WYD Lisbon 2023: Young people from the Amazon bring a musical about the abolition of slavery to Portugal
Benevides, in the state of Pará, was the first city to abolish slavery, and since 1970 it has hosted a Mariapolis Center, belonging to the Focolare Movement.
Paulo Rocha, ECCLESIA Agency envoy to Brazil
Benevides, Brazil, Sep 11, 2022 (Ecclesia) – A group of young people from Benevides, in the state of Pará, is preparing a musical about the abolition of slavery to perform at the World Youth Day (WYD) in Lisbon.
Benevides, known as the “cradle of freedom”, was the first region in Brazil to abolish slavery and, through the musical, young people want to “rescue this history”.
“Our region was the first to free the slaves. The idea of a musical will tell a little about ours, remembering that the Church played a fundamental role in the liberation of slaves in this city”, said Lucas Begot, from the parish of Benevides, who is preparing the musical.
The musical also intends to denounce new slavery in the Amazon region, namely “sexual slavery, of minors and also of work”.
Lucas Begot states that “singing is the first freedom” and that he intends to take the “beautiful story that is the liberation of slaves, in Benevides, throughout Brazil and throughout the world, through WYD”.
The creation of musicals in the parish of Benevides began with the participation of 4 young people in WYD 2019, in Panama, and as a way of motivating young people to as current activities of the Catholic Church in the region, more than 50 young people.
Luciana Dikson is one of the singers in the musical and says she is “very excited” to be able to leave Pará and take the region’s culture to another country.
“When we talk about our city, many people think that it is a poor city and that it has nothing and does not value our culture”, he says, adding that culture “has to be rescued”.
Margarida Freitas, a Portuguese member of the Focolare Movement who has been on mission in Benevides for 6 years, declares a “great fascination for the Amazon”, not only because of what people generally think, and is related to nature, flowers or animals, but because of the people, who “are fantastic”.
“These are people with a lot. They care a lot for freedom, for freedom of freedom, for a lot of freedom. Be and be repressed, but they have been very well seen to cause their defense”, he referred to them of that freedom, indicating that they will have many benefits for the first city.
Faced with new forms of slavery practiced by large companies, the missionary from the Focolare Movement recalled that many indigenous people are there because they oppose and unmask situations of exploitation, since in the region “agribusiness is stronger than human beings themselves” .
Margarida Freitas does her mission from the Centro Mariápolis Glória, in Benevides, which was created in 1970 and welcomes 30 families, where the Amazonian reality is recreated, namely the “respect for nature” and the recovery of legends and cultural traditions.
Young Benevides participated in the presentation that the president of the Foundation WYD Lisbon 2023, D. Américo Aguiar, and one made by the Local Organizing Committee (COL) is making in Brazil, namely in Belém do Pará.
PR