16 abril 2012

Lisboafricana - Europa Lisboafricanizada

Lisbon takes a lifetime to be explored and understood, with all its faces and masks that might appear to be from heavenly beautiful to monstrous. 24 persons from 5 countries gathered here just for a short 6 days tasting of a different, less known Lisboa. On this dawning bus awaiting to the airport I'm not saying farewell to the last one that remained. This one, I believe, walked the city streets a bit more than others could, so we allowed ourselves to imagine blossoming Lisbon as our home. The rest, nothing less, wished sincerely to return soon. 
What was it in this gathering that marked their personal histories? Was it the spell of the city itself? Was it the successful (read fortunate) combination of persons? Were the issues and discussions that we touched during the exchange? 
I will here, briefly and subjectively try to understand this week that passed. Friends from the exchange are invited to contribute with their own views to this short testimony. 

Once people were introduced to their new Lisbonian environment, they felt comfortable to introduce among themselves and the things they are about to do in the next days, together. Through games, dances, silly walks, songs, drinks and food, persons got to taste a bit more of other's persons and cultures. They achieved to function well as a temporary community that celebrates diversity and knowledge by learning from the context they found themselves in and from each other. Interesting about the birth of this 6 day tribe was that they all silently agreed on several occasions to circle around the rules so to surpass obstacles. You can call it cheating yes, but for me it proved a sign that it is not about rules or tactics to get people to do something together, but an agreement, a mini democratic revolution. 

Some were already more immersed into Africa's past and present some less, but to all it was of great amusement and interest the most useful introductions presented by our very own africonologists Cátia Lopes and Andreyna Caires. The whole story culminated with the role playing game through which they were brought even closer to African-Portuguese historical and actual relations. 
We felt that without moving more and even sweat a bit over some African rhythms persons might miss out some points, so maestro António Tavares stepped on the scene demonstrating traditional moves which everyone gladly followed
But just adjusting their bodies to the rhythms wasn't enough, so our participants had the chance to also create with their hands, sounds and sculptures. They were guided by experienced masters, mestre Kabum and Malenga.
Friends were left for themselves the night, to process well all the input they received the day. No notes were taken for these activities. 
On this day that passed people could better understand the myths and realities of African communities in Lisbon, to prepare their minds and spirits to take the experience from theory to practice, and finally to cross "the bridge" and to encounter the folks of the bairros, their homes.

So off they went and traveled to our own Carnide where they randomly wondered the streets and talked to their unknown hosts, gathering precious thoughts and recording them both in their memories and in their cameras and notebooks. 
Afterwards, many issues concerning the answers they collected were discussed, demystified and deconstructed. Having this as a comparison point, they than briefly presented the presence of African culture and history in their own countries. The day finished with the screening of a new documentary "Nos Terra" by Anna Tica, Nuno Pedro, Toni Polo in the Centro Cultural de Carnide, which reflects on the lives and lifestyles of a generation of daughters and sons of African emigrants in Lisboa. Each experienced this day in a particular way, but what I believe was a common impression to all was the saudade that for one interviewed person meant joy, and the cry of the slaves that meant singing and song, as we heard from one of the people of the documentary.  

So far, the African face of Lisboa was perceived by our friends in a rather, indirect way, how observers and persons familiar with the situations saw it, or how it was seen by itself and its subjects, which became in fact, the objects and objectives of this exchange. On the fifth day, people went out to observe, absorb, mingle and learn by themselves, so that the tales they are about to tell, are authentic tales of African Lisbon as seen by their own eyes, filtered through the diversities of backgrounds each carries within.


  
After all those images, sounds, odors, discussions and emotions, participants searched for a way how to canalize and materialize their impressions. What other way than creating something is better to confirm and mark the existence of all these experiences? We agreed to create postcards. Why?
Postcards are capable of summarizing a view and telling a very short story that is more inviting than explanatory. The image or message standing on it might have some aesthetic value, but the true aesthetics is in the act of giving and receiving it. This provokes pleasure and seduces the receiver to the story. When sent from Lisboa It also conceals a symbol of saudade for the place it originates from more than for the place or person it is designated for. 









To celebrate the success of this gathering a Festa Africana took place in the Centro Intercultura Cidade, where traditional African food and drinks were tasted. Followed a very relaxed and pleasing concert by outstanding musicians Yaw També, José Brazão and António Tavares. 

