Human Rights Day: A mark in IFLMS-SCORP

By Thatyana Ernani (Brazil). Translations: Portuguese.

Human Rights Day was remarkable in the still recent SCORP history within IFLMS. SCORP activities, up until now, were limited to the local committee from Faculdade de Medicina de Marília – FAMEMA. In this special SCORP date, however, two other local committees, from Universidade Federal do Ceará – UFC and Universidade Federal de Pernambuco – UPE, also celebrated Human Rights Day.

UFC, in partnership with the Associação Comunitária de Ajuda Mútua do Pirambu – ACAMP, visited the slum quarter of Pirambu, one of the largest in Latin America. On Saturday, the 9th, along with the social photographer Robson Oliveira, the students met and photographed everyday scenes of the slum quarter. The scenes were shocking: kids playing in big, open air garbage disposals, a group of youths bathing in an extremely dirty beach, and so on. Along their walk, students from UFC talked to the inhabitants – and only by getting some attention, they were already very happy.

On Sunday, the 10th, in ACAMP’s centre, the students had feijoada (a typical Brazilian dish with black beans and pork) for lunch. They had their meal with representatives from the Central Única de Favelas (CUFA), from the Movimento dos Sem-Terra (MST), and from the local community. Ana Débora Uchoa Soares, one of the students from UFC, described the rest of the day as the following:

"After that, there was a brief meeting, in which we showed the movie with the photos presentation, and discussed the subject! This part was really good! Listening to DIFFERENT opinions from DIFFERENT groups is a very enriching experience! Then came the time for games! Basketball in the square, volleyball on the beach! And of course, members of IFLMS were playing! The whole evening was about recreation, hip hop (yes, that’s it… we even had hip hop with the bros and the gals ;)), and an available microphone for whoever wanted to ask for something! The night was the most beautiful moment… We put up a white blanket on a barrack in the square, and projected on it the images of the previous day. Do you know what it feels like to see the children’s eyes shining as they see their photos projected so that everyone could see them?"

The inhabitants were very happy with the visit from UFC’ students, they thanked them a lot, and the movie that was made has already been sent to Fortaleza’s mayor, demanding action to be taken in Pirambu’s area. And of course, the students were even more motivated to continue with SCORP’s activities in their local committee!

In UPE, the campaign took place only on the 10th, just like in Marília, with FAMEMA. As the majority of the students was already on vacations, the activities were a lot simpler – but not less significant!

In the court of the cultural space of UPE, copies of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were distributed while a LORP, Diego, sang and played song related to human rights and peace.

IFMSA-SCORP… I wish one day I can say that these two committees that opened its doors to SCORP have motivated another two committees, and these two, another two, and so on, till every local committee from IFLMS has a very active SCORP!