A series of art projects and workshops from South America, inspired by a love for community and collaboration and a firm belief in the power of art as both a transformative tool and a way to facilitate inclusion and equality in society and education.
It was exciting to get involved with the face painting before the show and at the mid-way rapid costume change. :-)
The roots of this day of protest lie in the tragic story of a Brazilian girl kidnapped on the 18th May in 1973. Araceli Cabrera Sanches was only 8 years old when she was drugged, beaten, raped and killed by a family from Espirito Santo. Many people knew what happened but no one spoke out, their silence preventing the perpetrators from being brought to justice. The outrage this case provoked in Brazil led to the founding of this national day of protest, which is used as a day to bring awareness to Brazilians and to encourage people to speak out against the crimes they witness.
What worries me most is not the cry of the bad but the silence of the good. Sexual abuse is a crime. /
If somebody does not respect the body of a child who are they going to respect? / My body is sacred. / Denounce.
Indeed the key focus of the night of the 18th in Medina's town square was to emphasise that these crimes are the concern of all society and that every individual has the responsibility to speak out when they witness abuse and exploitation of children. The square was filled with posters and banners printed with the number to call to denounce and we were all wearing these t-shirts with the same on the back.
The speakers were informative and the presentations from our girls and the kids of the other groups were powerful. A tough theme. I truly hope that the efforts of organisations like Meninadança and the strength of individuals like Rita, our wonderful director here at the Pink House, begin to see some significant changes for Brazil's children.
If you are able, it would be hugely appreciated by the Pink House's wonderful girls if you follow this link to set up a regular donation in support of Meninadança.
Big love
:-)
p.s. a huge thanks to our wonderful long-term volunteer here, Rachel Alvarez, for permission to use all of these photographs for this blog.
I want a better world. A world worthy of our dreams.
Theme of the month: Human Rights
Focus of the week: Introduction to Human Rights, focusing on what they mean for the girls, what their experience of human rights are in day-to-day life in Medina and what they understand by equality.
So my first week of facilitating art activities at Meninadança's Pink House has happened to coincide with a shift in time-table organisation from one-theme-per-week to now one theme that develops over the course of a month to give the girls more time to explore the focus issues in depth. This month's theme is Human Rights, and this first week led up to a presentation in the square on Saturday 18th May, a national day in Brazil protesting against sexual abuse and exploitation of children and adolescents.
Project Proposal: Create journals with personalised covers expressing the girls' initial thoughts and feelings about Human Rights. Choose phrases expressed on the covers and develop them into animated clips by creating stop-motion puppets and props. Edit the clips into one animated film, with the girls' voices as the soundtrack, to be shown in the square on 18th May.
Aim of the Journal: To use the process of designing the journal covers as a way for the girls to express personal opinion about Human Rights, and to create for themselves in its blank pages a personal space to record thoughts and feelings over the weeks as we discuss the focus themes. The only stipulation was for each girl to include at least one sunflower seed in her design and as she 'planted' it on the cover to think of a personal wish for her own future that was private if she wanted it to be.
Aim of the Animation: To give voice and visibility to the girls' ideas and feelings about Human Rights. By taking them through the process of developing phrases from their journal covers into an animation to be shown in the public space of the town square, showing them that their opinions have value and that they deserve to be seen and heard.
PROCESS:
Words that we worked with this week:Respect, God, Equality, Justice, Love, Peace, Unity, Freedom, Rights
1. Discussion. Talking about what Human Rights are. What does Brazilian law say that children and adolescent rights are. How do the girls feel that they experience human rights on a day-to-day level, what do they think is lacking and what do they want to see from the future. In daily conversation circles called 'rodas de conversas' the girls are invited to share thoughts and feelings about these areas. Now, at this developmental stage of the Pink House, the team are trying out different group sizes and activities in the circles in to try and stimulate in depth conversation.
