, sickened, disabled, injured, hopeless, desperate, and spiritual folks come to Canindé looking for a miracle that a “House of Miracles” was built to accommodate all their photos, symbolic body parts, cut hair, old clothes, and other representative objects to be blessed. Someone from our group mentioned that the appearance and feel of the place reminded her somewhat of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, except that people chose to bring their things to this place for spiritual cleansing.
One theory as to why so many poor people come to places like Canindé for spiritual revival is because the government lacks social institutions, like education, health systems, and other socio-economic assistance programs. Where the government doesn’t provide (which is the case for a majority of Brazilians), God does—thus, a religious festival for Saint Francis, a saint with a heart for the poor.
Lastly, I must mention the crazy contrasts between the wealth of the church and the poverty of the majority of “festival go-ers” and between the religious and the non-religious activities.
Visible from miles away, the town’s basilica lit up like a Christmas tree, or more like a Vegas casino. Surrounding this pristine church—its steeple, archways, stain-glass windows, bright lights, and evangelist-like stage in front (for outdoor Masses and contemporary worship)—sat hundreds of sick, tired, and desperate people who walked, biked, bussed, rode (truck beds), and did everything in their power to come from the far reaches of the Northeast for the church’s blessing… Is there a balance? Should there be?
Visible from miles away, the town’s basilica lit up like a Christmas tree, or more like a Vegas casino. Surrounding this pristine church—its steeple, archways, stain-glass windows, bright lights, and evangelist-like stage in front (for outdoor Masses and contemporary worship)—sat hundreds of sick, tired, and desperate people who walked, biked, bussed, rode (truck beds), and did everything in their power to come from the far reaches of the Northeast for the church’s blessing… Is there a balance? Should there be?
While church Masses, personal confessions, and material blessings (i.e. water, merchandise to sell, and replicas of spiritual needs) took place on one side of town, people rode carnival amusement rides, drank beer, gambled, and bought without reserve in the markets on the other side of town. What does this say about the religious significance of Canindé? About the Brazilian culture? About Catholicism? About the people that come to Canindé?
So many questions left in my mind about each of these experiences… no time to flush them out or satisfy my curiosity. I must move on to my other preoccupations, like my independent research project (ISP), a mini-research project (all this next week), other journal writings and term papers, my final days with my host family and others in the group before I go to Salvador for the rest of the semester (for class and for my ISP), and my own “me” time (nearly never).
So many questions left in my mind about each of these experiences… no time to flush them out or satisfy my curiosity. I must move on to my other preoccupations, like my independent research project (ISP), a mini-research project (all this next week), other journal writings and term papers, my final days with my host family and others in the group before I go to Salvador for the rest of the semester (for class and for my ISP), and my own “me” time (nearly never).
Wednesday, October 08, 2003
daily schedule
over the past couple weeks, we´ve had some pretty amazing experiences, e.g. visiting an MST settlement/encampment, an Umbanda celebration, a religious movement/pilgrimage to Canindé in the name of St. Francis of Assisi, and a grassroots "community healing" place, among others...
but right now, i don't have the time nor the words to recapture everything here...
i will update again later this week with some of those details...
as for now, here's a small window of my daily reality:
-up between 7 and 7:30 (nearly every morning!)
(everyone gets up early here... i think it´s because of the hot weather and the early morning sunrise.)
-a cold shower in the morning and again at night when i come home
(2-3 showers/day is normal, and hot showers are non-existant in northern brazil. they don´t really need them b/c it´s too hot and humid.)
-breakfast: grilled cheese, tapioca-bread wrap with butter, or just bread or crackers with a type of cream cheese (requeijão); coffee (only the instant kind at my house); and natural fresh fruit juices--guava, pineapple, graviola (english, ?), cantalope w/ orange, mango, passion fruit, avocado (which is only served sweet here), papaya, strawberry, and banana, among many others (which don´t have translation, that i know of).
-30 minute bus ride to school (or actually to the Brazil-US Institute)
-advanced portuguese class (9-12) -- we talk about everything from social issues to other cultural experiences (with the program or on our own); we went to an Umbanda celebration (i.e. an afro-brazilian religion mixed with catholicism); we made lunch for our teacher one day (tacos and fondue); last night, we went out to a club to see live music and to taste a bit of the "culture"; and we have fun while working on our practical portuguese.
-lunch: somewhere near school with others from the program... many places are "food by the kilo;" others have "grilled" food, pizza, sandwiches, etc.
-in the afternoons (3-6), we either have field research class or independent research time (which i haven´t been very constructive with since i lack self-disipline and focus)...
-sun sets at 6 (which i don´t think will ever change since we´re nearly on the equator)
-home by 7 (usually)... i take a shower, hang with one sister who´s almost always home, eat something small for dinner, work on some homework, piddle,... you know the drill.
-asleep by 12:30 (on average)
(i usually stay up doing homework, but i´ve been able to go out a couple times over the past month.)
that's it for now. sorry i haven't been updating this lately... it's just so much happens so fast, and i don't find the time to reflect for my own purposes... i only have time for school work, barely...
but right now, i don't have the time nor the words to recapture everything here...
i will update again later this week with some of those details...
as for now, here's a small window of my daily reality:
-up between 7 and 7:30 (nearly every morning!)
(everyone gets up early here... i think it´s because of the hot weather and the early morning sunrise.)
-a cold shower in the morning and again at night when i come home
(2-3 showers/day is normal, and hot showers are non-existant in northern brazil. they don´t really need them b/c it´s too hot and humid.)
-breakfast: grilled cheese, tapioca-bread wrap with butter, or just bread or crackers with a type of cream cheese (requeijão); coffee (only the instant kind at my house); and natural fresh fruit juices--guava, pineapple, graviola (english, ?), cantalope w/ orange, mango, passion fruit, avocado (which is only served sweet here), papaya, strawberry, and banana, among many others (which don´t have translation, that i know of).
-30 minute bus ride to school (or actually to the Brazil-US Institute)
-advanced portuguese class (9-12) -- we talk about everything from social issues to other cultural experiences (with the program or on our own); we went to an Umbanda celebration (i.e. an afro-brazilian religion mixed with catholicism); we made lunch for our teacher one day (tacos and fondue); last night, we went out to a club to see live music and to taste a bit of the "culture"; and we have fun while working on our practical portuguese.
-lunch: somewhere near school with others from the program... many places are "food by the kilo;" others have "grilled" food, pizza, sandwiches, etc.
-in the afternoons (3-6), we either have field research class or independent research time (which i haven´t been very constructive with since i lack self-disipline and focus)...
-sun sets at 6 (which i don´t think will ever change since we´re nearly on the equator)
-home by 7 (usually)... i take a shower, hang with one sister who´s almost always home, eat something small for dinner, work on some homework, piddle,... you know the drill.
-asleep by 12:30 (on average)
(i usually stay up doing homework, but i´ve been able to go out a couple times over the past month.)
that's it for now. sorry i haven't been updating this lately... it's just so much happens so fast, and i don't find the time to reflect for my own purposes... i only have time for school work, barely...
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