Empowering Young Brazilians - Art and Mobilization

Dear Viva a Vida Friends and Supporters!

Thanks to your amazing support, we have started our Community Mobilization work with young people from our Vila Jovem Youth Group and V2 Theatre Group.  Two of our young participants would like to tell you a little bit about how this has affected them.

Here’s Lucas, he’s 17 and an active participant in several projects:

When you write poetry you can show what you are really thinking.  And in my case things got better, because I was sad and now I feel happy.

Here at Viva a Vida we have freedom, but above all we have to respect one another.  When we learn this respect we are able to live together, with anyone and everyone.  And when we can live together we can do things for our community.

Since our campaign started, Alice (who is 16) has twice performed (in)Dependencies, a play devised and staged by our V2 Theatre Group which promotes debates in the community. Reflecting on her role as the ‘good’ daughter in a ‘perfect’ family in which there is a lot of hidden aggression and unhappiness, Alice says:

The theater has influenced my personal life a great deal, my character... tries to maintain her sanity … maybe she thinks that love and affection could exist, but in reality she doesn’t see this. And this question of appearance is very similar to my family… I can see strength in my character...  I have always been very psychologically fragile and I didn’t believe in myself, but with the theater I have overcome my shyness and I discovered that I can do more for myself than simply crying.

Here I feel respected, they accept me as I am.  Although there are so many people different from me.  Many different ways of thinking and acting, different sexualities, but I feel comfortable here. 

Some numbers!  Community-based activities from September to December 2016, which have been supported by YOUR donations:

• 10 young people attended a poetry slam event in the city of Salvador
• 52 adults and young people participated in our evening debate on Violence and the Genocide of Black Youth
• 5 young people and 3 adults attended our confidential Mothers for Diversity meeting to debate relationships between parents and their LGBT children
• 12 young people participated in a poetry reading, to read their own and other poems
• 26 adults attended our Expressing Love and Affection discussion for parents at a local crèche
• 160 community members attended two performances of the V2 Theater Group play (in)Dependencies
• 7 young people and one parent attended a Youth in Focus Event focusing on Equality, Communication, Safety, Culture and Education in the city of Salvador

Note for next report – from 15^th December to 31^st January, while school is in recess, we will be focusing on reports, evaluations, planning and target setting for 2017.  This means that there will be less activities in our next but a lot will be going on behind the scenes!

Links:

• Viva a Vida website (click on English)