{"id":56964,"date":"2019-12-06T09:31:28","date_gmt":"2019-12-06T12:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=56964"},"modified":"2020-10-01T17:19:10","modified_gmt":"2020-10-01T20:19:10","slug":"m-a-l-o-c-a-uses-arts-and-crafts-to-empower-women-in-pantanal-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=56964","title":{"rendered":"M.A.L.O.C.A. Arts and Crafts for Mental Health and Income Generation Empower Women of Caxias [PROFILE]"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

This article is part of a\u00a0<\/i>series of profiles of initiatives in Rio\u2019s Sustainable Favela Network<\/a><\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n

Initiative<\/span>:<\/strong> M.A.L.O.C.A. (Alternative and Organized Liberation Movement for Citizenship and Social Support)
\nContact<\/span>:<\/strong> Facebook<\/a> | Instagram<\/a> | Email<\/a>
\nYear Founded<\/span>:<\/strong> 2018
\nCommunity<\/span>:<\/strong> Pantanal, Duque de Caxias
\nMission<\/span>:<\/strong> To create a network for social support for mental health and the exercise of citizenship through reception, art, income generation, and independence
\nPublic Events<\/span>:<\/strong> Public fairs and events. Check out their Facebook<\/a> page for more information
\nHow to contribute<\/span>:<\/strong> Participate in public events, purchase Maloca products, make material donations<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ana Felix came up with the idea for Maloca<\/a> in 2018, at a gathering of old friends in a shop in Pantanal<\/a>, a neighborhood in the outskirts of Duque de Caxias<\/a>, in Greater Rio de Janeiro\u2019s Baixada Fluminense<\/a>. The group of women had met up to sew craftwork, and Felix, a 42-year-old Pantanal resident with parents from Brazil’s Northeast<\/a>, noticed a problem. Her friends had begun suffering from depression and anxiety.<\/p>\n

“The lack of money and opportunities and the [economic] dependence on my husband has damaged my mental health,\u201d one friend told her. Many were unemployed. Some were on medication. All lived in Pantanal\u2014a neighborhood with little integration with the city of Rio, suffering from a lack of public transport, high unemployment, and a dearth of health facilities. The closest hospital is 30 minutes away, “and you have to catch two buses to get there, or you have to have R$32 [US$8] to spend on an Uber,\u201d says Felix.<\/p>\n

That day’s craft session seemed to help, and the group began to meet regularly. Soon, the number of women in attendance grew well beyond Felix’s circle of friends. As they stitched and embroidered, more and more women began to arrive, saying they also suffered from depression and anxiety. At the time, Felix, a social worker with a master\u2019s degree in health promotion and social development, had been pursuing an internship at an NGO based in Morro do Turano<\/a>, in Rio’s North Zone<\/a>. The experience taught her she didn’t need to travel to do social work: Pantanal needed her just as much. Thus, Maloca (M.A.L.O.C.A.<\/a>) was born.<\/p>\n

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

Maloca, or the Alternative and Organized Liberation Movement for Citizenship and Social Support, offers social support to women living in Pantanal, promoting mental health and the exercise of citizenship in a receptive environment centered in art, income generation, and independence. The group aims to raise mental health awareness among women indirectly, using craft workshops to foster discussion and exchange. Volunteer-run classes take place three days a week, teaching participants to produce everything from tea cloths and bags, to Christmas decorations and furniture.<\/p>\n

A central part of Maloca\u2019s mission is creating independent and qualified professionals, allowing for income generation in a “really competitive market,\u201d says Felix. Participants can sell their work and, except in the case of Maloca-branded pieces, keep the profits. Some have even gone on to organize independent fairs to sell their own handmaid pieces. In gaining a profession, many women have recovered their identity in society.<\/p>\n

Maloca\u2019s products are all made of recycled materials as well, contributing to environmental awareness in the area. \u201cIn the Baixada, trash is everywhere and residents should be educated to collect it,\u201d says Felix.<\/p>\n

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

While the women of Maloca have begun generating an income, the Maloca association, for now, sustains itself by renting their space\u2014Felix\u2019s old house\u2014for events, and receiving donated materials and small donations from women attending Maloca\u2019s classes.<\/p>\n

