How Brazilian families stay connected through social media and live-streaming This is the third piece in a continuing series on Brazilian immigration and how it has transformed Martha’s Vineyard Brazil — High in the mountains of this coffee-growing region of Espírito Santo off a dirt road twisting through eucalyptus trees there is a farm with a modest cinderblock home A woman emerges from an open doorway with a dog barking in the background and she is told a message is being delivered from America and soon she is in tears as she hears the gift is a message from her son who has been working on Martha’s Vineyard for the past four years It’s a message of comfort from a son far away to his mother It is the story of so many American immigrants about trying to find a connection with the families they leave behind about how her son is keeping the faith as he endures a difficult time living in the U.S at a time when immigrants are sometimes vilified The messenger was Aluísio Ferreira de Sousa the host of a show in Brazil that helps connect families across the immigrant divide it symbolized a moment that Brazilian immigrant families have been navigating for decades the first wave of Brazilian immigrants on Martha’s Vineyard were part of this sometimes painful history as they communicated with friends and family through handwritten letters carried by international post expensive phone calls over scratchy landlines “They would mail tapes with their stories about having their feet burned from crossing the desert and snakes on the way,” said Paulo de Tarso Lemos Minas Gerais; four of his eight siblings immigrated to the Island neighbors would get together in the homes of the few people who owned a videocassette player to watch the videos The tapes included the immigrants making barbecue and listening to Brazilian music “Families would cry when they saw they were safe and doing well,” said Lemos and people here relied on community newspapers such as the Brazilian Times Now communication happens fast: Families and friends are connected by posting on social media or making video calls Brazilians on the Vineyard have Facebook groups and hyper-local online news channels from back home Brazilians can also now follow the news of the Island in The MV Times with an instantaneous translation of every article in Portuguese There is even a local show which is streamed on the internet and helps to keep the communities in Brazil’s interior and the towns of Martha’s Vineyard connected across the 4,000 miles that divide them He is considered a celebrity among Brazilians on the Island A reporter and anchor based in Mantenópolis De Sousa has never set foot on the Vineyard but knows about even the parties that happen here and I remember they had a large screen showing a concomitant party live on Martha’s Vineyard,” he said De Sousa reports on current issues in 26 towns in the region — and 21 of them have a great part of the population living in the U.S “It’s almost like a disease; the American dream is very present in this region,” he said adding that out of 30 students from his high school class he’s the only one who stayed in Mantenópolis: “For a long time De Sousa’s studio is in the back of his store where he sells home appliances and supplies — many of them not common in traditional Brazilian homes but inspired by the common comforts of the American lifestyle one of his friends who lives on the Island suggested that he deliver gifts from Brazilians abroad who long to see their families but can’t De Sousa has been delivering presents and reading messages to loved ones ever since and he estimates 60 percent are from the Island I drove with De Sousa to deliver a present to a mother whose son had been working on the Island for four years The son’s directions to the place were very informal one of them being “Turn at the hard bend after a big eucalyptus tree.” We found the house in the middle of the mountains surrounded by coffee and banana plantations Cristina Reis cried listening to her son’s message telling how her wisdom helped her son go through the difficulties of living far away She herself had been an immigrant in Portugal for eight years “He is there to achieve a better life,” she said “One has to leave and see the world; the world is there for that If you stay attached to your mom and your dad VHS tapes and letters “contributed to create an image of the U.S. and how to immigrate,” said Glaucia de Oliveira Assis a professor at Vale do Rio Doce University (UNIVALE) in Governador Valadares “Presents immigrants sent to families and the houses they built back home were a way to show they had succeeded.”  