With “faith, focus and determination.” According to estimates, by the end of her work, Marga will have registered nearly 10% of the municipality of Campos Novos for the 2022 Census

In two months, Maria Margarete Bittencourt, known as Marga, from Campos Novos (SC), is the enumerator with the highest productivity among 19 municipalities in the area of Joaçaba, in the Midwest of the state. She already visited more than 1.8 thousand households and enumerated more than 4 thousand people - more than 10% of the population of Campos Novos compared with the estimates for 2021. She earned more than R$11 thousand with her work, excluding the gains of Christmas bonus and proportional holidays, discounted the transportation allowance.

Accounting for five out of 81 enumeration area in Campos Novos, Marga completed two of them, is completing two and that of Ibicuí is underway. The municipality has 35% of the enumeration areas completed and 45% underway. Even with 62% of the positions filled, Jeckesan Ferraz de Deus, known as Jeck, the area coordinator of Joaçaba, says that Campos Novos is managing to meet the schedule. “In spite of it all, our enumerators are struggling hard. Yet, if they do not have the profile of Marga and of other three high performers, we would be behind the schedule.”  Marga has an average of 37 units per day, whereas the overall average is 18.

Curious about the performance numbers of the enumerator, Jeck went to Ibicuí, in the tip of the municipality, to meet her. “She is so focused, it was hard to fit an appointment in Maria Margarete´s agenda,” said him. In the ruins of an old church registered by Marga, Jeck recorded a chat with her, available on his YouTube channel.

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The exertion in the Census

“Those who pass through us do not go alone, do not leave us alone. They leave a bit of them, take a bit of us.” This is the message Marga repeats when she talks about her work: “I try to arrive with a positive energy everywhere, thinking that everything will work out. I try to be calm and transmit it, exchange good energy. There are people that do not know what it is, then I have to explain, but I arrive softly and then the survey is already flowing.”

Despite the passage of Little Prince fits it well, everything is not romanticized in the work of enumerators. Everyday Marga wakes up early, dresses herself and leaves to cover the village of Ibicuí, a place without cell phone signal, far 20 kilometers from the closest data collection station. “Everyday I come in the morning and return at night. I bring my lunch, eat it here and collect the data. I cover 37 units per day, on average. I arrive at home by 6 PM, take a coffee and return to the pending households in the urban area, helped by my husband. I try to cover a minimum of 10 houses in the evening.”

A focused person, Marga aimed at raising money: “When I began, I aimed at earning R$5 thousand per month and I am sure that I will earn R$5 thousand next month. I was a saleswoman, a store manager and always worked with goals. It is a matter of fitting your work and getting time to be productive.” Among her goals, she committed to work in the period of the Census without any break. “I work during weekends, Saturdays and Sundays, all day long. Those are the days that I get more people at home. They are available, rested and not in a hurry. I made 45 questionnaires in the holiday of September 7. Resting is just after the Census,” she completes.

Difficulties, absences and refusals

Besides the daily effort, Marga tells some cases she passed and how she used her flexibility to reverse them. “Once a person in an apartment in a building said through the intercom that ‘I won´t go, I don´t want it and I won´t answer’. I entered to interview other residents, I insisted on the doorbell and then he said: ‘All right’. Many times, making it happen is just a matter of being flexible. Another time, a resident said: ‘Why wouldn´t you look for persons who have nothing to do to answer the survey?’ I explained that it was important for the country, for me and for his children, closed the questionnaire and said to him: ‘I was never mistreated as I was at your house’. Another day he met me in the street, stopped the car and apologized.”

In many cases, insistence is the same as resiliency. “Once I walked a full block with a woman, because she did not want to stop and answer the survey. I could see a lot of people in the windows, they were there but refused to receive me. After they saw me enumerating the neighborhood, they decided to receive me, either for gaining confidence or for regret of seeing me walking around.”

Concerning the absences, she adopted some strategies: “In the buildings, I talked with the administrators and they streamlined the visits for me. They passed the telephones of those whom I could not meet. In houses that are usually empty, I ask the neighbor about the people next door. Sometimes they are either a son or a brother and you can manage to meet them. It helps you to perform better and to take advantage of the time.”

A life of overcoming

Divorced 30 years ago and mother of two children, Marga needed to make ends meet. “I lost my house when I separated and I had to struggle to overcome the needs of my children. I dreamed of having my own house.” For 20 years, she lived in different cities – Blumenau, Anita Garibaldi, Monte Carlo and Fraiburgo. She worked in double shift, which included a work as diarist when her father died, to help to pay the funeral home: “They were difficult times, I saw my daughter asking for a cookie and I had none; I learned to struggle. Yet, I always aimed at succeeding in life and seeing my children proud of their mother.”

Overtime, Marga managed to buy a lot and her own house in Campos Novos, which she rent while she was working in other municipalities. She met her current husband in Monte Carlo and, ten years later, with the children grown-up and a settled life, she returned to her hometown. Now with 58 years, she crafts at home, works as a free lancer and as a volunteer in the Women´s Network for Fight against Cancer. More recently, she returned to the studies after 40 years, when trained to be an enumerator.

 Objectives and representativity

Marga has plans for her financial gains: “Me and my husband are partners. With my work, I refurbished my house, helped to create an area for parties, exchanged our car and I am now thinking about a new floor for the outdoor area. I want to help there, while maintaining a reserve for emergencies.”

On the meaning of her work in the Census, she notes: “I feel happy being useful for Brazil and for people. We will have the information, know the life condition of every city and of all of us, the perspective of life. It is very important when claiming funds for our city and I feel very happy to participate in this updating to supply the needs of our municipality.”

Even with difficulties, she notes her personal satisfaction with the field work: “I never worked in the Census before, but I love to communicate, I love to talk with people. I understand that I am slightly invading the privacy of other people and I have to do it as nice as possible.” And she concludes: “Many times I need to say: ‘I have to go to meet my goal’, though it is very good to hear: ‘Come back another day’.”