Smells and colors

There are also the smells and colors of the Caribean. Oh, yes, they are different. The colors, for example, I would compare with "chitão", a hard fabric from Brazil that mix strong colors such as blue, yellow, green, and red. It is almost composed of flowers, huge flowers. So, that is the Caribean. Chitão, considered a popular fabric, worn by countryside ladies, became now fashionable and it is a must in the wardrobe of famous clothing designers and home decorators.
The smell comes from the sea and from the pots in the kitchens, cooking fish with coconut milk, the traditional Caribean sauce.

Manzanillo

Manzanillo was my welcoming embrace to the Caribean sea. Yes, the Caribean is everything that you dream of and something else. Yes, there are coconut trees and a feeling of laziness that you may find only in Salvador de Bahia, in Brazil. Manzanillo beach is in the province of Limón, Caribean Sur de Costa Rica. It is a half-hour drive from Puerto Viejo, one of the most touristics areas in Limón and which reminds me a lot of Lagoa da Conceição, in my hometown Florianópolis (southern Brazil), because of its dreadlocks, tatoos and reggae. Reggae, by the way, is the prefered rhythm around here. Add to that, salsa, merengue and calypso.

Jamaica in Costa Rica

I went to Jamaica two weeks ago. Not physically, but sentimentally, torn by the waves of the Atlantic sea. Jamaica is in the Limón province, located in the South Caribean portion of Costa Rica. The region is mostly populated by blacks, descendents of Jamaicans and from other Caribean islands. From that interesting encounter, there came a language called patois, a mix of English, French and Spanish. Some call it "broken English". It sounds like music to the ears and it is matter of pride for its inhabitants.

To think about, before starting a new war

I heard her voice calling "Mother, Mother." I went towards the sound. She was completely burned. The skin had come of her head altogether, leaving a twisted knot at the top. My daughter said, "Mother, you´re late, please take me back quickly." She said it was hurting a lot. But there were no doctors. There was nothing I could do. So I covered up her naked body and held her in my arms for nine hours. At about eleven o´clock that night she cried out again "Mother," and put her hand around my neck. It was already ice-cold. I said, "Please say Mother again." But that was the last time.

Hiroshima survivor, cited in Bel Mooney, "Beyond the Wasteland", in Over Our Dead Bodies: Women Against the Bomb, ed. Dorothy Thompson (London: Virago press, 1983)

My country is the whole world

"(...) Therefore if you insist upon fighting to protect me, or "our" country, let it be understood soberly and rationally between us that you are fighting to gratify a sex instinct which I cannot share; to procure benefits which I have not shared and probably will not share; but not to gratify my instincts, or to protect myself or my country... As a woman I have no country, as a woman I want no country, my country is the whole world"

"Three Guineas", by Virginia Woolf

Encuentro

"Por eso tengo que volver
a tantos sitios venideros
para encontrarme conmigo
y examinarme sin cesar,
sin más testigo que la luna
y luego silbar de alegría
pisando piedras y terrones,
sin más tarea que existir,
sin más familia que el caminho..."

Pablo Neruda
Fin de mundo (El viento)

New country, new life, new hopes

One of the things that most touched my heart during this week were the pictures of the Palestinian children at the Ruwaished camp, in Jordan, sent by the United Nations Refugee Angency´s communication officers in Brazil. Wearing the T-shirts with the colors of the national team (green and yellow), the kids had hope in their eyes. Hope of a new life starting very soon. They are part of a group of about 100 people who start to arrive in Brazil on this weekend, after being repeatedly displaced between Iraq and Jordan in the last years. They will be settled in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul and, hopefully, very soon, will become "gauchos" like our locals. After the removal, the Jordanian camp will be closed down.
The Palestinians are already part of the Brazilians´ lives, especially the ones who live in the big cities, such as São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre, and even in my town, Florianópolis, where they own businesses in the downtown area.
Brazil´s position of receiving the refugees is humanitarian and, at the same time, political. It will contribute very much for the comprehension of Palestinian situation and will help to bring peace to the lives of these people. This will be also a good opportunity for the local communities to learn about the importance of solidarity and multiculturalism.
I wish good luck for the newcomers and I hope Brazil will always be open to people in need of a stable environment, distant from wars, hunger, political and religious persecution.