Experts point to the rise of social media as a form of advertisement for migration Social media has “made the world seem more accessible including by showing people how to travel from one place to another and also has underscored for people economic disparities and opportunities for better livelihoods,” according to the Migration Policy Institute But the story many immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard tell on social media usually only highlights the positive aspects of their lives on the Island which ends up fueling others’ ambitions to pursue the American dream who hosts the popular Facebook page “Brazukada.” She urges people to find out the true reality of life on the Island which have increased in the past two years as the number of Brazilian immigrants has increased most immigrants don’t achieve what they hoped for who has studied immigration since the early 2000s: “Many eat badly so in this sense immigration can be a frustration “Both the letters from the past and now Instagram talk about a need people have to say they are doing well even when they are not doing well,” Siqueira said “They are telling themselves that it was worth it.” No issue illustrates this disparity between the dream and the reality more than housing. Nunes highlighted that the governor of Massachusetts has declared the housing situation for migrants a state of emergency “People want to come to the Island because they think the salary is higher but they don’t factor in the cost of living and the rent people can consider they found a low price if they are paying $1,500 to sleep on a bunk bed sharing the room with three or four more people.”  There are even some immigrants sleeping in their cars due to the housing shortage or Mashpee because they can’t find places on the Island to get the first ferry at 6 am to work the whole day equalizing the earnings on the Island with other places because of all the costs people in Brazil see us wearing an Apple watch Nunes leads a virtual helpline for people in need within the community with the “Brazukada” Facebook and WhatsApp groups she created and recently was awarded for her work for the community Her daily experience with people’s struggles guides the urgency of her words: “It’s important to raise awareness about the reality that people will find here because they are bringing children with them … People need to understand the Island is not that paradise anymore.” is a Brazilian journalist working in Massachusetts it was her first time traveling to those towns and villages where so many immigrants to the Island come from She said everyone there was very welcoming and for these beautiful stories about our people The MV Times comment policy requires first and last name for all comments This is the second piece in a continuing series on Brazilian immigration and how it has transformed Martha’s Vineyard Brazil – The American bald eagle tattoo on Wilson Peres’ right arm is a proud symbol of his love for the U.S. and the immigrant journey that brought him from his native Brazil to Martha’s Vineyard there are American eagles everywhere in his life in this small town set in the mountains in the state of Espírito Santo where he has returned after spending years saving money in the landscaping business on Martha’s Vineyard There is even a silver eagle statue in his living room when young men from Mantenópolis — one of the towns in Brazil from which many people immigrate to the U.S and find their way to Martha’s Vineyard — think about setting out to build a new life on the Island He is a 62-year-old successful businessman who transformed his savings from work on the Island into a prosperous life back in Brazil And he is something of a local legend in this town His children have decided to stay on the Island His son took over the landscaping business and another daughter works at another landscaping company His older grandson is a talented carpenter too,” Peres advises newcomers who knock on his door dreaming of making money on the Vineyard and don’t forget to respect the rules of where you are.”  But he knows not everyone can manage their money like he did — he says only one or two out of 15 immigrants that went at the same time as he did succeeded financially in the neighboring state of Espírito Santo Many Brazilian immigrants on the Vineyard come from those two towns which are part of a region of about 50 municipalities with the highest international immigration rate per capita in all of Brazil So many people have immigrated from both towns that their population has declined: In the 2022 census lost nearly 15 percent of its residents in comparison with 2010; while Mantenópolis The Migration Policy Institute estimates nine percent of foreign-born immigrants living in Massachusetts in 2022 come from Brazil, the largest single nationality group in the state. The state is home to the oldest and most established Brazilian immigrant community in the U.S. and is among the top three largest Brazilian communities who is also an American citizen and has lived in Boston points to socioeconomic inequalities in Brazil as an immigration driver You can have the same iPhone as your boss,” he said you have to save a lot to support your family.”  Peres worked mainly at weeding and harvesting at coffee plantations in Brazil the type of work I grew up doing,” he said He echoes many who feel the rural environment in Martha’s Vineyard reminds them of their Brazilian roots: “I feel at home Peres’ journey started with a leap of faith: He arrived at Logan Airport in August 1989 without a place to stay He was going to look up two acquaintances in Lowell but a friend from Mantenópolis recognized him at the airport and helped him to find work and a home in Boston he was washing dishes in a restaurant in the North End and he was concerned about his father’s health “The guy who says he doesn’t cry is a liar,” he said about being an immigrant He decided to return to Boston four months later Unlike Lyndon Johnson Pereira, the first known Brazilian immigrant to Martha’s