Beautiful Strangers

When I was around 8 years old a stranger give me a diary by that time I didn't know how it works so they told to write about the important things of the day, my kid brain made the most sense of it: Every important thing of the day is on the news!

That's how I created a singular child diary switching from person statements about summer vacation and political worries about war. Becoming a journalist was a dream coming true, I love my job because it is a type of free pass to ask a lot of questions and tell stories without being seen as awkward

One of those days a stranger told me an interesting story about a family who left their formal jobs behind to live more harmoniously with nature through permaculture and bioconstruction. As a journalist every whisper, comment can unfold a lot more, so I followed the rumors and eventually found them.

I was a stranger knocking at the door of a bioconstrutor family, they shared their beautiful storie life with me and it was one of the most inspiring experiencies, but breaking news is not a very inviting place for inspiring stories, I painfully realized that there was a chasm between my professional and personal ambitions, so I resigned a year later

Not being listened to, not being able to make small changes and slowly burying my creativity hurt, but it also made me reborn. This year, I opened a personal blog and started a second degree, but I never really left journalism, we're intertwined forever. A new interview with the family of biobuilders was made, but I still felt that it was too little, I wanted to help the environmental education and sustainability project in a more effective way.

As if by magic, I saw a cultural contest about a life-changing project, the Free Range Humans, with a big cash prize. So I signed up with all the journalistic material I had about the family and the project.

It was the last day of registration and I had nothing to lose.

Two months later I received the call that changed our lives, the project was awarded. It felt so surreal that I didn't believe it until I signed the terms of receiving the award. The pandemic drastically affected the family's sources of income, which received guided tours of the property and offered workshops and paid consultations. The award could not have come at a more appropriate time.

We never really know what we're going to find on the other side, often work, study, trips, are just excuses that life uses to make you bump into whoever you need to bump into.

I had never heard of the journalist profession before getting that diary when I was 8 years old.

Just as I had never heard of permaculture.

In the same way that the family of biobuilders had never given an interview, even with more than 10 years of activity.

But now all those moments, all the crazy paths in life makes sense, all the inspiring strangers that led me to the day of our first meeting. To all the strangers who guided me to that fantastic moment: Thank you. To me, the stranger, who knocked on that family's door: Thank you. To you stranger reading this: Be blessed with beautiful strangers

"I think some people are too scared, or something. I guess it's hard for people who are so used to things the way they are - even if they're bad - to change. 'Cause they kind of give up. And when they do, everybody kind of loses.” (Pay It Forward, Movie 2000)

First interview:

https://g1.globo.com/mt/mato-grosso/noticia/2018/10/31/com-as-proprias-maos-familia-constroi-casa-sustentavel-e-sistema-de-tratamento-de-agua-com-bananeira-em-mt.ghtml

Second interview:

https://alykemvoce.wordpress.com/2021/03/19/de-nos-para-o-pantanal/