Brazil A-Term - Day #5: A Special Visit by Fabricio Guerra

     Houston is hot, sure, but the major difference between Houston heat and Maresias heat is grand yet hard to define. I remember the 2011 drought like it was yesterday. Nostalgic memories of playing kickball on an unbearably hot field makes me sweat even now, but in Houston there's always an escape. Perhaps a nearby building with air conditioning or a nice pool to cool yourself down. At the Desengarrafando Mentes HQ, there isn't any of that. The heat isn't as intense, but it's inescapable, and on the 25th of March it was almost torturous. I knew that it was going to be the last day of sun that we were going to have before it rained for the next week and a half, so I decided that I was going to stay in the sun a little more than usual. Little did I know this was going to be slightly more difficult than usual. Today was going to be a late start, but there were going to be some guests that we were going to give a tour to. Think of it as a kind-of open house, except our guests weren't going to buy the property, they were going to invest in it.

    We were going to give a tour to 4 people, but among them was Renato Meirelles. Renato is a favela specialist, he even wrote a book about it called Um Pais Chamado Favela, which translates to A Country Named Favela in English. Since his work has so much do to with poverty in Brazil, his presence was very important because he had the influence to broadcast the goals of Desengarrafando Mentes and help us out. The others included Carmela Borst and Fabricio Cardoso, who are founders of an organization called Soul Code Academy  a free, online coding school that serves 1200 students. They have a lot of important sponsors, and those sponsors eventually hire the students after they graduate. Carmela is also a board member for the biggest NGO in Brazil called Gerando Falcoes (Generating Falcons), which specializes in empowering leaders inside favelas. The last person was one of Renato's business partners, Evanildo Jr, and he is one of the coordinators of Expo Favela, a competitive program of over 400 NGOs to select 5 for a Reality TV Show that will be broadcasted on the largest Brazilian TV network: Globo.

    We had met Renato on the beach a two years back, and he was always really interested in Desengarrafando Mentes but we were never able to get him to meet Thiago or witness Desengarrafando Mentes in action because of the pandemic. This time though we finally got to bring him there, and when he came he changed completely from how he was on the beach. He completely entered his environment, and became very interested in what Desengarrafando Mentes does. Thiago showed them around the entire HQ, starting with the surfboards (because that's how Desengarrafando Mentes started) and went around the house showcasing various places including the classroom and the kitchen, all important places for activities. He also went through a little history of the HQ, and this is where even I learned something new. If you know me, I'm always looking for background information on things, it's the #1 thing I do when I'm procrastinating. Apparently, the HQ is way older than the favela. It was built in the 1990s by a lady who wanted to live with a house in the jungle, but in the 2000s houses were being built and the favela was beginning to form. As the trees were replaced by concrete, the house lost its charm and the lady sold it to Hélio and Melinha, and from there it's all history we know. Interesting stuff if you ask me.

Thiago presenting Desengarrafando Mentes to the group

Thiago explaining the trash board project

    However, the best part of the tour came in the last part, which is the art gallery. The art gallery is one of the aspects of Desengarrafando Mentes that really sets it apart from other NGOs. There were paintings on bricks, paitings on spray bottle cans, paintings on surfboards, mandelas on music discs, you name it, it's there. Some of those art pieces are for sale, and by the end of our tour they ended up buying some art pieces. I was a little jealous, because whenever I go down to that art gallery I always envision where I would be able to put them for decor which is like the only time I ever do something like that. If anyone reading this has ever been in my room they know that room decor isn't my top priority. Anyways, going back to the tour, it was a great success and now there are more people aware of what we're trying to accomplish here.

Visiting the Art Gallery at Desengarrafando Mentes HQ

Evanildo Jr. holding the art he bought 

Carmela and Fabricio with the beautiful mandalas they bought