Vineyard who couldn’t find anyone to play soccer with him in 1987 Peres immediately found people he used to play soccer with in Brazil “About 800 to 1,000 Brazilians lived on the Island around that time,” Peres recalls An old friend told him that instead of earning $10 per hour in Boston he moved there after lining up two jobs: he worked for a landscaping company from 7 am to 4 pm Then he created what he counts to be the third Brazilian-owned landscaping company on the Vineyard “My business started taking off after I put an ad in The MV Times,” he said Peres benefited from a process in the 1990s that allowed certain unauthorized immigrants who already lived in the U.S to apply for green cards if they had a sponsor Brazil’s Central Bank estimates that Brazilian immigrants in the U.S or 51.2 percent of global remittances received in Brazil that year particularly in real estate investments like houses A credit union headquartered in the regional center city of Governador Valadares called Sicoob Crediriodoce has 40,000 clients It found that of 706 clients it was able to identify as living outside Brazil 220 are located in Massachusetts — 122 being under phone codes 508 and 774 The credit union has been running a program to help immigrants to invest wisely as many don’t have experience managing businesses “Many make emotional decisions that lead to bad investments as they want to show their victory abroad,” said Silas Dias Costa Jr. “It’s easy to find big homes worth millions of reals that later But they want to build in their hometowns.”  He said that the program has been advising the ones who come back and also training immigrant family members: “I had a client who bought very expensive cows and many of the cows died.” He hopes to attract more people to the credit union and estimates that bringing in immigrants’ savings could increase the credit union’s income by fivefold who has studied immigration since the early 2000s compromising their physical health because of the work and mental health because of fear and living in a country with a different culture but it’s a dream that will not materialize for many.” Stefano Couri de Carvalho is the president of the Commercial Association in Governador Valadares and has also owned a tourism agency since 1997 He said that remittances would generate a line of family members in the city to receive dollars in the past but that today transfers are made in Brazilian currency Carvalho was instructing a couple who wanted to attend a family wedding in North Carolina on the U.S believe it’s harder for people from their region to get a visa since it’s known for massive immigration to the U.S Some companies even advertise on Instagram when the applicants who filed with them get a visa in the 1980s seemed to be an easier process The first Brazilian immigrants from towns like Cuparaque would typically enjoy a week of festivities including barbecues with family and friends and a final goodbye downtown with firecrackers before traveling to Governador Valadares on the back of a pickup truck With the challenges of getting visas and stronger deterrence policies at the border many immigrant journeys turned to underground routes which are often controlled by criminal groups and neighbors only realize they are in the U.S The economic opportunity on the Island is a key magnet for people An undocumented immigration network facilitates U.S.-Mexico border crossings with smugglers in towns like Cuparaque and Mantenópolis working with smugglers from other countries people know they will find an established community when they arrive on the Island as well as restaurants and supermarkets with Brazilian products In that area of Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo “Even stronger than immigration’s footprint in this territory is immigration culture or the idea that anything can be solved by immigrating,” said Professor Siqueira she drove us to “Immigrant Square,” where there’s a statue chosen by public vote It shows a youngman wearing a cap and carrying a backpack But others pay up to $25,000 to cross the border according to Siqueira: “Many get into debt and keep paying for the first couple of years or give their properties as a guarantee.”  Smuggling migrants or promoting illegal immigration for profit has been a crime in Brazil since 2017. When I visited in the spring, Brazil’s federal police had executed a raid in Cuparaque seizing money and assets of migrant smugglers “People end up suffering various violations during these crossings and often even death,” said Janine Bastos commissioner at the Division of Repression of Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling also emphasizing the harsh natural conditions people face on clandestine journeys Brazil’s Federal Police investigated nearly 500 migrant smuggling cases resulting in 390 people charged with migrant-smuggling crime The police also launched 142 operations to crack down on migrant-smuggling networks Most operations happened in this area of about 50 municipalities with historically high immigration to the U.S The first immigrants were mainly single men who worked in restaurants or landscaping for extensive hours to raise money quickly and get back home immigration policy and the support of a more established Brazilian community on the Island bringing their children and staying