The Conceição das Crioulas community was created when the women slaves Francisca, Germana and Mendeira, fleeing from Quilombos dos Palmares, in Alagoas, arrived in the region in the 18th century. From that time on, the strength of the women is making a difference in this district. One of them, Aparecida Mendes, coordinator of the Association of Quilombola de Conceição das Crioulas, travels the world telling the story of her community.

In Conceição das Crioulas, descendents of Blacks and Indians take part in the struggle for land and knowledge

Evanize Sydow*

Conceição das Crioulas is a small community in Pernambuco with about 4,000 people who remain from the communities formed by runaway slaves, known as quilombos. The great majority of them are descended from Indians. These people have been resisting poverty for many years. Even today, when they need a doctor or another service in Salgueiro, the nearest city, they have to pay $R9 for the round trip in a truck, sitting on top of the cargo. The truck only goes a few days of the week in the morning and returns to the community in the evening. The road is dirt and the place is difficult to access. For those who often spend more than a month without seeing a $R1 bill, the price of the trip is beyond reach.

The community is located in the so-called "Marijuana Triangle", where cases of slave work persist on the large estates. Another problem confronting the people who live in Conceição das Crioulas is the quality of the water. The lake from which the people take water to drink is practically dry. Their animals are skinny. There are no conditions for farming, but the women are not discouraged. They leave home at 5:00 in the morning to go to a distant field, where in a community form, they plant corn and beans. Around midday they return with huge heavy sacks on their shoulders. These are women of 50, 60, and 70 years of age who, after arriving from the fields, start working on their handicrafts. The women produce purses, dolls, earthen bowls and plates from clay, caroá and catulé (typical plants of this region).

Quilombo of women
But if the drought scenario is striking to anyone who arrives at Conceição das Crioulas, the generosity of the people who live there is a counterpoint. They take pleasure in receiving visitors to their homes, gladly offer a cup of "umbuzeiro", tell about how they live, their hardships, the histories of the quilombos, and their passion for the Palmeiras Sports Club. In the ten homes we visited in Conceição das Crioulas, at least seven had a photo of the Paulista soccer team hanging in their living room.

The presence of women in the community is historical. Conceição began when the women slaves Francisca, Germana and Mendeira, fleeing from Quilombos dos Palmares, in Alagoas, arrived in the region in the 18th century. From then on, the strength of the women is making a difference in this district. One of them, Aparecida Mendes, coordinator of the Association of Quilombola de Conceição das Crioulas - founded in July of 2000 and formed by the 10 associations of producers and rural workers coming from various parts of Conceição - travels the world telling the story of her community. Now, the place is earning a valuable gift: its first library. For this reason, they organized a campaign to receive books.

Between May 1 and 3, 25 quilombo communities took part in the Second Meeting of the Quilombo Communities, carried out in Salgueiro and Conceição das Crioulas, in the remote interior of Pernambuco. The meeting helped strengthen the organization of Black communities of Pernambuco and the exchanges with others in the country. It also served to identify the common problems and trace out strategies to raise the understanding of governmental agencies for the promotion of public policies.

On this occasion, a State Commission of Quilombo Communities of Pernambuco was formed to represent the state in the Third National Encounter of Quilombo Communities, which happens in December, with the theme of "Land, education, and reparation for the quilombo people." Legal measures will be proposed for protection of the quilombo people, including land identification and titles, ethno-development, besides education and special curricula.

To send books to the library of Conceição das Crioulas:
Associação Quilombola de Conceição das Crioulas
PO Box 16 5000-000, Salgueiro, Pernambuco, Brazil

* Evanize Sydow is a journalist with the Social Network for Justice and Human Rights. The article was published in the Sem Fronteiras magazine.