South Africa – Brazil exchanges, by Linda

How many 18-year-olds would be excited about travelling to Brazil? Most if not all! Now, think about 18-year-olds who live in a small town in South Africa and have been training capoeira for five years without meeting more than one Brazilian capoeira master: imagine what a big event Brazil would be for them!

In the summers 2007 and 2008, the Abolicao Trust made it possible for four promising capoeiristas from Hamburg to spend two weeks in Brazil, training, travelling and learning. The Hamburg project has been running since 2003, with the students making stupendous progress. With very little input from outside, they run classes and teach themselves the acrobatics, game and music of capoeira. The chance to train intensively with lots of top masters, see capoeira “in its element”, see the range of styles and the depth of the capoeria culture are invaluable experiences.



In 2008, Wanga ‘Besouro’ Afrika and Axola ‘Lampiao’ Avril had their chance to do the first part of the Brazil exchange thanks to a grant from the Prince Claus Fund, a Dutch foundation that supports culture and development. The boys took full advantage of the capoeira teaching, taking the culture shock in stride, spending time with the younger kids at the Crianzas Raizes do Abaete project in Salvador, Brazil.

After this, the second exchange took place: 17-year-old Jair ‘Teimoso’ Santos and teacher Valmir ‘Rupi’ dos Santos travelled to Hamburg on the 6th August. Rupi is the full-time childrens' capoeira teacher at the Crianzas Raizes do Abaete project. Teimoso, is the oldest student in the Project: one of the best capoeiristas, a model student in school, and a good ambassador for the Project. Teimoso was the first of his family to travel abroad, and they let us know that they took the trip very seriously. Rupi and Teimoso arrived to inject some Brazilian capoeira style into the annual grading ceremony, the Batizado – despite the Portuguese-Xhosa language barrier. Visiting Africa is a rare opportunity for these capoeiristas, but it is also invigorating to see the spread of capoeira worldwide.

We hope that the exchange has done something to spread links between capoeiristas worldwide – and to keep repeating the exercise!

* Watch this space for images and video soon*