“I get up at 4 a.m, prepare lunch and dinner, making sure everything is ready. I finish, wash the pots and pans, and at 4 a.m. I'm up again. That's how it works.”
The work of 68-year-old Lúcia da Rosa begins when the city is still asleep. While many are comfortable in their beds, she is already up, lighting the stove and preparing meals to be donated to those who need them most. In a solidarity kitchen located in the Mário Quintana neighborhood, in the city of Porto Alegre, Tia Lúcia – tia means “aunt” in Portuguese – as she is affectionately called, dedicates her life to preparing 300 meals a day, distributed at noon and 7 p.m.
The meals Tia Lúcia prepares every day in the Solidarity Kitchen have become synonymous with hope for many / Photo: Clara Aguiar
Tia Lúcia is the president of the Recycling Association and the Strength and Courage Solidarity Kitchen, a name that reflects what motivates her daily. The kitchen started its activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, when food insecurity spread across the country. Faced with this scenario, Tia Lúcia decided to take action. Four years ago, her prepared meals became synonymous with hope for many. The kitchen quickly became an essential support point for the villages in the Mário Quintana neighborhood.
Tia Lúcia cooking an avrage of 300 meals a day / Photo: Clara Aguiar
“It's very important to care for people, isn't it? Making people happy, because there's nothing more beautiful in the world than arriving with freshly made food and hearing: 'Oh, ma'am, how good is this food? I'll leave a little for the night,'” says Tia Lúcia. She finds in solidarity the possibility of feeding hundreds of people.
"There isn't nothing more beautiful than having food cooked just in time", says Tia Lúcia / Photo: Clara Aguiar
“I rely on partners to pay for electricity, water and cooking gas. Now, the federal government is donating meat and protein for us. We're getting something… But it's still not much.” Actions such as the Food Acquisition Program (PAA, in Portuguese), coordinated by the National Supply Company (Conab, in Portuguese) with the cooperatives of the Landless Rural Workers' Movement (MST, in Portuguese), have been one of the supports Tia Lúcia receives to ensure food for vulnerable families.
Proud to be a recycler
But her work goes far beyond the meals she prepares. Tia Lúcia is, above all, a recycler. “It was my first job,” she explains. At the back of the Solidarity Kitchen headquarters is the recycling sorting unit she runs, which provides a living for two employees.
The materials collected are sorted, cleaned and prepared to be sent to the retailer. Although the payment for these materials is not significant, Tia Lúcia values the positive environmental impact of recycling. “I don't care that they don't pay much. Knowing that it won't last 500 years in a landfill is enough for me. Because it's 500 years that I can save someone on this planet,” she says.
For her, recycling is not just a means of making a living, but a mission, a way of healing the Earth. “We, recyclers, are the doctors of the Earth. We heal the Earth because we pick up garbage from the ground that even street sweepers don’t pick up, but we do. We bend down, pick it up and generate income. It's not much, but we don't want much. We just want to save the planet. If we don't look after our planet, who will?”
Her dedication to the solidarity kitchen and recycling is driven by a sense of caring for the world in which she lives. “Because I want to breathe. I want to live, you know? And how am I going to live on a planet like this, with floods, devastation, deforestation? I can't live. That's why we're getting together and cleaning up the streets.” She expresses frustration at the lack of policies to preserve the environment, highlighting the urgent need for change. “This flood that happened [in the state of Rio Grande do Sul]… They [governments] don't want to let the water flow. They don't want to leave a slope, plant a tree, or preserve nature. But then we'll die in concrete.” For Tia Lúcia, her mission to feed and recycle reflects her commitment to a possible future for everyone.
“People say: 'Oh, it's going to turn into a dump'. It's not going to become a dump. For example, that clothing there is going to be donated to a village. It could have gone to the landfill, but why am I going to put it in the landfill if there are people who are cold, hungry and in need?” And so, between cooking meals and the sound of recyclable materials being sorted, Tia Lúcia continues her journey.
Amidst so much dedication, Tia Lúcia has many dreams. “My dream is to have a place just for recycling. I dream of having solar panels here to save electricity. My dream is to travel, but to do so, I need money,” she says.
There, food and recycling are intertwined, two fronts in the same fight for a fairer and more sustainable world. Every meal delivered and every kilo of material recycled at the Association is a way for Tia Lúcia to take care of people and also the Earth. “I rely on strength and courage there, wanting to tell people that it's in strength and courage that we do things. Because it's with courage that I did it, in the strength of my will to go out into the streets and fight.”