But money is not the only difficulty. Felix, who came to know the community particularly well after working for the 2000 census, has had to deal with some mothers’ fears of leaving their children home alone while they attend Maloca\u2019s workshops. \u201cA mother who has a child and comes here knows that her son is out of school and can get involved in drug trafficking anytime,\u201d she says. To solve the problem, she created the Biblioteca Itinerante<\/em> (the Traveling Library), a project that gathers kids to play and learn in the local square just a few minutes away from the Maloca house.<\/p>\n

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

True to the group’s Northeastern roots\u2014Felix’s father was from Campina Grande and her mother from Jo\u00e3o Pessoa, both in the state of Para\u00edba\u2014all are welcome at Maloca’s events. In the Northeast, a “maloca<\/a>\u201d is an old house, a humble, crowded, hospitable home, and Felix has likewise worked to turn Maloca into a similar environment: \u201csimple but welcoming like the house I grew up in\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Born and raised in Duque de Caxias, Felix was orphaned at age four and raised by her aunt. As Felix’s extended family traveled to and from the Northeast, her aunt\u2019s house remained open to all. \u201cI wasn\u2019t raised in a traditional family. My aunt was black, marginal, and single […] My house had space and food for everyone, for visitors, and there were homosexuals, mentally ill people, and prostitutes,\u201d she says. Maloca, in turn, is free of prejudice and the evangelical and political influences Felix says are dominating the area.<\/p>\n

Maloca\u2019s vision for 2020 is to improve classes, integrating them with communications, salesmanship, and product photography courses to teach participants to promote their arts in fairs around the city and online. Felix would also like to renovate a new space up the hill to host musical activities, theater, and games for young children.<\/p>\n

Maloca seeks to make an impact on their small neighborhood of Pantanal, where they are the only collective. As Felix likes to say: \u201cWe are doing an ant\u2019s work with the impact of an elephant\u2019s foot […] because in the South Zone<\/a>, having courses and kids playing is normal. Here it is not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

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

\n

*Maloca is one of over 100 community projects mapped<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Catalytic Communities<\/a>\u00a0(CatComm), the organization that publishes\u00a0RioOnWatch<\/i>, as part of our parallel \u2018Sustainable Favela Network<\/a>\u2018 program launched in 2017 to recognize, support, strengthen, and expand on the\u00a0sustainable qualities and community movements inherent to<\/a>\u00a0Rio de Janeiro\u2019s favela communities. Check out\u00a0all the profiles of mapped projects here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Support RioOnWatch’s tireless, critical and cutting-edge hyperlocal journalism. #FundFavelaReporting: bit.ly\/DonateToRioOnWatch<\/a><\/h4>\n

As a nonprofit initiative, we will be fundraising throughout the month of December to ensure the continuation of our work covering favela news.\u00a0We count on readers like you to ensure the continued deconstruction of the stigmatizing narrative around favelas through on-the-ground news that showcases their potential.<\/h4>\n

Donate today<\/a> and #StandWithFavelas.<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas This article is part of a\u00a0series of profiles of initiatives in Rio\u2019s Sustainable Favela Network. Initiative: M.A.L.O.C.A. (Alternative and Organized Liberation Movement for Citizenship and Social Support) Contact: Facebook | Instagram […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":198,"featured_media":56976,"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":[1288,1271,1284,329,1329],"tags":[396,460,756,258,504,694,397,221,459,436,1197,717,1278,1862,2833,388,471,3186,2124,795],"writer":[3032],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-56964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-highlight","8":"category-favelaqualities","9":"category-interviews-profiles","10":"category-solutions","11":"category-by-international-observers","12":"tag-art","13":"tag-baixada-fluminense","14":"tag-community-organizing","15":"tag-community-solution","16":"tag-culture","17":"tag-duque-de-caxias","18":"tag-education","19":"tag-favela-culture","20":"tag-feminism","21":"tag-gender","22":"tag-greater-rio","23":"tag-handicraft","24":"tag-income","25":"tag-mental-health","26":"tag-pantanal-neighborhood","27":"tag-recycling","28":"tag-sustainability","29":"tag-sfn","30":"tag-sustainable-favela-network","31":"tag-turano","32":"writer-camilla-piccolo"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56964","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\/198"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=56964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/56976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=56964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=56964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=56964"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=56964"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=56964"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=56964"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=56964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}