(Left) Love, God, Peace
(Right) "The world wants Jesus, freedom, equality, salvation, justice, hope, evolution"
2. Journal Covers. Using discarded cardboard boxes I prepared 50 flat journal covers in preparation for the start of activities on Monday. The girls used paint and collage to decorate the covers, choosing pictures and words from old magazines to create imagery and phrases to express their thoughts and feelings about human rights. They each included their name and at least one sunflower seed, 'planted' to represent a personal wish for her future. Once the covers were ready we sewed blank pages into the middle and photographed each one.
Cardboard journals: A private, personalised space for the girls to voice their thoughts and feelings about our themes, with a seed 'planted' on the cover representing a personal hope. By using recycled materials the girls are being invited to look at the materials surrounds them from a different perspective. Inspired massively by Alejandro's collective in Argentina the Eloisa Cartoneras and Gonzalo's collective in Uruguay La Propria Cartonera.
3. Puppet and prop preparation: The girls divided into groups and choose phrases from their journal covers to develop into animated scenes. They cut out the letters needed to spell out their phrases, and made cut-out puppets and background props from cardboard, paint, material scraps and wool.
Some of the recurring symbols that the girls used throughout the animation process were suns, crosses, hands, trees, homes, clouds and of course girls!
(Left) "A better world"
4. Staff introduction to the software: First up to try out the set up were the educators Kristina, Aline and Maria when I showed them the basics of the Dragon-frame software. Amazingly even our fantastic director Rita managed to fit a go into her hectic busy schedule!
For the sunny afternoon sessions our lovely Rachel became a vital piece of our animation 'equipment' in holding up cardboard to block the bright sun as it moved across the board. Rachel also took a turn at animating alongside the girls, so keep an eye out when you watch the film and if you spot birds flapping discreetly through some of the scenes you'll be seeing her handiwork.
5. Stop-motion animation: Interacting with their props and phrases by drawing with using chalk on a chalkboard background, the girls worked individually or in groups to create stop motion animations of their puppets speaking their chosen phrases for them.
(Left) We want to be loved / (right) I want to be loved.
Many of the phrases the girls chose were profound and I was moved by their readiness to express themselves. This project happened to come after a very tough weekend for our girls. Tragically the older brother of one of the older Pink House girls was shot in the town's central square around midnight of Saturday 11th. As well as the family's sorrow the murder triggered a week of violence between the rival favelas here in Medina, causing great pain and anxiety amongst the extended community. Our girls were hugely affected and we saw many screams about the lack of justice and peace coming out through their work.
It was very sad to see the girls distress and hear their comments about the hopelessness about the violence in Medina. But at the same time it was good to be able to provide them with a space to express their negative feelings at this particular time, and encouraging to see them processing some of their emotion by making use of their puppets to voice their opinions. It was also touching to see the messages of love and hope emerging alongside the hurt, and to observe Rita's soothing and supportive way of being with the girls, keeping the house as calm as possible.
Peace is dead / Justice forgotten
What we want is a better world... where we can live without the pain of an unjust death!!! Justice. Peace. Is the future going to continue like this?
We want justice.
And if the touch of your hands could transform the future
Children are life and security for Brazil.
Pink House Family. We want to be loved
6. Evaluation comic strips: Inviting the girls to reflect on what they have learned and enjoyed or not about the week's work and theme.
7. Recording voice track. The girls spoke their phrases into a voice recorder and I used this and a fragment of the Rodrigo and Gabriela track Diablo Rojo [Red Devil] to create a soundtrack for their film in time for....
8. The Animation's first screening in Medina's town square on Saturday 18th May, Brazil's National Day against Child Exploitation and Sexual Abuse. This was also my first chance to see the girls performing their dance and theatre in public, a hugely moving experience.
[thank you to the brilliant Rachel Alvarez for permission to use these two photos :-) ]
What a week... a very tough one for the girls and a lot of difficult emotions in the Pink House, but all through it what amazing strength and hope and love these girls have. It genuinely is a privilege to be here working alongside them, and learning from them how to better tailor workshop ideas to fit their specific context and needs.
