Profiles in Regeneration: Sabine, 25, Brazil
My priorities are human rights and public security.
Young people all around the world are working to build a regenerative future. At 25, Sabine is one of those people. They want to create informal spaces of care for LGBTQ+ people and POC to improve mental health, dismantle asylum institutions, and increase dialogue about LGBTQ+ people.
Regenerative Futures: Hello! What’s your name?
Sabine: Hi, my name is Gabe Passareli Simões Vieira, AKA Sabine.
RF: How are you feeling right now?
S: I’m grateful right now. I’m in Rio Bonito, Brazil, in my garden and looking at the moon. I’m listening a Fugees performance from 2005.
RF: What’s a secret your search history can tell us about you?
S: I’m obsessed with listening to music on YouTube and searching for a lot of words in English. I’m fascinated by dictionaries.
RF: What are you reading/learning about at the moment?
S: The last two pages that I read were from a book by Florbela Espanca, a poet from Portugal. She writes about love and death. Poetry reminds me of how simple reading can be. Sometimes I’m navigating sacred geometry, the Book of the Dead, or European art history. I love to learn about performance and philosophy. The last article that I read was “Difference Without Separability” by Denise Ferreira da Silva, a Black philosopher from Brazil. An important book for me in 2020 is Ideas to Postpone the End of the World by Ailton Krenak, an Indigenous leader and activist from Brazil.
RF: Who is your favorite human and why?
S: Myself. I know that I need to have this type of confidence. My sister Matheusa is forever my star. My guide. My mother and my father taught us about developing ourselves to be responsible and free.
RF: Which key moment inspired you to start your project?
S: My sister’s murder in 2018 at Rio de Janeiro. Grief has left permanent scars on me. Now I’m trying to live peacefully with myself and the world. I’m willing to develop a strong net of support and keep taking care of other people. When I’m feeling capable of it, I know that I’m good.
RF: In two years’ time, what would success with your project look like?
S: I want to be an occupational therapist specializing in mental health. I want to share my interdisciplinary knowledge of art, education, and health.
RF: If you could focus a large percentage of government funding on one industry or project for the next five to ten years, which would you choose and why?
S: The Favela Observatory. It’s a social organization that works on research, consulting, and public action dedicated to making political propositions on slums and urban phenomena. The Observatory seeks to assert an agenda of Rights to the City by redefining slums in the context of public policy. With five institutional aspects, it operates in five distinct areas: education, policies, urban, communication, and culture. My priorities are human rights and public security.
RF: What is the best and worst thing about the education system in your country?
S: The best is Paulo Freire, an educator and philosopher who was a leading advocate for critical pedagogy. He had an important impact on Brazilian education. The lack of responsibility from the Brazilian government in 2020 is the worst.
RF: Do you have a message for anyone your age living in the year 2060?
S: Be confident. Trust yourself. Love without judgment. Have fun! Work! Live your life with patience. DANCE!
RF: What inspires or frightens you most about the future?
S: We cannot go back in time! The present is not enough.
RF: Regeneration is…
S: Dignity.
To learn more about Regenerative List finalist Sabine, click here.