for much longer there have been sporadic arrests of Brazilian nationals on the Island over the past few years including most recently when Enforcement and Removal Operations arrested a 24-year-old in Edgartown on five counts of rape in August a 37-year-old Brazilian national wanted for the alleged rape of a 5-year-old child in his home country was apprehended near his West Tisbury home The last time Congress adjusted the legal immigration system in a significant way was in 1990 “The absence of immigration reform that expands or creates lawful pathways that flexibly address the contemporary U.S and humanitarian protection needs results in people coming illegally,” said Michelle Mittelstadt director of Communications and Public Affairs at the Migration Policy Institute coupled with the border hardening that has taken place beginning in the mid-1990s results in more migrants turning to smugglers to get across the border and the use of increasingly dangerous routes.” Wilson Peres meets a group of friends for beers and dinner after a soccer game Five out of 10 players sitting at that table have lived on the Vineyard But in the past two years he has stayed in Mantenópolis and six grandchildren visit from the Vineyard “I have a bed here and a bed there,” he said Now he is running for vice-mayor for Mantenópolis in the elections in October under the Liberal Party — a conservative political party former far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro joined in 2021 Thank you for publishing articles about immigration It’s sad to see some of our neighbors so fearful of people who immigrate to the US .st1{fill-rule:evenodd;clip-rule:evenodd;fill:#2a2a2a}By Scott J. Croteau | scroteau@masslive.comA Massachusetts man accused of attacking his roommate with a steak knife and hammer has been turned over to United States authorities after he fled the country who was wanted for armed assault with intent to murder from Panama to Logan International Airport in Boston The flight was scheduled to land Tuesday night FBI officials said an arrest warrant had been issued out of Chelsea District Court for Lemes after he failed to appear for his arraignment on Feb 2016 on two charges of armed assault with intent to murder Lemes is accused of attacking his roommate with a hammer and steak knife in Revere on June 24 He allegedly struck his roommate several times in the head and stabbed him multiple times in the back Lemes was ordered to turn over his passport the United States District Court in Massachusetts issued a federal arrest warrant for Lemes on a charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution The 26-year-old man is an undocumented immigrant from Mantenopolis He came to the United States at 15 and lived in Revere and Somerville "Investigators developed information that Lemes was living in his hometown a small village of Brazil," the FBI said "With the assistance of the FBI's Legal Attache office in Brazil it was determined that he was in fact residing there.' Lemes was caught in Panama and held there by Panamanian authorities Lemes' return to the United States should send a clear message to fugitives: no matter where in the world you try to hide we will find you and bring you back to face justice," said Harold H Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division "This is a great example of how multiple government agencies and nations worked together to make sure he answers to his alleged crimes." Lemes will be returned to the Revere Police Department and prosecuted by the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, (updated 8/1/2024) and acknowledgement of our Privacy Policy, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (updated 1/1/2025) © 2025 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us) The material on this site may not be reproduced except with the prior written permission of Advance Local Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site YouTube's privacy policy is available here and YouTube's terms of service is available here Ad Choices Michelliny Chaves left another life behind in Brazil to start a new life here Often it takes years to find your second act A lifetime of living or working in one direction and finally discovering your inner calling or goal But sometimes … sometimes … it happens early This is the story of a young woman whose “other self” was inside if only she found the right circumstance in the right place Like many who find their way to the Vineyard “An extraordinarily large number of people from Mantenópolis who migrate to the United States reside on the Island of Martha’s Vineyard …” But unlike many who come here for a better life the youngest of nine children in an upper-middle class family parents with careers in the justice system; her father once the mayor living in a sprawling home and a family farm nearby Michelliny graduated high school and began entry-level teaching for first graders she would have gone on to college and made education her career and have a life much like her parents — a secure But her father was not a stereotypical Brazilian man of the times — he encouraged his daughters to be independent “I just believed that in the United States And I wanted to find out what that was for me,” she says first to help take care of her sister’s two children a friend said they could earn