In November, we continued our journey with the Baobab Route project. On the morning of November 9th, we left Campinas with a team of five people: Akin Barbosa, Luara Monteiro, Felipe, master TC and Layla. We traveled 360 kilometers to the Ribeirão Grande quilombo located between the states of São Paulo and Paraná. There we were welcomed by the strong activist Nilse, her partner, her children and also the great warrior Pininxa. We spent the night at Nilse's house thinking about the political strategies needed to achieve many of the rights we still lack. We exchanged news about our communities, stories and knowledge around the wood stove with the sound of the river flowing nearby. In this community, families practice subsistence farming where they plant in their fields, feed themselves, exchange, sell and share the harvest.
The next morning we exchanged seeds. We left them a handful of black/Valença bean seeds that were given by Uncle Mané from the São José da Serra quilombo.
On the morning of November 10th, we traveled another 470 kilometers to the Morada da Paz quilombo community in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, about 77 kilometers from Porto Alegre. We arrived there at the beginning of the night right when the house's religious activities were taking place. We were welcomed by the whole family and a circle of good energy and warmth. The next day, November 11th, we accompanied some of the house's activities, and talked about the proposals of the Baobab Route; about the history and struggles for the territory and construction of Morada da Paz, about the policies we live with and want, and many other topics that flowed during the conversation.
On November 12th, we went with the quilombolas from the community to the Book Fair in Porto Alegre, where they held a maracatu procession (group Omadê de pijama) and where our companion Felipe from Jongo Dito Ribeiro in Campinas gave a Jongo workshop. We returned to Morada and after lunch Luara gave a filming and editing workshop, where the quilombolas produced a video about the Community and their vision of the Mocambos network there. The next day part of the team toured the surroundings of the community to analyze the territory and the possibilities of installing antennas to enable a free internet connection for the community.
The Morada da Paz community has aimed since its beginning to build a space that is ideal for children's growth and education, thus practicing in the best way actions that are always in harmony with nature and human evolution. With this in mind, guided by Mãe Preta (the house's guiding entity), the community decided to create Concóla, a school that proposes to carry ancestral values and knowledge and be free from standard teaching methods like those of the Brazilian state. Based on this proposal, on November 14th, a conversation circle was held under the tree of wisdom where the Afro-centered elements and pedagogies they desire were discussed, as well as strategies to have a school recognized by the MEC and open to other communities.
In the late afternoon we went back to Porto Alegre, this time only with the Baobáxia team, to visit great masters who are also part of the Mocambos Network: Master Xico, his partner Paula and their daughter Tusile. The reunion was to the sound of drums and full of stories as usual. We planned with them how the next day would be since we would go together to some quilombos in Rio Grande do Sul. That same night we returned to Morada Paz, rested and the next morning (November 15th) around 7:30 am we left, quickly stopped in Porto Alegre to pick up Master Xico and Paulo and continued. We traveled 200 kilometers to the Monjolo quilombo located in São Lourenço do Sul, where we held a conversation circle with the quilombolas about territory, presented Baobáxia and gave the women a Baobá seedling.
After spending the afternoon in Monjolo, Master Preto from the Center for Support and Promotion of Agroecology guided us to the Torrão quilombo, which is near the Monjolo quilombo, and where we met and talked with some quilombola women from there.
We continued with two of them, and took them to the bus station about 60 kilometers away and then continued to Pelotas arriving there at 11pm. We left Paula and Master Xico at their relatives' house and continued another 15 minutes to Akin's mother's house, who welcomed us with great affection. From the Torrão quilombo to Pelotas we traveled a total of 73 kilometers.
On November 16th we went to downtown Pelotas, where we met Geórgia, a young woman who was born in Campinas on the same street where Master TC was raised, and who has been in Pelotas for two years studying music, she took us to see the university where she studies. We returned with her to Akin's mother's house and rehearsed with the steel drums we brought to perform at the NacionBit festival in Salinas, Uruguay.
The next morning (November 17th) we passed through downtown Pelotas again, refueled and headed to Uruguay, but only with Master TC, Felipe and Layla because Akin and Luara decided to stay in Pelotas and would return with us when the route passed through there again. So we continued, traveling another 260 kilometers to Chui (border between Brazil and Uruguay). Arriving at the border, customs did not allow us to enter because the vehicle documents are in the name of Casa de Cultura Tainã, and in this case when the vehicle is not in the driver's name, authorization from the company or entity is needed to allow the driver, in this case Master TC, to drive the vehicle in the foreign country. So we returned to Chui which is a few kilometers from customs and spent the night in a hotel because the authorization would have to be notarized and it was already closed.