When one sees the programme of this (or any) youth exchange on paper and numbers the days, it is difficult to imagine where and when all that happened fits. What persons took with themselves from Lisbon in terms of knowledge, friendships, emotions, is out of any possible time frame, conserved as a memory of an experience that brought a change. To each one a different one. And this of course, expands even further in time and space, for now they now one person more, one more reality, one more space. And it will all call them back, just like the postcards they made. 
     
We are grateful to our friends, the wonderful people from the Centro Intercultura Cidade, Centro Cultural deCarnide and Rossio Patio Hostel, without whom, non of this would have been as it was! Thank you Raquel Carvalho, Sara Segurado, Hugo Curado and Cátia Lopes for Аssociação Spin that brought us together. Thank you Rasa Verseckaite for creating and realizing this idea from the beginning to the very end. We are also grateful to António Tavares, mestre Kabum and Malenga for their amazing workshops. Thanks to Yaw També, José Brazão and António Tavares for the beautiful concert they gave to us. Thanks to the Portuguese group of participants for all the support they gave. Thanks to all the participants that they were as they were.

Nunno Macedo dos Anjos 

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Lisboa leva uma vida inteira para ser explorada e compreendida tendo em conta todas as suas faces e máscaras, desde belas celestiais a monstruosas. 24 pessoas de 5 países reuniram-se por cá para um curto período de 6 dias de “degustação” de uma Lisboa diferente, uma Lisboa menos conhecida.
Nesta espera matutina do autocarro para o aeroporto, não digo adeus ao último que ficou. Este acredito que andou pelas ruas da cidade, um pouco mais dos que os outros, permitindo-nos imaginar Lisboa como a nossa casa. De resto, pouco mais, desejando apenas regressar em breve. O que marcou neste encontro as histórias pessoais do grupo? O encanto da própria cidade? A bem sucedida (leia-se sorte) combinação das pessoas? As questões e os debates realizados durante o intercâmbio?
Brevemente e subjetivamente vou tentar reflectir sobre esta semana que se passou. Convido igualmente todos os participantes do Intercâmbio a contribuir com suas opiniões para este curto testemunho.

O grupo foi “introduzido” no novo ambiente lisboeta, sentindo-se confortáveis uns com os outros e com as actividades que estavam prestes a realizar juntos, nos próximos dias. Através de jogos, danças, loucos passeios, bebidas e comidas, os jovens “provaram” um pouco mais destas pessoas e destas culturas.

Eles conseguiram funcionar bem como uma “comunidade temporária” que louvou a diversidade e o conhecimento adquirido através da aprendizagem encontrada neles mesmos e nos outros.

Um aspeto interessante no nascimento desta “tribo de 6 dias” foi o fato de todos concordarem silenciosamente em várias ocasiões, aquando de momentos de reflexão. Pode ser considerada “batotice”, mas para mim prova que não são as regras que fazem com que as pessoas atuem de certa forma, mas sim o conseguir-se chegar a um acordo, uma espécie de mini revolução democrática.

Alguns jovens mais imersos no passado e presente africano outros menos, mas para todos foi interessante e divertida a apresentação realizada pelas nossas africanólogas Cátia Lopes e Andreyna Caires. Esta culminou num role playing, que levou o grupo para o seio das relações afro-portuguesas ao nível histórico e ao nível actual.
 
Sentimos que sem ritmos africanos e até sem transpirar um bocadinho, o grupo poderia perder alguns aspectos primordiais nesta vivência. Assim o maestro António Tavares entrou em cena, demonstrando ritmos tradicionais que todos seguiram alegremente.
No entanto, apenas combinar corpos dançantes com ritmos, não seria suficiente para os nossos participantes. Desta forma tiveram também a oportunidade de criar manualmente, os sons e as esculturas, guiados por dois experientes mestres, Kabum e Malenga.

