Brazilian voices

Professor Guinho: "Capoeira is a college"

FICA VIVO - Stay Alive

Fica Vivo

The problem

If you want to see the results of the Fica Vivo program, run by the Minas Gerais government, set up for the kids at risk, then you need to wait a while. Wait for the time it takes for a kid to grow up and become an adult in a world which might treat them as expendable, as a tool. Wait for these kids. They are growing up in an environment where instability, domestic violence, and drug use have made the right decisions about who and where to hang out almost impossible.

ミナスジェラス政府による、リスクの中子供を育てる取組みの中からFicaVivoの例をみるのには、少し時間をかけた方がいい。使い捨ての割り箸の様に子供を扱う世界で子供が大人へとなるのにも時間が必要だ。子供たちをまってみよう。彼らはinstability、家庭内暴力という環境の中で育ち、そして薬物の使用が何処で、誰と過ごすかの正しい選択を奪っていく。

The rate of homicides is highest amongst kids from as young as 12, to 24. Death rates go up during teenage years because risk-taking behaviour naturally increases. Think of teenagers experimenting with drugs, driving too fast as soon as they pass their tests, retreating to their rooms because they cant trust themselves around people . The teenage brain undergoes changes during this stage of development that actually make it harder for teenagers to judge whether a particular course of action is risky.

12歳から24歳までの子供から若者の死亡率が最も高い。10代の死亡率が上昇しているのは、危険な行動に走るためだ。そう、１０代は薬物を試してみたり、運転免許を取れば自動車を思い切りのスピードで運転したり、周囲の誰も信じられなくなり部屋に引きこもってみたるするものだ。10代の脳はこの成長段階で変化を経験し、実際にどの行動が危険であるかの判断を狂わせている。

The exposure to drugs, alcoholism, and violence of a favela, plus the natural tendency of kids to make bad choices explains  high rate of deaths amongst young Brazilians. This is a gut-wrenching, sickening waste, and the government along with educators and capoeiristas is trying to do something. That something is the Fica Vivo project.


若いブラジル人の間の死亡率の高さは、スラム街の薬物アルコールと暴力の中に身を置き、さらに子供たちの自然な傾向が悪い判断をしてしまうためだ。実に悲しいことだ。そこで、政府は教育者とカポエリスタとともに、何かをしようとしている。それこそが、Fica VIvoプロジェクトだ。

The program



The project involves many different cultural and sporting activities, from graffitti, to crafts, to soccor, and capoeira. While I was in Brazil I got to play capoeira and do workshops with many of the kids from this social project. I spoke with Professor Guinho, from Bantus Capoeira, about the work he does with them. Bolinha was kind enough to translate into Portuguese.

このプロジェクトは様々な文化的で、スポーツ的な活動、クラフト、サッカーそしてカポエイラ。ブラジル滞在中に社会プロジェクトからたくさんの子供たちとカポエイラとそのワークショップを一緒に行った。グループバントスカポエイラのプロジェッサー、ギーニョ氏と彼らが行っている活動について話した。ボリーニャがとても親切にポルトガル語を通訳してくれた。

Personal investment

I started off by asking him about his own experience with capoeira and the Bantus group. He told me that he had been playing capoeira, specifically the Angolan style for six years. He said that he would not join any other group, that he really found the philosophy of the Bantus group very appealing and meaningful to him. This struck me as very important.
When I was at university I was involved in a couple of week-long residential projects for kids at risk who had been referred from social services. Together with university students and adults who had physical or learning disabilities, we formed teams and did various activities such as put on a play or build a Chinese dragon. The experience was very powerful and worked well. However, I sometimes thought it would be more effective if the activity involved something that the volunteers were more personally invested in. Not just to ‘do something good for others’, valuable as this is, but to share an activity, a pursuit that is already very meaningful. It turns out that this investment makes all the difference.

カポエイラとバントススグループと彼の経緯について質問することから始めた。彼は、カポエイラを初めて６年間は特にアンゴラスタイルを行っていたとの事だ。彼はバントス以外のグループに所属したことはいう。それはバントスの哲学が非常に意味深くそして魅力的に映ったからだ。これは私にはとても重要なこととして心を打った。