The articles written by the PÚBLICO Brasil team are written in the variant of the Portuguese language used in Brazil.
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It was 2002, when Cláudia Canto decided to cross the Atlantic. In Cidade Tiradentes, on the outskirts of São Paulo, he dreamed of building a new life in Portugal, with the profession he had chosen, journalism. Little did she know what awaited her. “My decision to emigrate was due to my desire to escape the suburbs where I lived,” he says.
Cláudia landed at the airport in the Portuguese capital full of hope and many plans. There were many frustrated attempts to fit into the market for which he studied so much. With no alternative, she ended up accepting a job as a maid. “I fell into the 18th century,” he says.
The couple who had hired her — both from South Africa — lived in feudal times. “For them, a maid was a piece of furniture, they couldn’t go out even to have a coffee”, he says. It was 11 months of that ordeal. “I could have left, but I decided to stay to write about the situation”, he adds.
The result of this was the book Death to Broomspublished in 2018, which is now in its sixth edition and, on Tuesday, October 29th, will be launched in Italy.
History of difficulties
It was from this experience that Cláudia created Riqueza Descoberta, a project that aims to publish stories of Brazilians living outside Brazil. The first of the works is titled Between the lines — Stories of Brazilian Women in Portugalwith reports in Portuguese and English of 17 women who left Brazil and currently live in Portuguese lands. The project is in partnership with Lau Nascimento.
To find women who would tell their stories, the way was social media. “We had defined 15 women, but we ended up with 17”, says Cláudia. It’s a first step, because the two don’t want to just stick with this book. The goal is to do another work with Brazilian women in Portugal, then move on to France and Germany .
Cládia and Lau emphasize that, if Riqueza Descoberta makes a profit, part of the resources will be allocated to social works. Cláudia intends to support abandoned dogs and Lau, who is from Campinas, takes children and young people out of marginalization in the region where he came from.
Brazilian women point out their origins in a disadvantaged environment. “I came from Jardim Nova Maracanã, in Campinas, with my husband to Portugal six years ago. We wanted financial risecultural and escape the insecurity of Brazil”, says Lau, who was a physical education teacher and did voluntary work teaching capoeira and football to vulnerable children. In Portugal, she worked call center and is currently vice-president of the Lusofonia, Culture and Citizenship Association.
Brazilian women face difficulties in Portugal, but they are not intimidated. They want many achievements
Nelson Garrido
First, setbacks
One of the findings of the stories collected by Cláudia and Lau is that, in the vast majority, Brazilian women who emigrated to Portugal had to regress both financially and in social conditions. They gave up important achievements in Brazil to live the pains and delights of being an immigrant. Along the way, they changed the game and became references.
Of all the stories told in Between the linesthe one that most moved the organizers of the work was Andrea Miguel. She left an accounting office, which she owned, to pursue, with her husband, who had a good job, the dream of living in Portugal and opening a restaurant.
“She was deceived, she paid much more in rent than market prices. One day, a client came and said that she cooked well, but would never be successful in Portugal because she was Brazilian and black”, says Lau. The restaurant closed.
There are also the stories of Adryana Pinto, a truck driver, who left a town so small that it doesn’t even appear on the map: Babaçu, in Maranhão; Camilla Nobre, born in Croatá da Serra, in the interior of Ceará, who now works with music, after spending time on cruise ships; and Bahian Andreza de Sá Gonçalves, the only black woman at an elite school in Salvador, and who escaped abuse in her marriage.
More: retired nurse Cristina Costa, from Wenceslau Braz, in Minas Gerais, after the Covid-19 pandemic, wanted to see the world and decided to make Portugal her starting point for travel. The grandmother of Cyntia de Paula, current president of Casa do Brasil in Lisbon, left the Brazilian Northeast to escape the drought, and today, her granddaughter, a psychologist, dedicates herself to community work in the Portuguese capital. Bahian Ellen Brito moved to Portugal in search of safety for her daughter.
Multiple Stories
The multiplicity of stories recorded in the book is impressive. Coming from the outskirts of São Paulo, Fernanda Uematsu previously lived in Japan and decided to cross the Atlantic to have a less busy life, where she could spend more time with her daughter. From Campinas, Josy Nascimento, sister of one of the book’s organizers, says that she already had a job at the age of 12, doing office work.
Luciene da Silva Santos, from Bahia, fell in love with Porto on a trip and chose to live in the city, where she has a restaurant in which acarajé, a symbol of her land, is the star. Also from Bahia, Luzia Santhana says that she had an established career on television and was a businesswoman, but decided to go to Portugal out of love. Coming from Osasco, São Paulo, retired Nilza Ramos started in a cafe cleaning the floors and, in 15 days, gained a place in the kitchen.
Daughter of a barber, Ster Carvalho got her first job at the age of 12, giving typing lessons. Graduated in Pedagogy from the Federal University of Goiás, upon arriving in Portugal she was an ironer, cleaner, kitchen maid, administrative assistant, worked in a call center and, now, dedicates herself to writing.
With a degree in communications, Vilmária Santos felt that, in Brazil, a black woman would never get a place as a television presenter. She reports that she got one of the best grades in her class and then moved to Lisbon, where she worked as a saleswoman and waitress in a cafe. In 2022, he opened his human resources management agency.
