By Cressida Evans | General Coordinator
Dear Viva a Vida Friends and Supporters!
Now is the time to reflect on the end of 2018 and the start of 2019, a period full of endings, reports and celebrations followed by beginnings, planning and looking forward! We closed 2018 by inviting all the participants of the Theater in Debate and #Viva Juntos projects to a moonlight beach party to celebrate their amazing achievements over the year! Then we started 2019 with presentations at the State College of Vila de Abrantes’ Teacher Planning Day, and exhibiting our graffiti and photography exhibition in the college lobby. The new Vice-Principle of the College was really moved by all our presentations, saying: I really wanted to give you all a hug yesterday, I loved what you said, it will stay with me for a long time. Here’s to many more years supporting young people at risk and working in partnership with their schools for a better future!
Talking of young people at risk, check out our latest story, that of Miqueias, who has grown from an insecure student, with such low self-esteem that he felt he didn’t know how to write, to a graffiti star, exhibiting his art in the community:
I have dreams again
I used to fight at school, after Viva a Vida, I began to think before reacting
I’d stopped writing completely, Marcos began giving me tips… I went back to writing
This story is about how the power of motivation can change a person’s life. And how important it is to have someone take your hand and say: let’s go on, you can do it!
“Miqueiasdidn’t believe in himself, one day he told me that he had some school work to do, but he didn’t know how to write. I said: don’t let them tell you that!” Youth Worker Marcos Paulo.
Miqueias is 16 years old and has lived in Vila de Abrantes, with his four siblings, parents and a cousin, for four years. His parents are currently going through a very difficult period of separation and Miqueias finds himself in a tricky position: his father thinks he is taking his mother’s side and this has complicated their relationship and really upset him.
His childhood was peaceful, he grew up in Valença (a small coastal town) but his father needed to come and live in Camaçari to work as a builder and Miqueias, his mother and siblings came with him.
Financial difficulties have always been a part of family life, currently they live in a house provided by his father’s boss, while they all try to construct another house in the same neighborhood. With his parent’s separation, the family is not yet sure what will happen with their housing situation.
Miqueias works with a traditional local food stall, when they call on him, and with the money from this job he contributes to household expenses and pays for his own things.
His mother works in a pharmacy and, through great effort, has managed to train as a nursing technician, which makes Miqueias very proud.
“I always had a very open mind at home, I always thought that she wanted to, and would, grow. Even when we were small, she always looked after us and studied too.”
The current family context has left Miqueias feeling very insecure, he began feeling even more demotivated at school and gave up on his writing skills and his desires, because his self-esteem was so low.
It was then, through an activity with the Vila Jovem Youth Group, that Miqueias met Youth Worker Marcos Paulo. Since when he began participating in Human Rights, Photography and Graffiti Workshops.
Miqueias gained strength through these activities … “in the first Human Rights workshop, Marcos asked us to write a poem… I already [wrote poetry], but I’d never told anyone about it. That was the beginning.”
This was the first poem Miqueias wrote in the classroom:
"We have to fight for our equality
The right to our liberty
Just because I am black
Please more respect
We are all equal
But we have to proclaim peace
We have to have the courage to fight for our equality
And thus unite society
We all have to have humility to therefore gain our liberty
Unity, compassion and perseverance
To join forces and fight for our rights
And those of the children”
After this, Miqueias reports that he began dreaming about his talents again: “I used to make everything very difficult - drawing, writing, I didn’t believe in myself anymore, but now I draw and draw, and my design comes out”.
His behavior at school changed: “I began to think more, I stopped fighting about just anything. Before fighting I stop and think,” “I used to fight at school, after Viva a Vida, I began to think more before reacting.”
Now he has more dreams: “I had stopped writing completely, Marcos began giving me tips, some help, I went back to writing, I returned to drawing”. “I have dreams again, I want to go to medical school, to have my own house.”
His relationships have changed: “I was always very closed, but talking to Marcos I let myself go. I didn’t talk much, I suffered in silence, when asked I said nothing was wrong…. not anymore!
To conclude, we return to Youth Worker, Marcos’, first statement, where he refers to the difficulties he encountered when he first met Miqueias. He didn’t have any self-esteem, he didn’t feel capable of expressing himself. Through the empowerment of the workshops and the techniques he learnt in the graffiti and photography classes, he has begun to see that new pathways do exist.
The #VivaJuntos Project does not teach art alone, it also teaches us that any young person can begin to dream again and that we, as adults in projects, as teachers at school, must lead them along the pathway to strengthen their self-esteem and light up new pathways.
This is what happened with Miqueias, a shy young man with low self-esteem has become an artist. His graffiti panel, as shown in the above photograph, was one of the most acclaimed in the project exhibition!
Congratulations Miqueias and Marcos Paulo for his inspiriting work!
Here are a few of the other inspiring things you have helped fund over this period:
Links:
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