So, early in the morning on November 18th, we went to the embassy which, like the notary, is a few blocks from our hotel. We gathered information about the matter and were instructed to go to the notary where we prepared the authorization in an office across the street, had it notarized and then continued. We quickly passed through a town called Rocha where a friend who is also from Campinas and who participated for years at Casa de Cultura Tainã was, but unfortunately we didn't meet him. In total we traveled 290 kilometers from Chui to Salinas, arriving around 4pm (already with time difference) at the Cooperativa Nacion Zumbalele, where we had an emotional reunion with our friends who had been to Tainã twice, at the first Mocambos Network Meeting and also in 2015. There they were already preparing the cooperative for the festival, so we talked, helped with preparations and rested. The next day (November 19th) we held a conversation circle about communication with other collectives that also participated in the festival such as Radio Guidaí. That day Master TC went with the Mobile Baobá to Montevideo to pick up the Afrocósmicos group who also performed at the festival and dear Master José Cardoso. And then the festival began, the great cultural exchange that involved music, dance, audiovisual, crafts and candombe. Our steel drum group was small because combining the Baobab Route with the festival took a lot of time and the rest of the orchestra members couldn't come due to commitments, work and studies, but it was still rich especially with the participation of the Zumbalele comparsa who played candombe along with some songs from our repertoire. The festival lasted until dawn and around 2pm we went to the headquarters of the 100% Candombe comparsa where the Afrocósmicos group partners gave an Afro dance and percussion workshop, after which we participated in the candombe procession with the drums we brought from Tainã (one of which was given by our Nacion Zumbalele partners when they were there). At night we all had dinner together, talked and as on other days, laughed a lot.
On November 21st we said goodbye, leaving a drum for little drummer Balta, son of Gustavo and Jacqueline. Unfortunately we didn't bring a baobab seedling because we imagined it wouldn't be allowed to cross the border with it, but we left seeds. Returning with us were Cecília, a woman who presented and also gave us a copy of the film Soy Tambor, and two Argentine friends we met at the festival who are from the ChillOut group, they followed us to Guaíba and then went to Florianópolis.
We passed through Rocha again where we left Cecília and continued another 131 kilometers to Chui, exchanged pesos for reais, ate and continued another 260 kilometers to Pelotas. We arrived around 11pm, went to Akin's mother's house and there they were waiting for us, welcoming us along with the Argentines, we talked and rested.
The next day November 22nd, we went through downtown Pelotas again to pick up Geórgia who decided to return with us to Campinas since her university is on strike due to protests against PEC 241. So we went with her, Akin, Luara, Master TC, Felipe, Layla and the Argentines to Guaíba which is about 22 kilometers from Porto Alegre, traveling a total of 233 kilometers. There we said goodbye to the Argentines who went to Florianópolis, and went to Ilê Asé Cultural Assobecaty of Mãe Carmem who welcomed us with open arms along with her daughter Greice who is also part of the Mocambos Network. At first they told us about the high rate of violence in the community and region and how Ilê proposes new paths for this youth mostly composed of black teenagers. In addition to conversations we worked on some of the telecenter machines installed through the telecentros BR program.
We left a baobab and some copies of the book Batalha do Vivo that was produced by the Contrafilé collective and in which we also participated. We kept a box of these books and are distributing them in the communities we pass through.
Around 6pm we continued to Porto Alegre traveling a few more kilometers to the Afro Sul Cultural House where we met great partners Iara and Paulo Romeu who are strong activists in Porto Alegre's black movement. We had a long dialogue about our country's politics and also about the project we are carrying out. We spent the night there and the next morning, November 23rd, we traveled another 1000 kilometers to the Ribeirão Grande quilombo community where we had been on the way out, and where we stayed again at our partner Nilse's house. We exchanged more seeds that we had brought from the communities we passed through. We rested, and the next morning (November 24th) we went to see the farm and also the place where Mr. Pininxa and his family produce molasses, brown sugar and rapadura, a space also called "trafico". We left the women there the last Baobá seedling we had brought, which was symbolized and delivered with much axé. Finally we continued another 250 kilometers to Campinas, where we arrived around 11pm.