The Quilombo Zeferina Center

Background: By Rev. William Rogers

One of the important outreach projects of the seminary is in a section of the city called Piraja. Back in the colonial era, what is now Piraja was a community of runaway slaves, located outside the city, which the settlers called the Quilombo Urubu. There were many quilombos in colonial Brazil and there is a rich folklore about their economic and military struggles. One of the heroines of the Quilombo Urubu was a warrior named Zeferina who led the defense of her quilombo, until finally defeated by the colonial government. The ITEBA project in Piraja is a community center named in honor of the heroine of the Quilombo Urubu, Zeferina.

The Quilombo Zeferina Center is a rented house in which all kinds of community activities take place with the people of the neighborhood: education, nutrition, recreation and community building. One of the recreational and community-building projects of the Quiombo Zeferina is teaching the children of the neighborhood how to perform an Afro-Brazilian dance called capoeira. Capoeira is a kind of ritualized combat in which the legs and feet are used as weapons. It comes from the era of slavery when Afro-Brazilians were not allowed to carry arms and had only their bare hands and feet with which to defend themselves. Teaching the children capoeira is a little bit like teaching North American children how to play softball. It is part of their culture and gives the children a sense of excitement and self-esteem as they learn and exercise their new skills. But for the Afro-Brazilian children of the Quilombo Zeferina, it is more than that. It is a way of taking pride in a heritage which has been condemned and repressed. It is a way of expressing a legitimate and important sense of black pride. We were pleased that our grandchildren took part in the capoeira lessons at Zeferina!

But, what was the work project at Zeferina? It was to clear a piece of land, given to the Quilombo by the Washington [PA] church, and begin construction of a three-story building which will eventually become the new home of the Quilombo Zeferina.

Update on Work At Quilombo Zeferina

Work on the site began in 2000 when it was just a vacant piece of land with a steep slope at the rear of the property that dropped into a deep valley. That first year there were some walls added, but not much more. Since that time the work has continued so that today there are walls and a second story. There remains the need to finish the supporting framework and then finish the interior walls and floors.