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Carlos Marra

COLLECTIVE SPIRIT

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.

Carlos Marra (32) came with family from Espírito Santo to Maré when he was just three years old, and here he built his life and outlined the personal goals that reverberated in the collective. Carlos collaborates with the work of Redes da Maré in managing the Municipal Cultural Canvas Herbert Vianna since 2014. He is a cultural producer and territorial mobilizer and was elected in 2019 as one of the tutelary advisers responsible for service in the Maré region. 

According to Carlos, he inherited the characteristic of aggregating people from his father. The political and activist sense from the mother, who participated in our important and historic “Chapa Rosa”. From personal and professional experience, he highlights the power of influence that a family structure has in the trajectory of children and adolescents. The sport also played a very significant role in the life of the producer, who recalls that he has frequented Vila Olímpica da Maré since he was 11 years old. The notion of collectivity and collaboration comes from that time, from the two pillars in Carlos' life - sport and family, and resonate a lot in what he now develops as a professional project and personal practice: “I don't like doing anything alone, it is much more powerful and interesting when we do things collectively.”

The cultural manager talks about the importance of building jobs that give prominence to black people, LGBTI and young people from slums and peripheral spaces: “my work within Redes da Maré has a lot to do with shaking these people so that they see their own powers”, he comments. In the work of a guardian counselor, which he considers a milestone in his life, Marra sees the possibility of accessing tools to guarantee what he has already been doing in his work with children and adolescents.

In the campaign Maré says NO to Coronavirus, Carlos arrived early, and worked on some fronts: receiving inputs at the Maré Arts Center, delivering food baskets and social interviews. About the work developed by the organization: "the campaign made it possible for Redes to reach places and territories that it had not arrived before". As a worker, Carlos believes that we can add more to the residents so that they become protagonists of our projects based on the experience with the campaign.

What remains of learning and expectation for the future for Carlos is self-care. He highlights how common it is to see people working with assistance or caring for others forgetting about self-care. The pandemic and the need to work and look at others has also made personal empowerment a priority. He hopes that the favela will increasingly occupy spaces of power and decision-making “so that we can effectively change many things that are being distributed unevenly and that do not reach our population”.

Rio de Janeiro, november 24, 2020.