THE MEETING OF STRUGGLES
This is the column Who Makes Redes, a compilation of the stories of people who build our organization and who work hard every day to do what we do best: actions and projects for residents of Maré. Learn about these stories, trajectories, experiences and the history of Redes da Maré itself - and how this work and the challenges faced since the pandemic have transformed them.
"I wasn't born in Maré, but I was reborn in Maré." That’s how Pamela Carvalho summed up her encounter with the territory. She was born in Morro do Juramento and came to live in Maré as an adult. She lived in Nova Holanda and Parque União, where she has lived until today. “The work of Redes made me immerse myself in Maré, and today I am one hundred percent in love with this place and have no intention of going anywhere else in the world," she says.
The historian and researcher have a long history of participation in social movements and in guaranteeing rights. Since high school, she has been very engaged in movements for the guarantee of education, racial and gender equality. "When I arrived in Maré, I found, among others, a fight with a very strong history, very potent: the fight for equal rights for slum populations, especially in Maré.” Another important agenda for Pâmela is the guarantee of the right to art.
It was through art, in fact, that the approximation with Redes da Maré happened. The educator's first work in the organization was at Maré Arts Center, in an exhibition of the writer Conceição Evaristo, a partnership with Itaú Cultural. She was responsible for receiving visitors to the exhibition, mainly school groups: "it was the best gateway to Redes". After this work she worked as producer for CAM, coordinator of Herbert Vianna Cultural Canvas, and currently coordinates the axis Art, Culture, Memories and Identities.
"If I could synthesize the work of Redes da Maré in one word it would be 'inspiring'. For Pâmela, the organization's work has become a reference in Rio de Janeiro and in Brazil, and inspires other collectives, organizations, and even the public power to look at the slum spaces in their potentials and in the creation of work methodologies of extreme quality.
In early March last year, Pâmela was already working on the first actions of the campaign 'Maré says NO to Coronavirus': "we were still understanding what would be the year 2020, what would be the pandemic". She worked in the reception, counting and storage of donations, distribution of alcohol, food baskets and hygiene kits, and also in the front of support to the artists of Maré with the coordination of the public call 'New Ways of Making Art, Culture and Communication in Favelas'. Pâmela says she has seen and experienced many things during this process: "today I can't walk in Maré without being recognized as a person who works in an institution that is engaged in supporting residents", and adds: "Redes da Maré is engaged in supporting the population, but also in giving them autonomy."
For Pamela it is difficult to prospect what will become of the world after the pandemic. "I hope that society starts to see the favela as a place that creates methodologies that support the country as a whole," she says and reinforces: "for a long time society saw the favela as a place of great social problems, but it was from the favelas that methodologies for guaranteeing food security and communication strategies came out. Contrary to what is said, the slums are spaces that propose solutions, not only for the slum, but for the city as a whole.”
"I was not born in Maré, but I was reborn in Maré" because it was the first place where I recognized myself as a favela woman and where I was able to consolidate a work and be known for it”, concludes the researcher.