9. The animation online:
Please pass this video along, and remember that these girls and the project would hugely benefit from and appreciate any financial help that you can manage. You can organise a regular donation by clicking here.
"My favourite word from this week is love LOVE"
Obrigada a todas as meninas da Casa Rosa por uma primeira semana de colaboração fantástico.
O meu coração esta com vocês e as suas famílias no esse tempo difícil.
Cristina also works with the other educators Aline and Maria in planning and facilitating the art and craft workshops that I have begun to collaborate with this past week. She shared a brilliant Brazilian source of reference material with me, a monthly magazine publication Mundo Jovem that is aimed at educators working with youngsters.
Hugely creative and committed to socially focused work, Cristina is involved in a number of other projects outside the Pink House, volunteering at another NGO, practising capoeira (which we volunteers are excited to be going with her to try out soon) and also part of the photography project Olhares Em Foco (Eyes in Focus). Having parallels with the Kids with Cameras project I mentioned in my last post, Olhares Em Foco uses photography to help at-risk children and youngsters in Brazil explore theiridentities, relationships and communities by providing them with cameras and hosting international photographers who run workshops for the kids. The project apparently comes to Medina every year and when we were speaking about the Born into Brothels film Cristina told me that this film was the first reference material referred to in these workshops, and the following day brought in a pile of material from their workshops to give to me. They show some of the photos taken during the project, many of which are portraits accompanied by written-up tales told by their subjects, giving a lovely intimate insight into some of the local folk in Medina. What a beautiful project!
And Cristina manages to balance all this work whilst also being a new-mum to a gorgeous 5-month old baby girl Cecilia... impressive!
Cristina, muito obrigada para todo que você esta dividendo comigo, é um prazer conhecer você aqui em Medina. Desejando você muito sucesso nos seus projetos todos! Um abraço.
The first weekend in Medina (now in writing just one week back seems so long ago): a chance finally to wander the town a little with the brilliant company of the gorgeous Raquel, a Mexican-American volunteer who arrived last Thursday at the White House. She is here now for the same 6 week period as me and will then return to her home in Austin, Texas in July to raise funds to return to work with Meninadança for a year. Raquel has a a wealth of experience in social work and supporting victims of human trafficking, and is already bringing a lot of knowledge to the project, and I feel like I am learning a lot from her, particularly about sensitivity to cultural difference in this type of volunteering. You can keep up with her travel and work on her blog here.
Raquel also has a beautifully warm way with people and on our wanders we've had a few lovely encounters with local folk. Here is Jean Carlos carving a bird from this lightweight wood. He has taken a couple of months to get to this stage, and envisions painting spot colours of red when the form is finished. He was a philosopher type, quick to share his belief about work with us - that he would not waste his time working for someone else, but rather work to cover the basics, a roof, bed, food, and focus instead on learning, always learning. Inspiring! :-)
We also met three sweet young lads, Rafael, Rafael and Fernando, who were curious about us foreigners and tailed us for a short while, calling to us in English, "What is your name?", but too shy to approach when we replied. Once we were stopped and chatting with Jean Carlos they approached and sat and chatted with us on the steps. I was impressed by their football - a smallish ball made from toilet paper and paper wrapped in brown parcel tape.
We also watched the inspiring Born into Brothels film, a hugely inspiring documentary set in Calcutta's red light district, following photographer Zana Briski as she gets to know a group of children living in the brothels with their mothers, gifting them cameras and teaching them to take photos and critique their work. Zana stayed in Calcutta for two years and the quality of the kids photographs in that time is impressive to see. She organised exhibitions for their work, using putting the funds back into their community. One of the young lads, Avijit, was even able to go to an international photography convention for children in Amsterdam. The timing of this was critical for him, coming just after his mother's brutal death-by-fire at the hands her pimp which seemed to leave him understandably apathetic and disengaged with studying and the photography project. It was so heart-warming then to come across this article reporting his progress since the shooting of the documentary in 2004: Avijit is now studying film making at university in New York!
