May-2015
Bebe Fumo
On departure the luggage consists of a spoon, a bucket and an empty sack. Upon return, it’s a sack full of bebe fumo.
Many families in Acupe support themselves by catching a kind of shellfish that has the curious name of bebe fumo, or smoke drinker.
There is a long trip by foot in order to arrive at Salinas, a “tidal” region as they call it around here. With the low tide these small shells become available to those that squat down on the sand and dig into it with a kitchen spoon or a trowel.
Finding them is easy, the hard part is filling sacks and sacks of it to make it worth the cost. Once cooked and shelled, a 22-pound bag of bebe fumo will yield about 4.5 pounds of meat. At R$10 for 2 pounds, a family that lives off bebe fumo will earn about R$20 (about $7) for one day of work.
The children enjoy following their parents to Salinas. They only go on weekends, since everyone here has to go to school.
Filling up one bucket is enough for most kids to feel like they contributed to the family’s work, and they then pursue other interests, in this case bathing and building castles, bridges, houses and ditches.
Text and photos: Renata Meirelles
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