An experience with street conversation in Porto Alegre

Felipe and I arrived to a weird little street island located in the middle of a crowded avenue. The weather was hot and windy, and we had trouble trying to attach the banner with a wire to a pole, so it soon flew away.

A few sleepy young people from different countries were laying down on the grass, too tired and lazy to even listen to us. The microphone had a stand that could not move, so we started calling and convincing them to come and sing with a circle dance that João das Neves had used with so much success the previous day to gather people around him. Nothing seemed to work, but we insisted.

Slowly some people began to get closer, hold our hands, learn the song – a traditional round dance from northeastern Brazil. Then, about 15 persons sat down on the dry and dusty grass and we could ask what for them meant “the common goods for humanity”. Shy voices started to say: “water”, “land for food”, “the landscape”… Then, water and the need for paying for drinking – a basic human need for survival – was discussed by everybody. Someone gave information about how Coca Cola and Nestlé are privitizing water sources all over the world.

Suddenly, out of the blues, came a man carrying a styrofoam old box came shouting “water, only R$2,00”! With the general laughter of the group, the man reduced the price: “well, only R$1,00”. Invited to sit down and talk to us, he introduced himself, by saying that selling these glasses of drinking water helps to keep his family. Then, he shared with the astonished group that this was a very happy time for him because at 43 years old he just began to accomplish his dream to learn how to read and write. He smiled, stood up and left, shaking the water above his head.