2005 November

Bahia Street News

Dear All,The smells of autumn are coming through the open window, a clear scent of recent rain and damp leaves. In these months, the slant of early winter sun creates an actual glow in the leaves, a shimmering arbor of magenta and gold, punctuated by the occasional black-green fir.

The change of autumn is perhaps my favorite time of year, and I pause at least once each day, thinking how precious are these moments of joy. I feel privileged to have friends with whom to share them.

Nancy, our project director, said something to me the other week that I found important: Our search for meaning is interconnected with a need for purpose. I can see it in the numerous e-mails we receive weekly from people wanting to volunteer for us in Bahia. I see it in the outpouring of sentiment and individual effort in response to suffering exacerbated by recent natural disasters. I see it when I am talking with our volunteers here — and in myself. Such involvement gives our lives purpose and meaning.

I was thinking about this when I rang Rita a few weeks ago. It was late Thursday and she was still at the Bahia Street Center. First she told me of difficulties. The university teachers were on strike, the police administration was on strike, government offices were on strike, the postal workers were on strike and the banks were on strike. Chris, the English teacher, laughed in the background and shouted to me over the phone line, “We’re the only people working! Bahia Street, that’s it!”

The bus fares have gone up again, Rita said. The government wanted to raise fares to R$2.20 per ride, but the people protested in the streets, so they only raised it to R$1.70. Minimum wage — what most people in Salvador earn if they’re lucky — is R$300 a month. This means that people can hardly afford to ride the bus to work and certainly cannot send their children to school.

I felt there was little positive I could say in response to all this, so I asked Rita what she was doing so late at the Center.

“I’m cooking,” she said. She began crunching on something.
“What are you eating?”
“A dried shrimp.”
“Oh?”
“I’m making carurú.” She paused and shouted to someone passing in the street in front of the Center.” Antonio! Carurú, tomorrow!”

Carurú, for the non-Brazilians reading this letter, is a wonderful
traditional food of Bahia made from finely chopped okra prepared by as many community hands as possible, dried shrimp crushed with onion and lots of African palm oil. Carurú is a ritual food, symbolic of community, of sharing one’s life with the people who, like the food we eat, sustain us.

In Bahia, September is a special month for sharing carurú in honor of the twin Catholic saints, Cosme and Damião, also known in candomblé, the African Brazilian religion of Bahia, as Ibejis, the guardian saints of young boys and twins. In the final weeks of September, people make carurú and invite everyone, particularly children in groups of seven. The carurú is placed in a large bowl at the center of the room. The children sit on the floor around the bowl and eat first, using only their hands. The adults generally sing to call the Ibejis while they wait for the children
to finish. Putting on a carurú is believed to ensure good health and a good future, particularly for twins and children.

Given the importance of children’s welfare related to this festival, it is not surprising that Rita was making a huge carurú for the Bahia Street Center and all the neighbors who have been so helpful and supportive of Bahia Street, especially during the construction of the Center. Rita later sent photos of the carurú which you can see on the Bahia Street website: www.bahiastreet.org. There’s a link to a carurú recipe there,
too.

Rita also had good news about Juliana, who was our first Bahia Street student eight years ago. She is doing well at university and has moved into an apartment by herself — quite an adventurous and feminist thing to do in Bahia where most young people, particularly women, stay with their parents (or in Juliana’s case, with her older sister, since she’s an orphan) until they marry. She is coming back to the Bahia Street Center regularly and giving talks to the young girls, inspiring them with her achievements.

Things are a bit tight for Bahia Street right now, despite the success of the program, in part because the U.S. dollar is falling relative to the Brazilian currency. We are trying to keep all fifty girls, however, and maintain our current programs of daily meals, academic excellence, family outreach, literacy, health and violence counseling. Since we pay bus fare for all the girls, the increased bus fare affects us as well.

I leave November 11th for Brazil, staying for a month. We are taking ten visitors this year on a study tour which will include Bahia Street and its work. A few weeks after we return, we will be having a party in Seattle on January 22. The trip participants will be there with photos and tales to tell of their experiences and adventures. We will send you more details as the time nears, but put the date in your calendars now. It will be good to share — if not a carurú — certainly good food, good memories and good cheer.

Until then…
grandes abraços

Margaret