Volunteering in Brazil: fighting against poverty

Valeria Camarda
Intern at UNRIC Brussels, Italian Desk

Although Brazil is an important agricultural and industrial power, as the strongest economy in Latin America, the issues of income inequality and social exclusion remain at the root of the country’s rural poverty. This is especially true in the Brazilian North-East region, where poor rural communities live in disadvantaged conditions: education and health facilities are not readily available, water supply and sewage systems are generally inadequate and rural populations face severe constraints in accessing technology and infrastructure.
As a volunteer, my time spent in Brazil lasted for only three weeks but I learned so much it that seemed longer. I stayed in a little town, called Joaquim Gomes, of 24,000 inhabitants located in the north-eastern state of Alagoas. As soon as I arrived at the airport I realized that I had no choice but to open up to, and learn about, a whole new world.
I spent my first week there learning about the projects, the people, and crucially, the culture. My task was to provide support to help the community projects run more efficiently and to give personal attention to children, local students and disadvantaged families. I had the chance to assist teachers with sports activities, art classes, and dance lessons for children, as well as to observe and assist local health professionals who take care of people with disabilities and support women’s empowerment.
In Joaquim Gomes, the poorest and most vulnerable groups among Brazil's rural poor people are children, indigenous peoples and women. Indeed, since the majority of men migrate to other parts of the country in search of work, in particular in the sugar cane and ethanol industry in the southern state of Mato Grosso incurring debts in order to repay the money they owe for travel, women bear the responsibility for running the family and child labour becomes the rule among poor households. Furthermore, thousands of children live in the streets, abandoned by parents who cannot afford to raise them. Confronting starvation and living in deplorable conditions, these children take drugs, commit crimes, and resort to prostitution in order to survive.
Another of the main causes of poverty in Brazil is extreme inequality of land tenure, especially in the North-East region. Rural workers, sharecroppers or tenant farmers who do not have land, the so-called "Sem Terra", have become a symbol for the dignity of men and women workers who were once called vagrants, moving around from one place to another. The Landless Workers Movement, or Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST), has peacefully occupied unused land where they have established cooperative farms, constructed houses, schools and clinics, promoted indigenous cultures and a healthy and sustainable environment and gender equality, carrying out a long-overdue agrarian reform in a country mired by unjust land distribution.
Brazilian society also has to face the lack of access to formal education and skills training. This is why, in recent years, the charity mission in Joaquim Gomes has invested large amounts of resources to broaden the scope of technical assistance services and to facilitate access to them. For this reason, one of the most important projects is working with children and teenagers in the escolinhas. Apart from the educational programme which includes basic literacy and craft activities, this project provides nutritional meals for some 300 children, often their only meal of the day with either meat or fish with rice, vegetables, fruit and juice.
Another reality I experienced is the favela of Sururu de Capote in Maceiò, the capital of Alagoas. This favela is not a rural or isolated community, but a peripheral urban one excluded from the economic activity of the city, where the inhabitants’ lack the opportunity to make enough money to satisfy their basic necessities. As a result, they find themselves in a location lacking even minimal health and hygiene conditions. The State has virtually no presence there, since by taking no action to remove trash or maintain the lagoon for fishing, it is depriving the inhabitants of their right to adequate nourishment. Furthermore, there are no public programs in the community, and existing programs do not provide sufficient funding for families living in Sururu de Capote.
It is also important to underline that everywhere in Brazil the public health care system is inadequate and under funded, especially for those who are not able to afford medical expenses. In Joaquim Gomes, since the health status is mostly related to the lack of canalized water, garbage collection, proper sewage connections and electricity, the charity mission offers a little medical care centre, which has become essential to people in need of injections, medicines, and for treatment for pneumonia or bronchitis. At the emergency centre nurses can reach people who are suffering at home, giving access to appropriate medical care as well as distributing food and water to the poorest.
The work I did in Brazil was the first time that I felt I had accomplished something that I was truly proud of in my life. After I returned home, I realized that Brazil had given me more than I could have ever asked and though I was warned before my departure, of the possibility of encountering situations that I might find difficult to deal with, I saw the brightest and most sincere smiles I have ever witnessed, and developed a deep admiration for the humility and dignity of the people I met. This was true from the time the coordinator picked me up at the airport, to when new friends waved good-bye to me when I left. After having seen with my own eyes what poverty means, I understood that in life nothing can be taken for granted. Quem ama a vida busca paz.■