Registration is open for the course “Building memory through writing – Innumerable Method”, which aims to train writers to honor victims of Covid-19 with some type of relationship with the University. There are 40 free places offered by the Unicamp Extension School (Extecamp). The course will have 15 meetings, held on Tuesdays, from 14pm to 17pm, which will cover topics such as mourning, working with memory and valuing diversity in written memories, techniques for investigating, writing and editing memorials. Registration can be done at www.memorialcovid19.unicamp.br/CursoInumeraveis. Classes start on August 23rd.
The course is one of the strategies developed by the University aimed at building the Unicamp Covid-19 Memorial, a project started at the end of 2021 with the aim of preserving the memory of those who suffered the consequences of the pandemic. It will be carried out in partnership with the Inumeráveis Project, a memorial that records the stories of Covid-19 victims across the country, created by volunteers driven by the desire to prevent these stories from being ignored.
"We realized that people were being treated like numbers and we wanted to counterpoint that. The solution was to write the stories of those who had died", explains Gabriela Veiga, one of the project's creators. The group is structured into work fronts, from contact with bereaved families, investigating stories, writing and editing texts. Thousands of stories are gathered on the project website, which has already had more than 600 volunteers. According to Gabriela, in addition to paying tribute to the lives lost, the action is positive for family members and volunteers. "Right at the beginning, we got in touch with Ana Quintana, who became our grief specialist, and she explained to us that speaking and listening are part of the elaboration of this process. We then understand our work as a social, collective, which we also needed."
The idea is that course participants reproduce at Unicamp the practice of writing memorials by members of the academic community or people with some relationship with the University. "Inumeráveis has been doing this with the excellence we seek, with respect and care based on the motto that 'no one is just a number'. We cannot forget that, behind every number, there is a person and a story, there are friends, families. Telling these stories is something that Inumeráveis does brilliantly, in addition to developing techniques to continue this", analyzes Marcelo Terra Cunha, professor at the Institute of Mathematics, Statistics and Scientific Computing (IMECC) and organizer of the project.
So that mistakes don't happen again
Formed by a series of initiatives, the Unicamp Covid-19 Memorial seeks to develop projects focusing on three main goals: paying tribute to those who died as victims of Covid-19 and had some connection with Unicamp; honor those who worked and continue to work in the fight against the disease; and preserve this memory so that new generations do not repeat the mistakes made in managing the pandemic.
"Practically all of Brazilian society agrees that there were many mistakes throughout the pandemic. If, on the one hand, it involves natural aspects, on the other, the reaction to it is a social issue. It is the University's obligation to establish this interaction, to be a a place of respect for science and memory. This is what we want to build with this memorial. The next generations need to have access to what this period of history was like, in which several things happened that need to be worked on", reflects Marcelo.
After more than two years of the pandemic, the advancement of vaccination, the improvement in health indices and the easing of health measures, both Memorial Unicamp and Inumeráveis identify the need to prevent so many stories from being forgotten. "Society is moving away from the topic. That's why we focus on another point, producing these memories as a form of protest and healing. It's no longer an action that says 'it's not just numbers', but also 'we won't forget' It is a political act, an aspect that generated great synergy with Unicamp", recalls Gabriela.
The course is open to anyone interested in contributing to the construction of the Unicamp Covid-19 Memorial. When registering, candidates must write a brief text explaining their motivations and interest in the project. "We want those enrolled to be willing to join us in the next stage of the course, which will be creating Inumeráveis Unicamp and being able to identify each story of people in the academic community that we have lost and that need to be rescued, in the broadest sense possible" , details Marcelo.
Memories that belong to everyone
The memories and experiences that the Unicamp Covid-19 Memorial seeks to honor are diverse. From the suffering of those who contracted the disease and the anguish of family and friends, to the feeling of helplessness in the face of the unknown virus, the pandemic showed how valuable respect, empathy and memory are feelings to overcome sadness and pain. With the desire to alleviate this suffering at the beginning of the pandemic, nurses from the Hospital de Clínicas (HC) at Unicamp Márcia Candura and Bruna Dias created a project in which family members could write letters to patients admitted to the hospital's Covid ICU. They were collected by the unit's health teams who, respecting precautions to avoid contamination, read the messages to the hospitalized patients. “Regardless of whether they are sedated or not, the letters could be a comfort for both and a way for these patients to feel that they have not been forgotten by their family members”, reports Márcia.
The professionals reflect that the initiative arose with the idea of contributing to the well-being of patients and families, but also resulted in comfort for the difficult times experienced by hospital professionals. “It was a way for family members to give new meaning to that difficult moment through words. When we realized, not only nursing professionals, but physiotherapists and doctors, were also reading the letters to patients. It was a motivation for us at the ICU. From the letters, we realized the fight that we couldn't lose, because those families were like ours”, remembers Bruna.
For them, the pandemic continues to leave its marks. However, the lessons learned can guide us for the future. "We learned to search for knowledge, to work as a team, listen and pay more attention to each other", reflects Márcia. "We still have a lot to learn because this pandemic is not over yet and others may come. I hope that we, health professionals, are better prepared to take care of human beings. As a family, as part of society and the entire universe."