Since the shooting of Born into Brothels in 2004, Zana Briski and partner Ross Kaufman have established Kids with cameras, an organisation whose mission is to bring hope and transformation to children through the power of art, using photography workshops as their tool. Brilliant. :-)
Having watched the film I was left with a head spinning with more ideas for art projects with the girls here at the Pink House. If only we could source enough cameras for these 50 girls.... (anyone out there by any chance got any suggestions, contacts or links....??!)
Wow, so after so long anticipating this, I have finally arrived in Medina and spent my first week with the gorgeous girls of Meninadança! :-)
GOD LOVE FAMILY HOPE LIFE
The Pink House walls are covered in inspiring quotes and energetic paintings.
Meninadança is a charity that is fighting child prostitution in Brazil, a huge problem in this country and largely associated with the BR-116 motorway that runs alongside the town Medina. This is where I am volunteering for 6 weeks, at Meninadança's Casa Rosa, the Pink House, which supports local girls who are victims or at risk of violence, drug addiction, abandonment or child prostitution through dance, theatre, art and a beauty salon as well as working with the girls families. A Brazilian government study in 2010 found that along 41,000 miles of federal motorways in Brazil, there were 1,820 places where children were known to be being sold for sex. The worst highway of all was the BR-116. Along its 2,700 miles there were 262 places where child prostitution was known to be taking place - the equivalent of one every ten miles. (quote taken from the Meninadança website)
This is an extremely tough context for these girls. Also I have to be honest being here in person and hearing directly or indirectly the stories of the injustice, abuse and maltreatment of the children here in Medina has had a big emotional impact this week. But throughout the various challenges of this first week what has made each day worthwhile are these resilient young girls with their beautiful smiles, huge energy, humour and their eagerness to learn. I know I am privileged to have this opportunity to be here alongside the girls and the Meninadança staff who are each so inspiring in their huge commitment to the project, and I can feel that I am already learning a lot.
The week has been one of getting to know the girls, the staff and the other volunteers of the Pink House, including Rita who as director is an amazing pillar of strength and Matt Roper, the charity founder whose book Remember Me Rescue Me inspired me to contact the project last year.
Observing the girls in their theatre classes with lovely educator Cristina, I've seen them act out difficult scenarios of abuse with strong voices and heads held high. I've danced along with them (or at least tried) with long-term English volunteer and dance teacher, Lauren, and seen their imaginative experiements at the beginning of developing choreography for a piece on Human Rights for this coming Saturday 18th. It is clear that the dances are having a powerful imapct for the girls - here on Lauren's blog you can read her write up of the first Meninadança performance in Medina's town square. It's been really moving watching videos of the girls' progression since the opening of the Pink House in January this year, they have already come on hugely and Lauren says one of the biggest achievements has been the melting of the barriers between girls form rival neighbourhoods. Brilliant.
I've also had the pleasure of having my nails done by some of the girls in their beauty salon, guided by another educator, Maria. They've taught me a brilliant trick of creating nail decorations from paint, using the tip of a needle to create the patterns on the foil-side of milk cartons, that are then coated in nail 'base' to transfer to the fingernails. I've spent whole hours of the afternoons filling little cardboard strips with designs for the girls! :-)
I was also impressed by the girls' concentration in painting designs onto soap bars with Maria and creating cards with educator Aliane, as gifts for Mother's Day (which is today as I write - Happy Brazilian Mother's Day Mum, I love you!), to fit with the theme of the week: mothers. This is course a challenging topic that raised lots of debate over the week, and in response to all the focus on mother-daughter love the flip side was also bravely brought up, allowing space to think about those who do not feel love for their mother if it is she that is in fact responsible for the abuse and maltreatment of the daughter.