extra money working on Martha’s Vineyard I got that sense of home.” They found work as housekeepers at the Harborside Inn but having been raised with housekeepers herself Michelliny had no idea of how to clean a room “I owe it all to a woman named Lisa,” her first boss and an idea began to take shape in her mind It was the early 1990s; the Vineyard was booming — hotels packed rental properties multiplying — and they all needed to be cleaned she enrolled in Harvard’s Extension Language program When people asked how her English got to be so good and taken a job with a window cleaning company handling their house cleaning side business offered her the chance to take over the sideline and did them all myself.” Steadily she built the business though she didn’t know what business entailed She recalls an early meeting with Mike Donaroma who himself had created a gardening and nursery enterprise “I’ve met people from all over who come to the Island and they’re nice You shook my hand and looked me right in the eye.” She says “I was always comfortable getting to know people She printed up flyers and asked her customers to give them to their friends passing on the lessons she learned from Lisa personally delivered invoices to QuickBooks “I got my vacuum cleaners from a guy in Falmouth Michelliny grew her clientele from a handful of homes to 120 a week in the summer She has gone from a staff of one — Michelliny — to more than 20 She personally guides them through the process of coming to the Island; mastering English getting drivers’ licenses — all the challenges she faced: “When I came to the Vineyard … I connected with so many people who treated me with respect and gave me opportunity.” Now she wants to give that opportunity to others Did she ever consider going back to live in Brazil and would love to learn in Brazil.) But she knows the safe She knows it’s much harder to do that today than when she came — she knew enough to buy a house the moment she could afford it — but she is still a believer in the American dream and a stepdaughter about to enter dental school She doubts any will want to take over her business: “They want to find out what’s possible for them.”  We invite you to send us thoughts on Vineyarders who have found their other selves, the next Second Act to feature on these pages. Send ideas to community@mvtimes.com Jim Dale is a nonfiction writer who has co-authored books on topics ranging from sports to business most recently the memoir “We’re Better Than This,” with Congressman Elijah Cummings How this rural district in Brazil started a pipeline of immigrant labor that is transforming Martha’s Vineyard Brazil – The man with kind eyes and a gentle face presents an old Polaroid photo The image captures his hometown here in this region in Brazil’s interior as it looked back in 1985: dirt roads were still the main mode of transportation back then which was then just a tiny village in Brazil’s mineral-rich interior was taken in the fateful year when Brazil’s U.S.-backed military dictatorship ended after 20 years of rule and the country took on the strains of transitioning back to democracy Goiabeira struggled economically through what became known as “the lost decade” caused by the huge debt and hyperinflation driven by massive infrastructure projects taken on during military rule This 61-year-old man sharing the Polaroid starts on his story That journey would take him from his rural hometown in this Brazilian state of Minas Gerais all the way to Orlando where he sought to achieve a better quality of life It was a relatively brief stint working on Martha’s Vineyard but it would earn him a unique place in history as the first known Brazilian immigrant to work on Martha’s Vineyard set in motion a wave of immigration that started small and steadily surged to become a king tide of immigrants flowing here to find work many of whom would stay on to establish second- and third-generation Brazilian families who have transformed the Island He was born in 1963 in a modest home made of clay bricks and rustic plank floors His parents named him after the 36th president of the U.S. who had just been sworn in after the assassination of President John F and liked the sound of the name “Lyndon,” and it was something of a custom across Latin America at that time to name children after world leaders I searched for other Brazilians in many places but couldn’t find any,” he began his story “It was a life of loneliness; I walked by myself at the beach Pereira was 22 when the tourist visa was stamped on Sept He bought a plane ticket \and then overstayed his visa to work Soon after Pereira took a chance on a job on Martha’s Vineyard He knew them both from a neighboring town of his Then about 20 more from the two neighboring towns followed them the next year nearly 10 percent of the babies born at the Vineyard hospital had a Brazilian mother estimates counted 3,000 Brazilians living on the Island resulting in a change in the Island’s demographics Today, the total Brazilian population is estimated to be 20 percent of the Island’s year-round population, and the second most spoken language after English is Portuguese, according to the 2021 Dukes County rural health assessment roughly a third of all babies born at the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital are of Brazilian descent