It seems easy to be supportive…

by Jacopo FO

It seems easy to be supportive... #1

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How do they laugh in Africa? #2

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Simone, do you want to go to Mozambique? #3

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I am going to Mozambique! But to do what? #4

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The meetings #5

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Where do I start? #6

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Meeting with

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The first contacts with Mozambique #8

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Agenda first mission in Mozambique #9

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First mission: arrival in Maputo #1

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But where am I? #2

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Meeting with Alvim Cossa #3

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Teatro do Oprimido Show #4

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Meeting with the Machaka Association #5

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The Show by the Machaka Group #6

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Manuela Soeiro and the Avenida Theater #7

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Gonçalo Mabunda #8

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Meeting with the Luarte Association #9

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Luarte Show #10

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Maputo - Pemba Journey #11

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Vitor Raposo #12

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Pemba – Palma Trip #13

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Visit to the village of Quionga #14

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Visit to the village of Quirindi #15

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That wonderful beach! #16

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Visit to the village of Pundanhar #17

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The Mamãe Kit #18

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Visit to the hospital in Palma #19

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Return to Italy #20

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The project continues! #1

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How many meetings are we going to have?!? #2

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Agenda second mission in Mozambique #3

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Second mission in Mozambique, arrival at Pemba #4

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Felix Mambucho #5

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Performance Vitor Raposo and the Tambo Tambulani Tambo company #6

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Pemba – Palma Trip #7

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Performances at Palma, on with the casting! No, stop! #8

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Grupo do funzionarios #9

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Performances (and casting) in the village of Pundanhar #10

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Performances (and casting) in the village of Quionga #11

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Selecting the actors for the Italian stages #12

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Are you ready to come to Italy? #13

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The return to Italy and end of the second mission #14

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Preparing for the first training period at Alcatraz #1

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Arrival at the Libera Università di Alcatraz #2

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We begin! #3

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Mario Pirovano #4

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Acting with Mario Pirovano #5

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Arms going up on their own! #6

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A dive into the theatre #7

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Let’s tell a love story! #8

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Being an actor is hard work #9

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What days! #10

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O falso médico! #11

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We all go shopping! #12

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The performance takes shape #13

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We need an ultrasound! #14

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Rome has never been so beautiful! #15

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Second training session: the first day... #1

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The return of the Mozambicans #2

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A tragic day #3

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Memory tests with Mario Pirovano #4

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Rehearsals, rehearsals, rehearsals… and that script in 3 languages… #5

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First reading of the script in Swahili #6

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Just for a change, we rehearse... #7

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That damned video! #8

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In and around Perugia #9

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The last rehearsals #10

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Action! #11

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Changes to the show? Change the title?!? #1

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Confusion in Fatima’s House #2

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Preparation of the stage design #3

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Ready to go (again)? #1

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Arrival at Pemba #2

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At Palma under the palm trees (wet!) #3

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First day of the tour: Mute #4

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Second day of the tour: Pundanhar #5

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Third day of the tour: Quionga #6

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Fourth day of the tour: Palma #7

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Fifth day of the tour: Olumbe #8

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Thank you Mozambique, thank you so much! #9

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We experienced it during the “humanitarian mission” in Burkina Faso which lasted for four years and was led by Simone Canova, director of Cacao, il quotidiano delle buone notizie comiche (Cacao, The newspaper of the good humorous news). The members of an aid workers group took turns in the village of Diébougou in the north of the country. They carried no preconceived ideas, they were just trying to understand what the needs were, being at the service of the local people. Thus an informal organization was born, run by the inhabitants and supported with the money raised at the Free University of Alcatraz and by the work of aid workers themselves.

Some relatively simple actions were carried out quickly and successfully. For example, the construction of an oven was financed. And we managed to involve a group of women who took part in daily bread making for their families and who handed out snacks to children in the local elementary school. The planting of hundreds of trees was financed and two vegetable gardens and a well were built.

Surely it helped to improve living conditions but we met major cultural resistance.

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We discovered that zucchini grew lush and abundant over there but then Simone told us that it was useless to cultivate them because few wanted to eat them. I wondered how it was possible that the sautéed zucchini did not charm the Burkinabé.

Another huge obstacle that we encountered was in spreading the health-conscious criteria of green architecture. Not that we wanted to export our models, but it seemed absurd that the traditional houses, with cool roofs made of straw and leaves, were abandoned in favor of roofing made of sheet metal that transformed the houses into solar ovens. But the tin roof required a lot less maintenance and had become a status symbol …

We tried to tackle the issue in an indirect way making a chicken farm, chicken breeding being a popular activity in the area: chicken is considered a luxury and a delicacy. But local chickens were all incredibly thin. It was not difficult to understand why they were so emaciated: the chicken coops were also covered with sheet metal, therefore the chickens lived in perennial saunas which reached extremely high temperatures. Quite soon we saw that those reared in the rising collective farm were much fatter and lively because a roof made of straw and wood was used instead of the sheet metal and it protected them from the sun. A relatively simple task that did not require money but only work. But the idea struggled a lot to spread.

While operating in Burkina Faso we came to realize that it was difficult to communicate, collaborate or exchange experiences even among different groups of aid workers.

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A Swiss arrived in Alcatraz, he had been working for years with a Swiss non-profit organization that operates right in Burkina.

Thus we found out that they had made a colossal operation: they regained 3,500 hectares (35 million square meters) of land in process of desertification, thanks to a technology invented by Professor Venancio Vallerani ,University of Perugia (only about a stone’s throw from Alcatraz) .

This system is based on an innovative type of plough which ploughs deep creating a line of half-moon holes. The land thus overturned forms a mound at the side of the hole. The furrows are oriented in such a way that the piled-up soil shade the half-moon hole ((image from the book third world eco-technology)). In this way the furrow collects rainwater and a small quantity of moisture is retained, thorny, creeping, particularly resistant plants are sown in the half-moon holes and they are able to quickly push their roots deep.

Within a couple of years these plants grow out of the hole and can cover the space between the furrows, shading the soil and favoring the growth of weeds, insects, fungi and bacteria come and the soil retains moisture thus returning to be fertile. Then fruit-bearing plants and trees are sown in the hole. An extremely efficient system but which was almost unknown in the world of cooperation.

We began to discuss the situation, consulting with many associations and organizations to try to understand which were the initiatives that we could achieve and would bring the best results. Our goal was to contribute to spreading the best practices both among the local population and in the world of non-profit organizations. And we soon realized that it was not going to be easy to figure out what to do and then manage to carry it out.

Also because our means were very limited.

But as it often happens, by constantly attempting you end up having a stroke of luck. It’s a matter of statistics rather than skill.

Insisting is an excellent way to bring fate on your side.