You are also organizing protests.
I’m in a group chat on WhatsApp, in which we talk about when there is a protest and when someone needs help organizing a protest. I usually am part of it. Sometimes I take pictures of protests. I also helped organize a protest for the city Tavira to put free drinking water stations so that people can fill their bottles. The city did it. That was a protest I was involved in. But I am also involved for example in climate change protests. I usually volunteer or help.
Do you think protests can achieve something?
If you want something to happen, I guess you have to take action for it. You can’t just say: “Oh, I want this and I want that“ and don’t do anything about it. So I think it does make a difference.
What do you think people are protesting for here in Faro? Is there something in the city that needs to change?
I guess that culture is very important. Some cities don’t acknowledge that. They just keep on wanting to mass-produce things and then they forget that people who create art exist. People that need to be supported in different ways exist. Moreover, I think that the way the city is building buildings must change. Places are destroyed that could be used differently and more important.
For example, my friend wants to move to Faro because she’s going to university and she can’t find a house anywhere. The city is just too populated. They keep building houses and building houses, and they keep destroying places to build more houses and build more houses and buildings and buildings. So I think that needs to change, but I don’t know how.
You are also part of the European youth program. How did you get into this?
It’s funny because I don’t know. One day my friend and I went into the classroom and my teacher said that my friend and I got into the parliament. And I was like: „How? Wait, what did I do to get in there? She told me that the teachers decided that my friend and I had the best ways to speak, were already involved in many projects, and thought that we might be interested. I never agreed to it, but it is okay.