Foram deixadas as noites livres para os nossos amigos, de modo a processarem todas as ricas informações recebidas durante o dia. Não há registos de notas para essa actividade…

Num dos dias o grupo pode entender melhor os mitos e as realidades das comunidades africanas em Lisboa. Puderam preparar suas mentes e espíritos de modo a viver a experiência da teoria à prática e, finalmente conseguirem atravessar "a ponte", encontrando do outro lado as pessoas dos bairros, as suas casas, as suas vidas.
E lá foram eles numa viagem pelo nosso Carnide, onde se fizerem entrevistas e tiveram-se conversas aleatórias com emigrantes desconhecidos, reunindo preciosas reflexões que ficaram gravadas nas suas memórias, blocos de notas e câmaras.
Após isso, foram discutidas, debatidas, desmistificadas e desconstruídas as respostas recolhidas e tendo tal como ponto de comparação, fizeram uma breve apresentação da presença da cultura africana nos seus próprios países. O dia terminou com a exibição de um documentário "Nôs Terra" no Centro Cultural de Carnide, que reflete sobre estilos de vida de uma geração de filhos e filhas de emigrantes africanos em Lisboa. Cada um dos nossos amigos viveu este dia de forma particular, mas acredito que houve uma sensação comum a todos ao ver este documentário: o sentimento de saudade que para um dos entrevistados significava felicidade e o clamor dos escravos traduzido em músicas cantadas.

Até agora, a face Africana de Lisboa tinha sido compreendida pelos nossos amigos de uma forma algo indirecta, como observadores e pessoas familiarizadas com as situações as encaram, ou como eram vistas por si mesma e seus sujeitos, o que se tornou de facto, no objecto e objectivos deste intercâmbio.

No quinto dia o grupo saiu para observar, absorver, integrar-se e aprender por si próprios, para que as histórias que mais tarde irão contar, sejam histórias reais sobre a Lisboa africana vista pelos seus olhos, filtrada pelos vivências que já trazem consigo.

Depois de todas estas imagens, sons, odores, discussões e emoções, os participantes procuraram a melhor forma materializar e divulgar as suas impressões. Que melhor forma, senão criar algo que confirma e prova a existência de todas estas experiências? Concordámos que poderia ser criar postais. Porquê?
Os postais “conseguem” resumir algo observado e contar uma história muito curta, que é mais convidativa do que explicativa. A imagem ou a mensagem do postal pode ter algum valor estético, mas a estética verdadeira é o ato de dar e recebê-lo. Isso é prazeroso e alicia o receptor para a história.
Quando enviado de Lisboa, também encobre o símbolo da saudade do lugar que o origina, mais do que para o lugar ou para a pessoa para quem é dirigido.

Para comemorar o sucesso deste encontro teve lugar no Centro InterculturaCidade uma Festa Africana, onde a gastronomia tradicional africana foi saboreada. Seguiu-se um descontraído e agradável concerto pelas mãos, voz e ritmos dos excepcionais músicos Yaw Tambe, José Brazão e António Tavares.

Quando se vê o programa deste (ou qualquer outro) intercâmbio de jovens no papel e com os dias propostos para a sua realização, é difícil imaginar onde e quando tudo o que aconteceu se encaixa. O que as pessoas do grupo levaram consigo a partir de Lisboa ao nível de conhecimento, amizades, emoções, está fora de qualquer estrutura de tempo possível, conservado na memória de uma experiência que trouxe uma mudança. Para cada um, uma experiência diferente. E isso, claro expande-se ainda mais no tempo e no espaço, pois agora este grupo conhece mais uma pessoa, mais uma realidade, mais um local. E tudo isso irá trazê-los de volta a essa realidade, assim como os postais que fizeram.

Agradecemos aos nossos amigos, às pessoas maravilhosas do Centro InterculturaCidade, do Centro Cultural de Carnide e do Patio Hostel Rossio, sem os quais, nada disto teria sido como foi! Obrigado Raquel Carvalho, Sara Segurado, Hugo Curado e Cátia Lopes pela Аssociação Spin que nos uniu. Obrigado Rasa Verseckaite por criares e realizares esta ideia desde o início até o fim. Agradecemos também ao António Tavares, ao mestre Kabum e ao mestre Malenga pelas suas surpreendentes oficinas. Agradecemos também ao Yaw Tambe, ao José Brazão e ao António Tavares pelo bonito concerto que nos proporcionaram e ao grupo português de participantes por todo o apoio que nos deram.
Obrigado a todos os participantes por serem quem são.

Tradução Cátia Lopes e Raquel Carvalho


Feels like family | primeiro mês de SVE da Kaja Sirok

For all the expectations I tried to avoid, before returning to a place I already come to love once in my life I stayed focused on my wish, not just to leave home again, but to come back, it felt like me and Lisbon have some unfinished business. We got our second chance and as time passes you turn back making a temporary inventory of events, thoughts and reasons that sum up the present moment, it all makes sense. While the résumés we make in our lives change and evolve according to our growth or rather rational needs to make sense of the present, I can feel this was no coincidence, and feelings are something you can not contest or change; they are the essences of our memories, as sounds and smells – triggers that tell us who we were – who we are… Lisbon smells like home and has been part of me for a long time now.

It always happens, when landing in a new place, it usually is a rainy day, with a somehow dark and gray horizon, an atmosphere that leaves you in suspense, as someone telling you: Well honey, you will have to make something of it! But I know Lisbon’s sunny days and how fast the clouds move through the sky driven by the open oceans winds – as 500 years back in time it feels like the last stop, for now things have fallen into place.

When you have the opportunity to experience something you in part already know and love again, can bring you only more – this time, more than coming back home, meant getting a family. In this short time people, I guess I was lucky to encounter, resonate what this experience means to me. As I was trying to figure out, if this is only me, my state of mind or our basic need to connect, to fight the remains of what is unknown and new, I concluded it is all of it, but most importantly it is what we, who live this together, all feel like. It might be a glance of my rationalizations, but it’s the only way to make sense of it. 

For me this is the heart of the EVS experience – people brought closer because of our sameness and the circumstances of detachment from what is safe. From what I feel, the strong connections care and love towards and from everyone I have around, is not only a basic way to survive, but a wonderful human tendency that brings communities and groups together – as a sane, constructive collaboration.

I would just like to thank all of you that apparently know what we live and make this journey so much easier for us. Friends and family is what I make of it for now, at home and at work. As the bases are set and firm, adding some creativity and action in the next step should come easy. I will keep avoiding all expectations, as things and feelings evolve, since I have learned this is what makes more space to change it for the better.

Kaja 

Um mês de SVE em Lisboa...

I arrived in Lisbon one month ago to begin a European Voluntary Service Project at the Junta de Freguesia de Carnide, working with retired people in the Gabinete do Idoso.  Even though I know the city very well after having done my Erasmus here, my first month has been a mix of the unexpected and the unusual…but in a positive way!

When I arrived, I had a few days to settle in to my new home in historic Alfama, to get to know the other international volunteers and to refresh my Portuguese vocabulary.  Then it was time to start work, beginning with a meeting with the President of the Junta.  We learned a bit about how the Junta is organised and how the different departments work together, and everyone gave us a very warm welcome.

I am working principally in the Academia Senior, which provides older people with lessons in languages, history, art, IT etc.  The first lesson I observed was about “advanced Facebook” and I was surprised to see that some of the students know more about social networks than I do!  My hometown in the UK doesn’t have any centres like this so it has been both interesting and inspiring to see just how active the older people in Carnide are, and to be welcomed into their environment despite the differences in our ages and backgrounds.

I was invited to spend my second week in the Algarve, accompanying a group of 100 old people on their annual “acantonamento”.  This was a great opportunity to get to know everyone but it was also a challenging way to start my EVS: it was often frustrating not to be able to communicate and participate in the way I wanted, and it was strange to spend so many days without seeing anyone of my own age!  Nonetheless, it was a very funny group of people and I feel that I saw another side of Portuguese culture.  Highlights included the fashion show, gymnastics on the beach, learning some traditional dances and singing karaoke in a local bar.

Before I came to Portugal, I wasn’t really sure what my EVS would entail but I was confident that it would be a worthwhile experience.  So far I am enjoying the variety of my work and feel that I am learning more about Carnide and its residents every day.  EVS is a chance to try new things and I have already experienced my first Flashmob and my first political demonstration.  I already know that my nine months here will fly past too quickly, but I can’t wait to see what other surprises EVS has in store!
Theresa Hall

14 abril 2012

SVE no Nepal

O Serviço Voluntário Europeu (SVE) é normalmente realizado na Europa, mas é possível ser realizado em outros países do Mundo... nomeadamente no Nepal.

Este é o caso da nossa voluntária Sara Segurado. Partiu rumo ao Oriente, mas deixa-nos aqui, em blog, a sua experiência!