And an estimated 40 percent of the students in the Island’s public schools speak Portuguese as the first language in their homes A majority of these immigrants to the Island and those sprinkled across Massachusetts in towns like Framingham and Falmouth are from the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais The state is known for its mining and rural economy as well as its flavorful food — like cheese bread — and its warm hospitality Goiabeira is among more than 50 municipalities with the highest international immigration rate proportionally in all Brazil he found his first job at Bond & Buckhart in Newton a gourmet carryout famous for its awardwinning pecan rolls invited him to work at a restaurant that she would co-manage on Martha’s Vineyard: David Ryan’s He had never heard of this Island called Martha’s Vineyard before Pereira started working on the island in January 1987 cleaning for the restaurant’s seasonal opening and he would stay on to work as a dishwasher He worked double shifts despite leaving with his legs hurting: “In Boston one of those affable people always with a giant smile.”  She would later become co-owner of Chesca’s, also in Edgartown, a popular fine-dining restaurant, for 26 years She watched how the Island’s workforce that hails from Brazil has transformed the Island and become a vital part of its economy Maxwell said she does not believe the service industries would have survived on Martha’s Vineyard without the extraordinary work ethic of the Brazilian community She said that in her many years working with Brazilian immigrants she has observed that they do not ask for time off “We had to tell them to take a day for themselves,” said Maxwell Maxwell was not aware of her unexpected historical role as the first employer to hire the first Brazilian immigrant “I feel glad to have been a part of being welcoming and treating people fairly The need for a workforce did not go unnoticed by Pereira and he explained what drives most Brazilians: “I’d do my best to be good at work because I needed to keep that job and earn money You need to be like that when you’re already in a country you don’t speak the language you have at least to be good to be successful to achieve what you need.” The immigration pipeline from Brazil follows patterns similar to other historic migrations of ethnic groups that represent the history of America they include the surge of Irish immigrants to Boston and New York in the mid 19th century to the Portuguese immigrants who came before them in the 17th and 18th centuries particularly to the Cape and Islands to work in the lucrative whaling industry the hard work does not resolve the melancholy that many feel for their loved ones back home Pereira remembers how disappointed he was when his girlfriend in Brazil ended their long-distance relationship after a year and he remembers how lonely he felt as the only Brazilian on the Island To stay closer to loved ones and his beloved hometown and even VHS tapes he recorded on a Panasonic video camera but everything changed when his father suffered a stroke to become his father’s caretaker for 12 years he recommended another Brazilian for his job the word spread about this Island where pay was higher and the American dream could be achieved more quickly around 20 Brazilians embarked on the ferry to find work on the island As this new immigration pipeline from Brazil to the Island was just getting underway in the mid-1980s Congress was discussing major reform of immigration law The legislative efforts culminated with President Ronald Reagan signing the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) in November 1986 The act offered a path to legalization through amnesty and created an employment verification system The effect of this law was the largest single legalization in the U.S. regularizing the immigration status of nearly 3 million people among other factors such as high job availability in the U.S and few pathways for those immigrants to bring family members contributed to increasing the immigrant wave to the U.S Pereira’s pioneering role for Martha’s Vineyard impacted mainly two of Goiabeiras’ neighboring towns: Cuparaque in Minas Gerais state and Mantenópolis in the bordering state of Espírito Santo these towns couldn’t be more different from the Vineyard About a four-hour drive from the nearest ocean, they look more like towns in rural Kentucky, set in valleys and surrounded by steep mountains. These towns’ income levels are low, with an average annual salary under $4,000 per year, compared with the exclusivity and wealth of the Island with an average gross income per year of $107,400 the money earned by Brazilian immigrants on the Vineyard was mostly sent home and it transformed small rural towns in Minas Gerais and contrast them with the more modest homes that surround them there is a horse-breeding farm that embodies this newfound wealth there are two ornate statues of majestic horses each with a flagpole: one for the Brazilian flag and the other for the American flag there are backyard gardens that seem inspired by the landscaping that has become a signature of the mansions of Martha’s Vineyard adorned with tropical plants like orchids and desert roses There are shops and restaurants that draw inspiration from the Island including a small local bakery serving