Travel through the ‘happy neighborhoods’ of Portugal. Chapter 4: Cane fields
The journey through the happy neighborhoods of Portugal arrived in Alentejo, in the parish of Canaviais, located about five kilometers from Évora, but which “more looks like a village”. Not so much for the peace that is found there, but more because “here people still establish connections and help each other a lot”, says Alexandra Caravela, 40, coordinator of the day center for the elderly, one of the main institutions in the neighborhood. . Mariana Fialho, 68 years old, knows this well. Born, raised and living in Canaviais, when her husband died, seven years ago, she closed herself at home, but quickly encouraged her to join the party committee and the Cantares da Casa do Povo group. “It was Mrs. [Pedrosa] that pulled me here and it was like gaining a new soul. The best thing about Canaviais is this camaraderie,” she says. And even the new residents are that. They are attracted by the quiet of the neighborhood, but conquered – and infected – by the spirit of community.
voluntary involvement
The first time that Nuno Henriques, 48 years old, came to Canaviais was in 1993, when he was studying at the Faculty of Évora. “I came to the Carnival party here at Casa do Povo with a friend who was from here in the neighborhood and it was one of the funniest nights ever”, he says. At the time, it did not occur to him that he would change Santarém, where he was born, for Évora; that he would live in the Canaviais with his wife, have and raise his three children there; and that, after 20 years in the Casa do Povo series, he will move to the parties and organize the pedagogical activities that will take place there. “One night I went to throw the garbage and Ana [Pedrosa] me if I wanted to be part of the board. First I said no, but then I said yes and when she left to replace her, in January 2021,” she says. Ana Pedrosa, who was president of Casa do Povo for 11 years and the great mentor of all the changes that took place there recently, saw in Nuno Henriques the capacity for initiative and energy that is common to Canavienses and all organizations in the neighborhood. “For example, here at Grupo Desportivo there is a huge involvement of parents in raising funds to go play in Spain”, says Manuel Henriques, 57, manager of the Group’s bar and restaurant.
An involvement that is totally voluntary, even on the part of the presidents of the organizations, who do this work in their two free hours. This is the case with Nuno Henriques, who works at the Mertolengos Bovine Breeders Association; with Manuel Caroço, a 58-year-old drug distributor who travels 600 kilometers a day but always finds time to spend at the association. “If I don’t go to the salon, they ask for me right away”, he says. Or even with Bernarda Cota, a nurse who works at the Regional Health Administration of Alentejo, but also at the Canaviais Parish Council. “In parishes with less than 5,000 inhabitants, the social bodies are not organized, only subsistence allowances”, she explains.
The People’s House
The genesis of the Casa do Povo de Canaviais begins in 1911 with a Sociedade da Pêra, an association and a building created by agricultural workers from organized farms that were used as a space for the community and for dancers. Later, it changed its name to Sociedade Operária de Instrução e Recreio do Povo, but during the Estado Novo it was forced to close and, in the 40s, it was renamed Casa do Povo de Évora, expropriating the goods. the 14 of 2000 members of the community of the greater people who, today, remained in all the goods of the community that, today, remained in tradition and that, today, is the tradition. characterizing the neighborhood. In addition to the parties they organize there, it is also where the ATL and the Évora center of the Universidade Popular Túlio Espanca are located, for people over 55 years old. It was also there that, in September 2010, the Cantares dos Canaviais group was born, giving concerts at various festivals in the region. “We launched an invitation to the population to create a theater group and a choir group. 20 people showed up and it was half for each side and they are all residents of the Canaviais. We do things and the population immediately joins in”, says Ana Pedrosa, 70 years old who, despite no longer being president, remains in charge of Casa do Povo and is present in all the initiatives they organize.
Social support
The Canaviais Association of Retired, Pensioners and Elderly people manages a day care and home support center founded in 1992 and, like Casa do Povo, was also created at the initiative of the residents. “People from Canaviais are very local people and thank you, Alexandra Caravela, a place for pensioners without leaving the neighborhood”, says the coordinator to Caravela “They used to come here on the weekend to do this, which is why it took two or three years to build”, adds Manuel Caroço. Today, of the 65 users they take care of every day of the week, more come from outside the sugarcane plantations. “People charged us because we’re like a family,” says Alexandra. In addition, over the last few years there have been numerous improvements to the building, especially during the pandemic. “We renovated the kitchen and lounge, the bathrooms and laundry rooms are new, we installed 80 solar panels on the roof and of the six cars and vans we have, two are electric”, explains Manuel Caroço.
All this was done with support from European funds to which they are applying, but as in Casa do Povo, parties are also organized here to raise some money. Also because, says Manuel, what Social Security pays for each user is not enough. Thus, in addition to sardines that last until dawn, they organize the Pig Festival or the Fado Night. It was also Manuel who instigated the creation of the Group of Accordionists. “It started with a sardine. I invited about three or four who knew who played to form a group and 16 people showed up, some from outside. Now we do rehearsals on Thursdays. But I don’t play yet, I only play viola and cavaquinho”, he says.
The Association for Rehabilitation, Support and Social Solidarity (ARASS) is another institution in the neighborhood that emerged well among the residents some 30 years ago. According to Ana Pedrosa, it was Eulália, Sara’s mother, “who needed to find a place for her daughter and so she founded and made this home and this association”, exclusively for people with disabilities. Today it has 30 users, 23 of which are in a residential regime, and it is chaired by Vítor Catrapona, a 56-year-old retired military nurse who has lived in the sugarcane plantations for 53 years and who also performs this role on a voluntary basis.
the mice
It began to be known as the Espinheiro neighborhood for its proximity to the Convento do Espinheiro, today a five-star hotel, but later it was renamed Canaviais because there were two large farms – Quinta do Canavial de Fora and Quinta do Canavial de Inside – where the animals were raised and the products were cultivated that would later go, by cart, to be sold to Évora. In fact, even today there are several vestiges of these farms, some abandoned, but where they remain as nameplates and large lands, now dry. It was for these farms that, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many men and women from the north of the country worked in the fields. “They were called mice”, says Manuel Caroço. And it was these workers who were built in height, around the parallel farms, but they are already ordered and structured in streets and perpendicular to each other that currently exist. It still belonged to the Cathedral, in Évora, but in 1985 it became a parish.