Arriving to the energetic aftermath of the departure of the first group of volunteers that the Pink House has worked with, I have been aware from day-1 of the need to be hugely thoughtful about my short 6-week placement. Both this week in the past I have had extensive internal debates about the 'worthwhile-ness' of short-term volunteering, and recognise that all endings have to be sensitively handled for any child, particularly one who may have experienced trauma. I do genuinely believe in the value of short term volunteers, primarily as demonstrating to the girls that they are seen, heard and cared about near and far, and that there are people all over the world who have them in mind and want to support them. Equally no matter how short the time there are quality experiences we can share, between volunteers, staff and girls, each learning from one another, and sharing techniques and skills through workshops designed to invite the girls to value themselves, recognise and develop their talents and feel that they are special, supported and above all loved.
So here's looking forward to the next five weeks of working alongside the Meninadança girls and staff. Let's hope I can serve the community to the best of my ability. I'll aim to post here weekly and you can also keep an eye on the Menindança's facebook page for regular updates from the house.
The Canadaian face of Meninadança: The Dean Brody Foundation, whose song Dear Consumer shares some of the tragic context of sexual abuse and children involved in the sex trade in Brazil, where an estimated half a million children are exploited. One huge problem is that cases are often unreported leaving victims unforgotten and ignored:
So if you feel moved by the girls stories and feel able to support them and the project with a regular donation of any amount, however small, per month, I know it would be hugely appreciated by everyone here. You can arrange donations by clicking through this link here. Thank you.
Big love from Medina
:-)
p.s. I've certainly moved on from the city now!...some cows blocking the road on our trip to the family home of Alejandro, Kristina's husband, last Sunday where Matt, Lauren, Nathane and I shared a delicious meal cooked in a wood oven and ate oranges and limes freshly picked from their surrounding land...mmm!
A challenge I overcame: to change my whole life around by myself!
A dream for my future: to change someone else's life!
A hope
for the global community: to change the world!
Dani is a gorgeous Brazilian girl who kindly
shared her home with me for my one night stop-off in Belo Horizonte before the
final 12-hour overnight bus to arrive in Medina, where the Medinadança project
is. Friday lunch Dani and her wee boy, 3
year-old Milo, took me for one of the pay-per-kilo buffets I’ve come to enjoy
since arriving in Brazil for their good range of veggie options, and then Dani
introduced me to the new and delicious experience of an ice-cream
buffet. Mmmm...!
Dani is married to Matt Roper, who is the
founder of the Meninadança project, and the author of the two books that so
touched me when I read them last year and led me to get in touch with the
project to see if they needed volunteers.
So Dani was able to tell me quite a bit more about the Pink House,
including showing me their Facebook page and telling me about the support of
Canadian musician Dean Brody who came out to Brazil last year and founded the new Pink House with Matt.
Having lived in London for 8 years Dani is fluent in English as well as her native Portuguese so throughout
my stay we chatted away comfortably, only using Portuguese when we went to her
friend Lu’s for pizza so Milo could play with Lu’s little lad João. Whilst in London Dani trained as a pasty chef and I got a chance to eat some (actually
quite a lot!) of her tasty cake throughout my short time with her.
Dani, thank you very much for making me so
welcome and comfortable in your home and for feeding me so well! Good luck with
the house move, I hope you settle in well and will be happy in the new
community.
A
challenge I overcame: To be able to live in Brazil
A dream
for my future: Life without violence
A hope for the global community:
To preserve the planet and happiness for everyone
Originally from France Ronan has been living in Brazil for the last two years with his company that promotes French wines by traveling all over Brazil hosting wine tasting courses:
Ronan was my bus buddy for the first leg of my onward journey from Florianopolis, helping me log onto the first bus wi-fi I've experienced. Arriving into Curitiba about five hours later Ronan kindly showed me the best cafe-spot to pass my two hour wait in for the following 14 hour bus ride to Belo Horizonte.
Obrigada Ronan para a companhia! Espero que defrutou ao reunião aquela noite. Sorte com o seu negocio.
