The Power of Organizing

I only have a few minutes to describe this organization which we saw in São Paulo. The picture that you see is from a band of young people who are called Grupo Alana and they are part of the musical program of Instituto Alana.

These youth all live in the favela of Jardin Platenal which is in the city of São Paulo. The land that the favela is built on was owned by a wealthy Brazilian couple who passed the land on to their grandchildren. When the grandchildren finally went to visit the piece of land they had inherited they found that there were a lot of people living there. The two grandchildren were overwhelmed by the economic poverty that people were living in and decided that they would fund a center to provide programs tha would help the families who live in the Jardin Platenal. They are the primary funders of Instituto Alana which has many social programs like this music group that we got the opportunity to see. While they played everything from swing to rock I eventually had to stand up and dance right there because they were so great and I wanted them to know that they were moving my spirit.

After hearing from the group and having a quick lunch at the Alana cafeteria, we went out to visit the neighborhood. Our tour was led by one of the community leaders Ronaldo. He was clearly a leader as everyone in the neighborhood waived at him as we went by. I also got the opportunity to talk to his son Vagner. They led us through the neighborhood even as people were building up their homes. All of the homes had been constructed by people with their own hands and they had established a community despite practically no support from the government. He showed us where they were putting in their own water pipes to bring water to people's homes and he showed us how in some places the neighbors are working together to raise the levels of their houses because there are standing sewage pits that are flooding their first floors.

I have to be honest that what we saw was a neighborhood with far more infrastructure challenges than anything I have seen in the US, but I also saw a level of organizing that is far beyond what I have seen in any neighborhood in the US. They have a fairly low level of crime because people are so tight that they don't steal from each other and in general don't have to worry about violence between their youth. The one crime that is a problem is domestic violence as many people face the kind of dehumanizing stress that creates deep conflict within the family. This is the unspoken crime that we often accept and I wanted to ask more about what they are doing to deal with family abuse.

While their was clearly so much that need to be done in terms of economic development I was so impressed by how much they were able to accomplish by working together. This was the first place where I really understood that Brazilians have a deeper sense of the need to work together to survive. I don't want to romanticize the economic poverty but I do want you to understand the spiritual richness to be something far beyond anything I have experienced.

I didn't really get to see much of the hip hop community in the favela, but I did see amazing graffiti that was beautifying the community. I don't have more time to write, but I look forward to inviting you all to my larger reflection session.

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