Listen to the poem:

Reverberate

In the forest, nothing echoes in vain,

Even the most restrained gesture,

Changes the course of the ground

And reaches what seemed forgotten.

 

A root that deepens in silence

Supports what grows above;

A river that changes its course

Redraws the map of life.

 

The enchanted know how to preserve

The balance that cannot be seen;

They whisper, before each advance,

That to live is also to protect.

 

In a circle, the word spreads,

No voice is diminished;

When the collective articulates itself,

The future becomes greater.

 

Peoples who bring their memory into being

Do not ask permission to exist;

They transform pain into trajectory

And expand the right to continue.

 

Justice is when the margin opens,

When access has no color;

It is when history that previously did not fit

Begins to occupy its place of value.

 

Nothing ends where it begins,

Everything reverberates beyond;

What is planted in diverse soil

Strengthens many as well.

 

This is how life organizes itself

In a network, in flux, in expansion;

What was absence becomes concrete

When it circulates in participation.

 

Echo is the logic of the forest itself,

Where everything that is done

reverberates;

If action is born just and made manifest,

The future expands and prospers.

 

Bringing about effective change in the infrastructure of philanthropy, democracy, and racial justice—the programmatic axes chosen for Instituto Beja’s work—is no easy task. These are three complex agendas, each with their own histories and processes that must be considered when thinking about new paths and solutions to the issues at hand.

Amid such challenging agendas and debates, Instituto Beja believes in the importance of joint and collaborative action with different audiences – from the government, through the business sector, and finally civil society – and in multiple actions and formats, with the aim of enhancing the possibility of transformation in these areas.

In this chapter, you can follow Instituto Beja’s work on the following fronts: