We enthusiastically participated in the party/celebration marking six years since the opening of the Plastic City Project, held in the favela’s community center directed by Ana Vaneska. This courageous lady, who initiated the collaboration for the construction of a people’s soup kitchen by the Swiss cooks from Cuisine sans frontière and who conducted the (difficult) continuation as the Cooperativa Zeferina, without further help from the Swiss association. In fact, that association creates, assists, teaches and pays salaries to the kitchen’s workers for the first year (three had already passed), with the intent of rendering them able to work alone and organizing them with the goal of creating an autonomous cooperative. The Swiss association carries out this work in various third world countries. We at the ICBIE have committed ourselves to assist them and to offer them in our Piccola Ribeira hostel when they come to Salvador from time to time; and furthermore, Marlene is the official representative for Cuisine sans frontière in their rapport with the new Cooperativa Zeferina; in that way we have all participated in this end of August party/celebration, as if it were in some small way our success, too. Julio & Bigod were there to paint the walls of the favela, assisted by the local kids; then there was the showing of a film, a concert and a ballet.