chocolate glazed doughnuts with birthday cake sprinkles that look straight out of Backdoor Donuts Everyone I spoke to during my visit said they either had lived in the Vineyard or have a family member who lives or had lived there The Island is in people’s memories and strongest emotions: A man showed me with pride the last house he helped build before heading back to Brazil several years ago; another says that if he closes his eyes he can remember all the roads in Edgartown; a mother got emotional just hearing “Martha’s Vineyard,” because her 19-year-old daughter has been living there for a year; a businessman shows all the buildings he bought with his hard work on the Island — and while the current Mantenópolis mayor is also an American citizen three out of seven Cuparaque mayors have lived on the Island For a long time, until 2009, Pereira was unaware of his historical role. “I myself didn’t know [I was the first immigrant],” he said. It was Daniela Gerson a professor at California State University who specializes in immigrant and multiethnic populations who found him during her master’s-degree research at the University of Southern California and documented the story for the Financial Times It was only when Gerson asked him about his unique claim to fame as the first Brazilian immigrant to Martha’s Vineyard that Pereira realized the role he had played in history “I started remembering that actually there was nobody else besides me,” he said where he championed the campaign to raise the village to a town status in 1995 the town’s main revenues started coming from public jobs in the town hall and health centers — as well as from remittances from abroad that injected money into local commerce While immigration to the Vineyard changed Pereira’s life and the life of people in Goiabeira and nearby towns he has also honored the migration history of his ancestors to the region As in the myth of the conquest of the American West people celebrate their settler past in a big rodeo party every year: children with their hobbyhorses and adults with horse wagons and bull carts Pereira is one of the founders of the celebration called “Festa do Carreiro,” or “Bull Cart Riders Party,” running since 1996 the four-day party drew hundreds of people from nearby towns for the daily events a parade of dozens of horse wagons set off at the town entrance where shining silver letters write “Goiabeira” next to a statue of a man leading a bull cart and four black and white spotted oxes The procession then headed to the town center where people waved and took pictures of different generations of families riding together some carrying traditional Minas Gerais milk brasses my great-grandfather owned coffee farms and a fleet of bull carts,” Pereira said as they transported goods in the small towns in the area when migrants like his ancestors arrived from the coastal towns that region of the state was one of the last to be settled by the Portuguese in the 1800s the rodeo harks back to a frontier era with a dark side: wars that enslaved and exterminated local indigenous communities Like the Aquinnah Wampanoag on Martha’s Vineyard Economic extractive cycles of timber, iron ore, and by World War II, mica — which was exported exclusively to the U.S. — drained the region’s resources. Sueli Siqueira, a professor at Vale do Rio Doce University in Minas Gerais, investigated how this region became the origin of a pipeline for immigration to the U.S.  She found that it all started when an American engineering company called Morrison was fixing the Vitória-Minas railroad in the 1960s and they decided to stay in Governador Valadares after the project ended encouraged her students to do cultural exchanges in the U.S “The first immigrants were the children of the local elite who went to study English and found out they could work and earn money more and more started traveling to the U.S After establishing “Little Brazil” in midtown Manhattan those immigrants found other markets in need of labor it was the local middle class’ turn to emigrate “The ones who had gone before started financing others to move and work for them,” Siqueira said Governador Valadares is a regional economic center and transformed also into an immigration regional center spreading its influence to dozens of towns like Goiabeira the words “Governador Valadares” are a synonym of Brazilian immigration to the U.S Valadares even became Framingham’s sister city in 2004 Pereira thought about going back to Martha’s Vineyard to raise money when his job situation was not stable in Brazil He had reconnected with an old crush upon arriving back home: Maria Aparecida de Freitas They got married on the last day of 1988 — he left the Vineyard in the beginning of that year as they had to wait and see if there would be openings they could apply for young men migrated alone for a few years to raise money and go back home he was able to buy a piece of land near Cuparaque and a house in the town center but at the time it was not enough for the newly married couple “One day he got home and said he was thinking about going back to the U.S to improve our life,” Maria Aparecida Pereira said ‘If the idea is for you to go and for me to stay here I prefer that we divorce then.’” After that both got stable teaching jobs: He was a math teacher for 29 years and she was a Portuguese