Association that provides free assistance to Brazilians in Portugal turns 30 | World
Casa do Brasil reaches three decades of activities as the largest association of the Brazilian community in Portugal, where about 210,000 Brazilians legally reside, representing the largest migrant community in the country. For the coming years, one of the challenges of Casa do Brasil de Lisboa is to be a space for all nationalities.
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A non-profit association of immigrants, Casa do Brasil de Lisboa was created in 1992 by a group of Brazilians and Portuguese who discuss the regularization of professionals who approach Brazil. They were “advertisers, dentists, who had this difficulty in recognizing their profession” in Portugal, says Cyntia de Paula, president of the Casa.
Since then, the great mission of Casa do Brasil has been the guarantee of rights for migrants of all nationalities. In addition, the association has a very strong work in “especially types of discrimination, against racism, xenophobia and other oppressive systems such as machismo, LGBTphobia and many others”, by Paula.
Guidance and referral
Portuguese passport — Photo: Reproduction/Consulate of Portugal in Newark
The headquarters of Casa do Brasil is in Bairro Alto, located in the old and central part of the Portuguese capital. It has almost 6,000 members and serves around 2,000 people a year. For this, it has nine employees and 15 volunteers. Part of the team works at the Guidance and Forwarding Office (GOE), created to be a safe source of information for those arriving in Portugal.
The office “helps the migrant person who arrives and who needs more information to discover what it means to be an immigrant”, says Cyntia.
The GOE offers, for example, information on regularization, legalization and labor rights in Portugal, as well as guidance on how to access health, education, social security services and many others.
For those looking for work, Casa do Brasil also has Information on the Professional Migrant Office (GIP).
“In addition to helping to understand the Portuguese job market, [o GIP] assisting in the elaboration of CVs, in the preparation of job interviews, this match the companies, also with the form of searches, dialogue with the professional associations”, explains the one from the orders.
For people of Brazil from Lisbon they organize informative migrant organizations, promotes campaigns and projects and creates many that contribute to integration, such as what contributes to migration for integration, as what guides Brazilians who are in Brazil and who plan to work to combat to hate speech. Cyntia de Paula also draws attention to what the association has been doing in the field of activism.
“There is a whole stake in terms of improvement policies for migrant people, from positioning ourselves on issues of women’s issues, racism and discrimination against women, with all the constants as a whole from our different governments that our already 30-year-old companies of Casa do Brasil”, summarizes the association.
Cyntia recalled that, in 2003, the House played a very important role in what became known as the “Lula Agreement”. “It was an act of activism and lobbying. It was an agreement that more than 20,000 people from Brazil regularized because, at that time, we had not yet foreseen the time of migration in Portugal, in the same way as it is today.”
In the field of arts, the House has a sought after and artistic reception of people who work with different manifestations. It has been the stage for film sessions, literary works and dance classes.
“We have forró, samba, body expression, salsa classes every week”, completes Cyntia, who insists on having a program at the Casa “it is not focused on Brazilian culture; it is focused on the culture as a whole. ”
In recent years, Casa do Brasil de Lisboa has undergone changes, including the stronger presence of women in the work team, which, according to the association’s president, is very important “because we brought a look at the gender perspective” . Cyntia de Paula is the third woman to preside over the House since its creation.
In addition to more spaces occupied by women, Casa do Brasil also gained a new service model that allows it to reach migrants who live far from Lisbon. “We built a remote service, which we didn’t have before. Or, the person no longer needs to come, necessarily, to our headquarters. We already provide service via email, via phone, via WhatsApp, via Zoom”, says de Paula, with delight.
For four years in the presidency of Casa do Brasil in Lisbon, Cyntia recognizes that there are challenges for the future. One of them is support for more collectives, so that there are more collectives. “It could be much, much more associative movements across the country,” she envisions.
De Paula also plans to make Casa a strong presence for migrants from all corners.
“I want the House to be a space for all people to be represented. Not just Brazilians. That people can see the House as a space for their work, their struggle, and all their struggles. May the feminist movement, the LGTBQIA+ movement, the anti-racist movement and others also find their place within the House. I think this is also a great challenge for the coming years”, he points out.