AN EYE-OPENER EXPERIENCE IN LISBON-PORTUGAL

By Veronica Ugates
Lisbon-Portugal
November 18, 2014



I was providentially invited by the Foundation for the Shelter and Support for Migrants[FSM] Director Dr. Ahmed Bugri and his wife Marcelle to join them in a trip to Lisbon, Portugal, an opportunity that I gladly took advantage of.  This trip was part of the FSM project for 'Developing a Third Country National Support Network in Malta' funded by EEA Grants where Marcelle is actually the  Project Coordinator. It was a great and an eye opening experience.

We arrived in Lisbon on Monday the 10^th of November 2014, met by representative of BAIRROS, the partner organization of FSM chaired by Mr. Mourad  Ghanem which aims to  unite all the diverse organizations in Lisbon and he is succeeding, a successful story by itself.

We were housed in a rescued hostel in Intendente,  the rooms of which boast of  shiny wooden floors overlooking the  square which used to be the promenade of prostitutes and now has a café, other business establishments  and a sports club.

On the following day we walked around Mouraria, the birth place of Fado  or traditional songs, which in so far as I understood is sung like ballads but in  Portuguese. Three years ago I was told Mouraria was a place of prostitutes and drug addicts, a place where everybody else with common sense would try to avoid especially at night. But then the Mayor of Lisbon stepped in and decided to establish his residence in Mouraria. Today Mouraria is a tourist attraction.

Now Mouraria is a place where the locals and migrants are working side by side with their own establishments and cafes. We were treated to a diverse cuisine every lunch and dinner. It was a grand culinary experience though I myself am too much of a coward to be so daring.


Moraria, being a centuries old community is paved with cobbled stones, the streets are so clean and it is a wonderful experience going up and downhill, going up and down steps and encountering various reminders of the past as well as astounding views in every corner. One can also go about Lisbon in a TUKTUK or a moped, a vehicle similar to the tricycle of the Philippines. But what impressed me most in Moraria is the fervent desire of the residents, both native and migrants, to make their place an ideal place to live in. There is a street in Moraria where the great FADO singers are commemorated  with pictures on the walls and the  residents have their photos attached to the wall of their houses.



That  afternoon we met the Director of Solidariedade Imigrante [SOLIM] introduced only as Timothy, a one- in- a- million character, who established an organization composed of 24,000 migrants from 28 countries all working together to achieve integration in Portugal, not necessarily as citizens but permanent residents with the right to own a business and property as possible. Again I was impressed by the dedication and effort that they have and are expending towards this goal. And I, too, began to dream of such a possibility for the Filipinos and other Third Country nationals in Malta. The question is, would it be possible? I do not know, but I hope to take the first step since i will never know unless I try.

On the second day of our visit we were taken to see Cavo Moura, a place where migrants from Cape Verde and other Africans are now residing, for which we took a 30 minute train ride. There I saw a place managed by young people who shared a common vision of unity and improvement of their lives as migrants in Portugal and it was a marvelous experience to say the least. To find different people of different nationalities who aspired for a common goal and share it among themselves knowing that they need to be united in order to be strong and achieve their purpose. It was not just amazing, it was stupendous.

Cavo Moura is composed of houses that are painted with murals. Ordinary house painting is not for them but of beautiful landscapes,  Disneyland characters and ideals.

The young men and women in Cavo Moura have organized themselves into one community of sharing and caring for each other’s needs. They have a pre-school center for kids to take care of children whose parents are working especially the single mothers. They have a communal kitchen feeding about 75 families and if you cannot pay for your meal then you pay it by man-hours that you can work to help in the running of the place. Just about everybody have something to contribute whether it is maintaining cleanliness within the building or outside of it.

They have a recording studio to record songs or videos that they sell to augment the income for Cavo Moura and everything is turned into the upkeep of the place.  They create post cards featuring the residents of the place which they also sell  and they organize concerts and other activities for this common goal, truly an astonishing and incredible achievement for young people. Their leader is only 33 years old. And  I feel that jolt of sadness because we Filipinos seem unable to achieve such a thing. But they say, hope springs eternal and I do hope and I have faith in the Almighty.

From the window of Moinho de Juventude you can see the beautiful houses and apartment buildings of the Purtuguese residents who refuse to have Cavo Moura as part of their community. A dividing wire fence separates the more affluent part of the place from Cavo Moura. There is a half meter piece of land that runs along this dividing fence and the residents of Cavo Moura had cut a gateway to this plot on which they plant agricultural products as corn and vegetables. They take turns watering the plants and keep it locked when it is not being tended as well as at night time. They found a way to utilize the place and made it fruitful as well as beautiful.

On the third day of our visit was a conference, to consolidate our observations and findings in Moraria and Cavo Moura, which  was hosted by BAIRROS, the partner organisation of FSM or the Foundation for the Shelter and Support of Migrants. Ernesto Possolo, being a staff member of BAIRROS did  the organising and was also the mediator . His wife Sandra, chair of the the Renovar A Mouraria Project prepared the food.  The conference started at 9:30 am but the discussion was so interesting that it  lasted until 3:00 pm.

There I met a Libyan lady, whose name I cannot remember but what she said made me comprehend something I have always overlooked. I realized that I am also a displaced person and a refugee in the real meaning of the word since I, too, long to go back to that place I have always regarded as a second home.

Then I think of how much it must mean to my daughter who was born and reared in that place for 18 years, acquired her many friends there and had already regarded it as HOME. How painful it must be to recognize that there is no longer any going back and all you’ve got are memories of the place since you hardly have any photographs to remember it by. That war had really taken its toll not only for the Libyans but also for those who had lived there, for all of us who felt dispossessed.