The Witnesses

the witnesses, originally uploaded by Tatiana Cardeal.

Photo by Tatiana Cardeal, São Paulo – BRAZIL.

Taken during a cultural performance by children and young people of the Grupo Cultural Beija-Flor on Brazilian Children’s Day

Moderators comments:

I'm so moved by this image that I decided to release our in-house pre-recording of the song "Valor Negro", which belongs to the presentation you see in Tatiana's image above.

Look deeply into the large size of this image then close your eyes and listen.
The song, a historic reflection of the negro's plight for freedom and justice, was created and is performed by the kids in our programme and will be the basis of our Music Video Clip to be filmed next week.

Just click here and wait a few minutes for the song to download.
Then PLAY and ENJOY!

This fabulous image is of Poca (Jefferson), one of my “adopted” former street kids, who is the older brother of Eliana and Sandra, all three having spent a good deal of their childhood living on the streets. He is also the brother of my youngest Prince Charming, Vando.

This Capoeira Video Clip, made by youth from Gumbo TV – USA during their visit to the Hummingbird Project in São Paulo, includes interviews with Poca, now capoeira instructor at Hummingbird.

The African slaves who were hauled to Brazil hundreds of years ago, brought with them their culture and their traditions. They were robbed of their freedom but their wealthy culture and their strong spirit became very much a part of Brazilian culture and tradition. Their Afro-Brazilian descendents were responsible for developing the unique and sporting art of Capoeira, which has been our “flagship” programme at Hummingbird since 1993.
Implanted as part of our street kids recuperation programme, capoeira has been an important “tool” in rescuing the lives of many kids from the hardships of the streets, as it also was during the freedom fight of the slaves more than 120 years ago.

Youth mentor and capoeira instructor, Poca, knows only too well about the hardships of the streets, as he himself is one of those who have been recuperated with the help of Capoeira. His greatest desire whilst on the streets was to one day become a Capoeira Master. This special photo, dear Tatiana, represents not only the plight of all our African brothers and sisters but also Poca’s own plight for freedom from drugs and the streets. Today, one can reasonably say that he has realised his dream.

If you would like to know more about Poca's background, go visit our fabulous Capoeira Website, click on the links bar under "Academy", then "Instructors" and then scroll along to "Poca".
A wonderful story, which enforces even more this fabulous image!