Meiroka Nunes, originating from the small city of Mantena located in Minas Gerais, Brazil, has lived on the Vineyard for close to 20 years supporting the Brazilian immigrant community which continues to grow on the Island.
For her work in immigrant support and community advocacy, Nunes has been nominated for the fourth time for the Notable Brazilian Awards in the United States, a prestigious award run by the Brazilian Community Heritage Foundation in Somerville and the community paper Brazilian Times, which circulates across the United States.
The award ceremony has run in New York almost every year for about a half a century to honor Brazilians who stand out in their fields in the United States and in some countries, according to Nunes.
Speaking to her influence in the Brazilian community, Nunes has received more than 100,000 nomination votes for this year’s award.
“It’s amazing, it means a lot for my personal life, and for my family. I feel like nobody expected this from me when I left my city,” Nunes said. “It’s small. They don’t see a lot of people coming to another country and doing something for the community.”
According to the Heritage Foundation, as part of her community work Nunes coordinates an organization which defends immigrants’ rights, working with lawyers and collaborating with state Sen. Julian Cyr and state Rep. Dylan Fernandes.
Her work has granted her awards in New York, Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania and California. The Notable Brazilian Award ceremony will take place in New York on August 31.
Nunes has been a part of several projects in order to bring together the Brazilian community here on the Vineyard. But one of her largest projects is the creation of the Brazukada Facebook group, which now has 12,400 members.
Nunes said that the word Brazukada embodies the word “support,” which is the goal of the group: supporting fellow Brazilians.
When she first moved to the Island, Nunes described feeling lonely and isolated. In the dead of winter, work was scarce and the streets empty. “I realized that we needed something to connect people,” she said.
“If I needed something, or I needed a doctor, and I didn’t have information or I didn’t have someone to translate for me, I just was alone,” Nunes said. With Brazukada, members can find the help they need. And it not only assists the existing community on the Island, but also has become a safe haven for families or individual people arriving on the Island who don’t know where to turn for work or housing.
The Heritage Foundation also highlighted Nunes’ work to help members of the Brazilian community get access to their daily needs. Along with work and housing, a valid driver’s license is a necessity for many Brazilian immigrants on the Island. Nunes has advocated in the state of Massachsutts to provide driver’s licenses to immigrants. She participated in demonstrations in Boston. State lawmakers eventually passed a law that does provide an avenue for immigrants to get a driver’s license.
One of Nunes’ greatest dreams which she continues to work to achieve, she said, is creating an organization or club on the Island that could preserve Brazilian culture.
“I learned something from one boss I had from cleaning houses. It was a saying, ‘You scratch my back, I scratch yours.’ You give to me, I give back to you,” she said. She took this saying to mean that in exchange for creating a life here and obtaining American opportunities, sharing the beauties of Brazilian culture can be something special to give back.
Her hope for the club would be that it first and foremost delivers Brazilian culture to the Island community, so that people who don’t know much about Brazilian culture can learn. She described holding special cultural food nights like is done at the Hebrew Center, and holding activities like capoeira dance classes.
Not only could these activities teach others and welcome them into Brazilian culture, but also ensure that the next generations won’t forget about their Brazilian culture, she said.
Nunes said she already worries about her youngest, Otho, who is 13 and doesn’t like to speak Portuguese as much. She has two other kids, Ian who is 14, and Heyttor who is 19 and who graduated from Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School in June. Heyttor has worked at the Oak Bluffs police station since he was 16, and is now set to study criminal justice in a college in Worcester, Mass.
Although a mother of three, Nunes serves as a kind of mother and source of guidance to the entirety of the Island’s Brazilian community.
“In my community, my children are everybody,” she said.
This is what my America is. Congratulations on all your hard work to both assimilate as an American and preserve your Brazilian culture.
Congratulations! Para Beins!
Congratulations and thank you.
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