teacher for 28 years And now we are enjoying the grandchildren that keep coming,” she said and are expecting the arrival of their sixth grandchild Pereira himself never traveled back to the U.S. and took pictures of places he had heard his father talk about Pereira himself is uncertain about visiting the Island but he said he would like to reconnect with the people he met in the U.S. who welcomed him in the two years and eight months he lived in Boston and the Vineyard Maria Aparecida Pereira said she’s proud of her husband’s story: “I think he opened doors for many others who had even better opportunities than his It’s also a story of friendships; he tells us about being treated well by his employers and speaks highly of the Americans he worked for and with we stop at the top of a hill so Pereira can show me the exact place he took the Polaroid 39 years ago and it’s hard to see downtown’s square with its stores and parked cars from there because of the many multistory large houses on the horizon Pereira is proud of Goiabeira and likes enjoying a small-town quiet life — living a short distance from his mother and his wife’s family in a town where he knows almost everybody enjoying a level of safety not all in Brazil are able to have He calls his hometown a paradise: His house is one of the largest in the neighborhood and he enjoys a quiet life as a retired math teacher and hosting community radio shows in a small studio he built for himself dozens of feathered friends that he feeds in his backyard “Many were able to grow and earn a lot of money; some were very poor,” he said about people who immigrated to the Vineyard “I’m very happy they transformed their lives they can give a better future to their children,” he said The author of this inaugural piece of our series exploring how Brazilian immigrants transformed Martha’s Vineyard Paula Moura is a Brazilian journalist working in Massachusetts and an MV Times regular contributor I had no idea how the Brazilian population arrived here The article also seems like a slightly different direction for editorial and I love it for its depth and ability to give me new perspectives Four Island housecleaners give The Local a look at their busy industry from the trials and challenges to the rewards info@a1cleaningmv.com; 508-696-0609 I was first doing landscape work on the Island Then an opportunity came along when A1 Cleaning was for sale I teamed up with my now former business partner and bought it and it was a big decision to buy the company It took us over a year to organize and get things on track I didn’t think they wanted a guy scrubbing their house it’s really only janitorial cleaning for offices It’s unusual for a guy to be cleaning houses — I think I’m the only one on-Island we are busy with turnovers and summer residents we usually have a five-hour window of time during the day when we clean up to 50 houses Sometimes it feels like everyone desires the same day and time for their cleanings We have clients that have been using us for more than a decade now so we know their preferred times and routines very well They are our very loyal clients that we appreciate so much The majority of summer clients are at least once a week We’ve had hoarders where we took out more than a dozen trash bags had to empty refrigerators that got shut off I had to be in the trenches on the weekends — it was critical I have three people who have supervised and managed for me Debra Braz worked for me for almost 16 years — my right-hand woman I recently gave her some clients to branch off to form her own business Everyone who has worked for me has been great — very giving of their time and loyalty Every year I ask my customers to get their boat time I don’t want to arrive at a house at 11 in the morning and find the renters still there we need to complete everything in a timely manner I’m held accountable if the job is not done by 3 pm Homeowners and real estate agents get all kinds of questions: “Is there AC A blender?” But the only thing I need is their boat times There was a hurricane on the Fourth of July I had to make the decision whether to send out my people to clean in the middle of a hurricane How do you kick renters out in the middle of a hurricane I have very happy customers and a very happy staff where I worked for a huge company that cleaned houses in Naples and the Fort Myers area They were millionaire houses of very wealthy customers Then I decided to start my own business in Florida — to clean for myself I came back to the Island when my aunt called and needed cleaning help I found my husband’s ad in the paper for painting help and started working for him had a lot of experience dealing with people the work is word-of-mouth: You do a good job Then I decided to start my own business three summers ago Caitlyn Ann O’Donnell and Gregory Kenneth Leland Caitlyn is the daughter of Bruce and Valerie O’Donnell of Oak Bluffs Gregory is the son and stepson of Katherine and Daniel Donaldson of West Tisbury and Leslie and Susan Leland of West Tisbury Nicole Hawkes and Silveleno Gomes de Miranda Hawkes is the daughter of James and Sylvia Hawkes of Gorham de Miranda is the son ofAntonio and Irani Gomes of Sao Jose de Mantenopolis Their wedding will take place in this summer The MV Times comment policy requires first and last name for all comments.