São Paulo – Arab refugees coming to Brazil are finding different way of integration to local society. One of them is to offer courses that show a sample of the culture of their origin countries, and the project Migraflix has been pairing together foreigners and Brazilians in workshops covering several topics to promote this approximation.
There are already four Arab immigrants, one Moroccan woman and three Syrians, taking part in the project, offering cuisine and calligraphy workshops. In addition to these, Migraflix already offers courses taught by people from Peru, Cameroon, Togo, Argentina and Spain. All of the classes take place in the capital São Paulo.
The project begun on September of last year, as the result of an initiative taken by Argentinian Jonatan Berezovsky and Brazilian Rodrigo Borges. Berezovsky, Migraflix’s executive director, lives in Brazil for two years already and created the project with the idea of helping low-income refugees and immigrants in a way that would escape the welfarism mold.
“The idea is to economically and socially empower the immigrant”, he says. The economic part comes from the resources obtained with the value paid for the classes. Each cuisine workshop costs BRL 90 (USD 22.28) per person, with the other topics costing BRL 70 (USD 17.33) per student. In each class, a total of ten students is the upper limit.
Of the total collected, 80% goes to the immigrant and 20% goes to Migraflix to cover the maintenance costs of the plataform, which has a staff of 15 volunteers. Social empowerment, says Berezovsky, comes from the valorization of the foreigner’s work.
“Now they feel recognized. The immigrant becomes a person that has something to teach Brazilians, and Brazilians come closer to learn something from the immigrants”, points out Berezovsky. For him, the work via the workshops is being able to change the “paternalistic relation” that exists in relation to low-income refugees and immigrants that arrive in Brazil.
“They feel valued, that people are interested in their culture”, says the Migraflix’s director. He believes that the workshops promote an important integration between Brazilians and foreigners. “Besides learning to cook a Syrian dish, you’re able to understand who the immigrant is”, he illustrates. During classes, the students introduce themselves and can ask questions to the immigrant. “A very rich dialogue is created”, he says.
Up to now, Migraflix organized 35 workshops and classes will resume on January’s second week. In all, 11 immigrants are participating in the project teaching courses on topics such as Arabic calligraphy, Syrian delicacies, Andalusian cuisine and Colombian dance, among others. In February, the plataforma will begin to offer a workshop on Tunisian arts.
In the beginning, says Berezovsky, the project went searching for immigrants willing to teach. With more exposure in the media, the project started to being sought after by the foreigners. Now, those interested in offering a workshop via Migraflix can contact the website to schedule a talk with the project’s team.
The workshops’ topics, prices and dates are available at www.migraflix.com.br
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
