A house to “rehearse a better life together”
We’re in Odemira, in what was once a student residence. It’s a large, spacious building with lots of rooms, lounges and corridors. There’s a hustle and bustle as preparations for the big day begin: coming up to the opening of the New Bowing House, there’s a lot to do. The musicians rehearse in the large “Panorama Room” on the top floor, while a group of Nepalese women prepare an industrial quantity of South Asian delicacies (such as momos and selrôti) in the kitchen to offer the visitors who are expected the next day.
This new space, also known as the “Centre for Planetary Relations”, will soon be the main meeting place for the New Bowing project, with the aim of promoting the inclusion of the migrant population in Odemira and, through art, “try to address the major themes that are at stake here” according to the coordinator, Madalena Vitorino. They are: education, labour and people.
Drawing inspiration from the experience of the Bowing project (2021-2023), promoted by the Lavrar o Mar Cooperative under the coordination of Madalena Victorino, this “is a project for building bridges” – in particular, the bridge between Eastern and Western cultures – in order to understand “how we, Portuguese and Alentejans, can look at our world and share with them a promising life situation, a sense of hospitality and warm welcome; to overcome fears and prejudices and understand that they are looking for a better life, just like us”.
“All really good feelings”
The women who are now cooking arrived just before finishing their daily work in the agricultural fields. During the break between kneading the momos and rehearsing the songs they will perform with the musicians, we managed to speak to one of them, Prariva Dahal, who told us that she has been involved in the project for two months. “My husband has been here for five years, so I came here alone, with my daughter and son. My daughter was born in Nepal, but my son was born here,” she explains in English.
At first, for Prariva’s family, language was a barrier, but now they feel welcomed. “This project has changed our lives and our daily routine. Because we all work in agriculture at the moment, basically. With this project, we can study Portuguese or learn new skills like sewing. Maybe later on we’ll have more job opportunities, and ways to connect with people.” And she adds: “It’s still hard, but we’re doing really well. It’s all really good feelings”.
The atmosphere felt in this house, where everyone seems to have a role to play, is truly wonderful. Over the next three years, different workshops will be organised – including language classes, sewing, cooking and musical instruments. They will be open to everyone, according to their needs and desires.
“We believe that art works to fight, but also to nourish and produce extraordinary moments within an ordinary life, a mundane life”, explains Madalena Victorino. “And that’s the energy we want to create here, so that the New Bowing House can be a home of extreme happiness, despite all the problems that exist in people’s lives”.
Art as an abstract and universal language
Another major aspect of the New Bowing project is working with schools, where there are more and more migrant pupils who speak neither Portuguese nor English. In the afternoon, on the same day, we attended a 9th grade science lesson on the cardiovascular system, in which two dancers (Susana and Carolina) translated the content of the lesson using dance, explaning concepts such as “valve”, “blood” or “artery” with their bodies.
This is a very experimental and challenging axis, but “its effect is immediate”, say the dancers. The use of artistic expressions such as dance or music in a classroom that mixes such different cultures makes it possible to find a language that “despite being abstract, is very universal”.
Gurpreet Singh, who was born in India, is part of the New Bowing management team, along with Madalena and Alexandra Neves Silva. He does “a bit of everything”, but it’s mainly in the schools of Vila Nova de Milfontes, São Teotónio and Odemira that he has made the most impact, connecting with students who otherwise wouldn’t understand the content of the lessons, and feel alone and isolated. “They’re very happy when we go there, they feel safer with us”, says Gurpreet.
See to believe, or believe to see
Rajendra Shiwakoti, who came from Nepal five years ago, works as a translator and mediator for the Odemira City Council and is also an accomplished musician. He has been following the Bowing project since the beginning (in 2021), and considers it “very important and necessary”. “There are some challenges, because people didn’t accept it so easily. But when they see what we’re doing here, they believe in it and they show up!”
And this is what we witness when the doors finally open and the House is filled with a curious audience. Between visits, concerts, dancing and gastronomic tastings, an intense atmosphere of sharing and harmony prevails.
“We believe that here, within this project, we can rehearse a better life together,” explained the coordinator. “We can do this by helping people in their school life, where there is a lot of misunderstanding, in their work life, where there are many difficulties, and in their personal and human life. All of this could possibly lead to a happier social life.”
Made available by the Odemira Town Council for at least a year, with the support of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the New Bowing House will surely remain “full of life” in the hands of Madalena Victorino and all the people who will inhabit its vast walls.
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