As I discover more of Brazil, I have been learning of the complex challenges the country has faced and continues to. Through visits to Indigenous communities, a Quilombo community, the Landless Workers Movement and the Center for Indigenous Work, as well as the NGO GAIALATO, we have been welcomed by lovely people with open hearts…Continue Reading To be in Brazil is to begin to understand Brazil.
A blog post that my friends and family back home have all been anticipating. I have been excited to share about the amazing kaupapa I’ve been immersed in during my first week here in Brazil. Forever captivated by Brazil’s street art and graffiti, architecture, vibrant people, and rich culture. Creativity is a means of survival…Continue Reading Eu sou estrangeira
HEALING LANDS Oi famìlia!Como vai você? Today we were blessed to enter a sacred space historically reserved for the quilombo who would play capoeira in training to escape the chains of their masters. Displaced from their homelands and chained with the weights of their captors, the cord to their homelands severed by the hands of…Continue Reading Whenua Whakaora
On Saturday the 28th, we checked out of our hotel in Sao Paulo and boarded the crowded bus to head to Ubatuba. The drive was incredibly long, but it was worth it once we began to descend down the mountains and see the beautiful coastline. We then checked into our hostel and were able to…Continue Reading A Brief Trip to Ubatuba
We are at the halfway point of our time here in Brazil. I have taken in quite a bit of the scenery and the culture in its unique way. My roommate Kurt and I get along like brothers, and we keep an eye out for each other and others who might need support. But hey,…Continue Reading Halfway and it is Waitangi Day! Yay!
The air is thick here. Thick with heat recoiling off of the looming buildings of the city. As I gaze out of the balcony on the eleventh floor, my eyes are met with buildings forever. They slowly fade into a muddled grey and meet a faux horizon somewhere in the distance – and I feel…Continue Reading Sensations of Brazil – First Impressions
Our first week in Brazil has been a complete whirlwind. We’ve had the opportunity to try delicious Brazilian and international foods. We’ve heard from passionate and inspiring lecturers working in different fields related to history and Indigenous Rights. We’ve been to a few museums to get a glimpse of elements of Brazil’s immigration and Afro-Brazilian…Continue Reading Olá, São Paulo!
São Paulo is the farthest I have ever been from the moana, whenua and community that raised me. Every aspect of the haerenga to this city was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. From the 24 hours of flying to seeing Jacinda Ardern on a TV in Texas to touching down to a concrete jungle that…Continue Reading Não falo português…mas eu falo arte
When leaving the Guarulhos International Airport just out of São Paulo, I truly felt grateful for such an opportunity; A young Māori girl in a completely different indigenous country. Once we stepped foot onto indigenous whenua, I could feel the wairua of the indigenous communities now and in the past. Brazil is everything that I…Continue Reading We Are In Brazil !!!