We were three Brazilian women in a long line to collect tickets for the Mundu Nôbu concert. We started the conversation because of the occasion, after all it would be two hours of waiting, but, above all, we started the dialogue because of the strength of Brazilianness that transforms, in a short time, strangers into childhood friends. Wherever there is a line of Brazilians, you can expect socializing and people telling their lives like a soap opera.
“It is necessary to create opportunities”, said the group’s doctoral student when reporting the difference between the way universities communicate, since in Portugal information in the area is less available. According to my own experience, being persistent favors the discovery of scholarships, financing and exchanges. And that’s what she’s been doing since she emigrated. During his master’s degree, he found a place in Slovenia, applied and managed to spend six months with everything paid for due to his research.
The young woman left Rio de Janeiro to deepen her studies on cultural transversality. While waiting in line, we exchanged views on the topic, I talked about how Santo Antônio is a strong figure in Cariri, a region in Ceará that promotes the Festa do Pau da Bandeira. We talked about how much popular demonstrations accompany immigrants in new countries. They even add events that bring together people and traditions to the local calendar. This has been the case with Carnival, for example.
After a while, their respective friends arrived and were also going to the showconverting the group of three into six and, later, into eight. It was a cluster of references covering São Paulo, Santa Catarina, Minas Gerais, Ceará and coincidences like: “I already know you from another time, remember?”
The conversation continued reflectively as the Santa Catarina member of the group commented on the challenge and tiredness of starting life over in another country, being “30+”. Among collective confidences, the colleague highlighted the importance of certain activities as a form of integration for immigrant women. Spaces such as reading clubs, events, and places for conversation are essential for generating connection. “I got to know Brazil more being here than there.”, he revealed.
She explained how she became friends with the São Paulo native in line. “I went to a party alone. When I got there, I saw a group and approached them. I asked if I could stay together.” The reception was immediate and new bonds emerged due to that act of courage that will now complete two years.
In reality, immigrants are often asked to leave their cocoons to explore spaces for themselves. There is not always company and similar interests in the small universe of friends in another land. Immigrating requires a different way of being, in addition to attitudes that we would often not dare to do in our city. It may be uncomfortable at first, but later it is rewarding.
The boy in the group, with “uai” tattooed on his neck and personality, full of youthful energy, remembered that he met one of the girls at a Carnival party. He interacted with other people’s fantasies, built from playing cards, and from the game came camaraderie, good memories and the debt for an unbought beer. At the time, she was doing the job she loves so much. He works with gypsy decks and has seen the lives of several clients, including Portuguese and Brazilians, change as a result of his readings.
No less unusual was the first contact between the other pair of friends. The two met in Brazil, when they were at the consulate dealing with documentation to study a master’s degree in Portugal. They discovered there that they would be in the same class. Since then, it has been eight years showing that life has no script and each scene can seem almost like fiction.
At the end of the night, the show was a meeting point and inspiration. In the opening speech, Liliana Valpaços, founder of Mundu Nôbu together with Dino D´Santiago, encouraged us to look at each other and try to find what is magical. And he added: “It is not necessary to be the target for the desire to do what is right to be born within us.”
At another point in the presentation, one of the young people supported by the project declared in a video: “No one is an immigrant, we are human beings.”
I left the concert with my heart pounding and with my friend in tears thanking me for inviting her to a night of pure humanity.
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