{"id":20251,"date":"2015-02-23T08:00:30","date_gmt":"2015-02-23T11:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=20251"},"modified":"2016-01-28T18:00:38","modified_gmt":"2016-01-28T21:00:38","slug":"the-sociocultural-occupation-of-mama-africa-awaits-upgrades-images","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=20251","title":{"rendered":"The Sociocultural Occupation of Mama \u00c1frica Awaits Upgrades [IMAGES]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas\"\"<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Houses numbered 48 and 50 on Passos da P\u00e1tria Street, in Niter\u00f3i<\/a>, share a\u00a0special history of struggle\u00a0for housing\u00a0and dignity. Occupied for more than 20\u00a0years, 36 families now live inside their walls. In addition to the housing question, another feature of the Mama \u00c1frica\u00a0occupation makes it unique. A group of\u00a0ten women from the Foundation for Children and Teenagers (FIA) are directly responsible for the organization of community\u00a0life. They\u00a0try to instill a sense of stability that they themselves did not experience growing\u00a0up. They were deprived of stable family lives and survived in shelters or orphanages until\u00a0they were of age, at which point they were thrown into the streets without any support. <\/em><\/p>\n

In 2009, the occupation\u00a0gained the support of the\u00a0International Homeless Front<\/a> (FIST), through the lawyer\u00a0Andr\u00e9 de Paula. In 2012, Mama \u00c1frica drew\u00a0the\u00a0attention of the Housing\u00a0and Urbanization Studies and Projects Nucleus (Nephu) of\u00a0the Federal Fluminense University (UFF), which bolstered the occupation’s cause by developing an infrastructure\u00a0upgrading\u00a0project in partnership with the community. The community is implementing diverse cultural projects including a community library, workshops, and bazaars, all of which attract regular participation from various social activists who come to support the activities that\u00a0Mama \u00c1frica organizes.<\/em><\/p>\n

Last November the community received their first legal victory providing definitive title to the families. The City government attempted to appeal the decision but lost twice. Residents now proceed confident in this definitive result and in the implementation of the upgrading plan.<\/em><\/p>\n

The community develops diverse cultural actions, like a community library, workshops, bazaar, in addition to the constant participation of diverse social activists in the activities maintained by Mama \u00c1frica.<\/em><\/p>\n

Upgrades are\u00a0Coming<\/h1>\n

Ol\u00edmpia Pacheco and her daughter, Ana Lu\u00edsa, await\u00a0the pending infrastructure\u00a0upgrades\u00a0in order to move from the small shelter they live in to a more dignified residence.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Communal Life<\/h1>\n

The majority of the families that live in the occupation share one\u00a0bathroom.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Privileged\u00a0Location<\/h1>\n

The privileged\u00a0location of the occupation,\u00a0near the beach and the center of Niter\u00f3i,\u00a0makes\u00a0the recognition of the right\u00a0to housing by those in the occupation all the more important, given the city’s\u00a0rampant\u00a0real estate speculation.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Focus on the Children<\/h1>\n

Children are the core\u00a0of the cultural activities that go on at Mama \u00c1frica.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Female Warriors<\/h1>\n

Simone breastfeeds Olga in front of the\u00a0Mama \u00c1frica occupation.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Solidarity<\/h1>\n

A lawyer from FIST, Andr\u00e9 de Paula, helps put a sign up in front of the occupation.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Culture<\/h1>\n

Fernanda Carlinda is a specialist in braiding afro-style hair and is also responsible for\u00a0various cultural activities at the occupation.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Relaxed Debates<\/h1>\n

Moments of relaxation are also moments to debate ideas and projects that are going on\u00a0in the community.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Victory and Looking Ahead<\/h1>\n

After two victories in court against the threat of eviction, the community looks to\u00a0the future and hopes that infrastructure upgrades\u00a0will be\u00a0implemented.<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>
\nBruno Morais<\/a>\u00a0is a community photographer, trained\u00a0by\u00a0Ag\u00eancia Imagens do Povo<\/a>\u00a0and a member of\u00a0Coletivo Pandilla<\/a>.<\/em><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas Houses numbered 48 and 50 on Passos da P\u00e1tria Street, in Niter\u00f3i, share a\u00a0special history of struggle\u00a0for housing\u00a0and dignity. Occupied for more than 20\u00a0years, 36 families now live inside their walls. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":20263,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1293,1288,1328,1290,1332,329],"tags":[756,282,1375,26,354,551,296,1292,954],"writer":[1536],"translator":[491],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20251","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-evictionswatch","8":"category-highlight","9":"category-by-community-contributors","10":"category-civilsociety","11":"category-photo-essays","12":"category-solutions","13":"tag-community-organizing","14":"tag-housing","15":"tag-housing-deficit","16":"tag-housing-rights","17":"tag-law","18":"tag-niteroi","19":"tag-occupation","20":"tag-organizing","21":"tag-victory","22":"writer-bruno-morais","23":"translator-emma-platais"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20251"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=20251"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=20251"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=20251"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=20251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}