‘So many Brazilians come and then stay. We’re very like Irish people’

Walking down Moore Street when he moved to Ireland almost nine years ago, Guilherme Souza felt he would never be able to adjust to Irish accents.

“I remember very well the woman calling out that she was selling strawberries and just thinking ‘oh God, I’ll never learn this language’. But it’s been a journey and now I’ve even absorbed a bit of the Irish accent myself,” he says.

Originally from Sao Paolo in Brazil, Souza was raised in the city centre which meant he was “exposed to a lot of different cultures and diversity from a very early age”.

“My mam was always open-minded, luckily enough for me coming out as gay later on. My house was always a safe environment although the street wasn’t,” he recalls.

‘First, I felt afraid to talk, because we are not native speakers’

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‘It’s nice to have Europe on your doorstep but rent is absolutely ridiculous here’

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‘Ireland has given me lots of opportunity ... it’s a very accommodating society’

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Growing up, Souza was “a bit of a nerd” and experienced bullying in school, which worsened because he was gay. But that experience made him grow “a really thick skin”, he says.

Leaving Brazil aged 21, after completing a business degree, Souza intended to come to Ireland for a few months to undertake an internship and improve his English language skills.

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“I didn’t have English at all. My English was basically Rihanna lyrics,” he laughs.

“The plan was always to return to opportunities in Sao Paulo after learning English for a year. But now it’s been nearly nine years and counting.”

Souza moved to Dublin in 2014, “without any family or friends, not knowing anyone”.

“I really embraced the change. I was young and dumb and had a kind of ‘let’s go with the flow’ attitude,” he says.

Souza worked a lot of odd jobs in Ireland; delivering newspapers, retail, modelling.

“One of the many CVs I dropped in was to Abercrombie and Fitch. To be a model I didn’t need too much English luckily,” he jokes.

He then joined Ralph Lauren in Arnotts, and got a weekend job at the Wright Venue, hosting in the Penthouse VIP area.

“That was great and the tips were amazing. But the best part is that’s how I got into competing for Mr Gay Ireland in 2018,” Souza recalls.

“I was the only male host in the penthouse at the time and that’s how I got offered the chance to do it,” he explains.

Souza did not win the title of Mr Gay Ireland but came first runner-up. However, the winner gave up his duties three weeks in, and the title was passed to Souza.

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“Through that, I went on to compete in other competitions like Mr Gay Europe in Poland. That was a really interesting country to make a statement in as gay rights in Poland weren’t great. We felt really exposed there. There were protesters against us. It was really violent,” he recalls.

Despite the experience there, things took a positive turn for Souza again on his return to Ireland.

“A friend from college sent me an ad looking for writers in Ireland’s Gay Community News magazine. That was a real turning point for me,” he says, explaining that GCN gave him “the platform to talk to the Irish LGBT community about what was happening in Brazil, or share what I was doing as Mr Gay Ireland”.

It was also a platform for Souza to open up about the abuse he suffered as a child.

“As Mr Gay Ireland, it’s not just a beauty pageant, you need to have a cause. Others talked about mental health or HIV. I had to look inside myself to think about what I needed to work on to make a difference in the world,” he says.

“That’s where I came out of my second closet and told my story in GCN about dealing with abuse, about being in therapy and about how I found strength in myself to be able to go on.”

Talking openly about what happened to him and the response from Irish people reading his story made Souza “realise how common this is, no matter what part of the world you’re in”.

Souza felt he was “doing something for the community” by sharing his story, but it was also a “win-win because I could heal myself as well and seeing that I was not alone”.

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Souza also felt that being Brazilian and being able to compete in Mr Gay Ireland and win the title “shows how diverse Ireland is and how open it is here”, something which was influential in his decision to remain in the country longer.

However, such competitions in Ireland “don’t receive a lot of support”, he says.

“I don’t think pageantry is very strong in Ireland which is the total opposite in Brazil. Those competitions are huge back home, whereas here there doesn’t seem to be much investment.”

Souza’s sister is a carnival queen in Brazil and he grew up watching her compete in carnival pageants.

“They have big gowns and makeup and it’s kind of like drag. It’s amazing. When the opportunity arose for me to compete here, my sister was so supportive and helped me make my costume. She came over to Ireland to be there with me which was an amazing moment for us,” he recalls.

Four years have passed now since Souza’s time as Mr Gay Ireland, and these days he remains in Dublin, but working in “a serious job now”, he laughs.

“When I finished my business course in Dublin, I got a job in tech and have since moved companies. Now I work more on the training side of things.”

Souza loves his current job in Dublin and feels he’s “living the best life I could ask for”.

It’s something he never could’ve imagined for himself when he first arrived in Ireland, he says, but the people here have been “angels looking after me”.

“I think that’s why we have so many Brazilians here who come and then stay. We’re very like Irish people. We’re both very friendly, we’re very warm and we like to take the piss. We all like a drink, too, but we can’t compare to the Irish there,” he jokes.

Ireland’s rental market has been a major source of difficulty over the years, as for many Brazilians, Souza says.

“At the beginning it was very hard to find somewhere to live. For many years I was subletting from other people or taken advantage of paying more than I should have paid. When you don’t speak the language you’re seen as second-class and can’t even defend yourself,” he says.

But as with other difficulties Souza first faced in Ireland, it improved as he made more contacts and friends in Ireland, he says.

“I met my Irish mum – that’s what I call her but she was my landlady. I lived with her for a few years and she was just happy to have me around and wasn’t charging me a lot of rent. Because of her kindness and support, I managed to do many things with my life – to save money for college, to have a safe home to come to.

“She’s one of my best friends and she’s a woman in her 60s. That’s what I love about Ireland – I never expected to meet so many amazing people. The friendships I have here, I never had in Brazil,” Souza says.

After nine years in Ireland, it’s been a “wild ride”, Souza says, but the country “keeps on giving”.

We would like to hear from people who have moved to Ireland in the past 10 years. To get involved, email newtotheparish@irishtimes.com or tweet @newtotheparish