Collab Jovem youth project 2023 - São Paulo, Brazil

Written by Laryssa Carreiro from Collab Jovem project

Laryssa Carreiro grew up on the east side of São Paulo/Capital. She is a poet and writer on Medium, publishing poems through Fazia Poesia page. She is also an educator and English translator-interpreter. She was in Collab Jovem - Flor das Águas (2022) as a monitor and trainee and returned to the festival at Casa Una (2023) with the affective writing workshop.

The time is now. 

Now is a state that doesn't stop you from imagining the future, but it's the time to live and discover who you are. 

The time seems inopportune sometimes. It seems that there are no tools to draw the time, and you have no idea which steps to go through this place that remains alive, only in the imagination - a cloudy, untouched image. It'll take a big rubber to clear this cloudy sky. Rubber? Perhaps it makes the image even cloudier, with dark blurs, and smudges. I'm not sure how to clarify this image. I don't think anyone is quite sure how to lighten it, but the word has always been my source of expression of the lived times. 

I write at this moment because I feel all the time. The time always seems inopportune, but writing makes me motivated because there are no rules or fear when my fingers touch the leaf and let themselves be carried away. It's time. My time remains mine. 

It seems that the time is the journey. Sometimes, I insist on not using it so much in speech to avoid the imminent danger of other people's ears - something that is part of my particular development process, because we are all constantly learning.

Writing has no fear - or doesn't seem to, it just comes out.

Proofreading is a craft, which is delicious after a short read - and I often ask myself after writing and reading what has come out of my fingers: who wrote that?

This feeling that has always been pent up inside me has taken me down paths I never thought I would be able to travel, but the image was visible in my imagination, it was action that was missing. And since life takes and brings what we seek, even without knowing it,

"I found myself on stage next to my fear: the action"

And if in the corner of my room, in the notebook, the word comes out with real fear, in action the word seems to fall silent - if you're not careful, it can even suffocate the speaker. That's why you need to exercise your speech so that it doesn't get stuck in your throat, and have partners to help you breathe when it gets cloudy: breathe in, breathe out, and don't panic.

Breathing and going with your fear is essential. It's what makes the action of the imagination real - and it must become real. This image isn't just a piece of work, it's most likely your greatest desire, your project put into energy form within you.

"What's hard is drawing, getting it out of your head and into action, saying what comes out of your mouth, and reading it to other people"

After breathing in partnership and drawing the picture, we can easily put them into action. Not so easy on your own, but immersed in a space of trust and learning, with the community you are part of, it is possible.

And that's what Collab Jovem did for me. As a mere volunteer, already with a cloudy and uncertain life project, Gabriela Montenegro's project integrated my plan and believed in my imagination enough to put it into action in the world: I didn't know it was possible, I didn't know I was capable, but she did. By immersing myself in a welcoming and educational space, with personalised mentoring, I was able to put my project into the world, accepting all the aspects, qualities, and defects that I have. 

"It was the opportunity to put my image into action and see tangible results that said: you can do it, you are now."

This poem was written by young Isabella Santos and Beatriz Pinheiro Lami, 

in a community with all the younger members in Collab Jovem 2023.

Young people united and memories shared

Various opinions are being expressed

Red black yellow in one salad. 

We have a "saci" with a cane 

He played handball and broke his leg out of nowhere

We have a not-dog burger and potato here

The glue of collab is collaboration  

Getting lost is part of the journey

At the lookout point, it clicks the instant 

It supports the ability to be in action 

Everyone looks scared

              In sacred geometry, voices united in the direction of spoken words

and the circular dance that makes our bodies move 

Causing euphoria and lots of laughter 

mistakes and successes no one judges, they just listen and talk 

During the forest bath 

picking up something that reminded us of 

silent, the wind in our face 

We return from the Salto tour 

We cleanse the soul

Come to collab to discover your journey.

Collab Jovem was a Regenerative Education Festival organised by the Movement of Cities in Transition Brazil, which, between October 27 and 29, joined forces to re-imagine and rebuild a more sustainable future. In this second edition, the festival took place in the city of Salto/SP, at the Casa Una space. 

The choice of educational territory was no coincidence either - Casa Una is an environment of therapeutic experiences that aims to be well with oneself and the world through group learning experiences, collaborative festivals, and individual therapies. 

By offering educational experiences, the festival seeks to integrate UNESCO's four stages of learning: me with me, me with the other, me with the world, and me in the world; these are aligned with integral education: learning to be, to live together, to participate and to inhabit the world in the phase of the third septennium (14 to 21 years), a phase in which we define intrinsic qualities for the individual formation of each one, qualities related to our way of thinking, feeling and acting in the world.

The festival doesn't end after the immersive experience - after returning from the immersion and understanding the impact generated by living together, the Mentoring Program begins, an essential space for building life projects. The mentoring will last 6 months, with fortnightly meetings with a mentor chosen by the youngsters themselves, who will help them to build their life project and thus put it into practice and sustain it, learning to accept collaboration and share difficulties, facilitating the insertion of the project into the community and the action of each project in the world.