Remember. Never forget.

When I was with my family in California my mother gave me a book, Sarah’s Key, about a young Jewish girl living in France during the Holocaust and World War II. The book spoke of her struggle- the round up by French Police (under order from the Nazis) at the Vel’d’Viv’, the death of her parents, the death of her younger brother, her escape, and her life thereafter. At first I was annoyed that I had another thing to put in my luggage, but like my mother promised, I couldn’t put the book down. And, like she and I love- it was a tear-jerker. Toward the end of the book, the author reveals a letter that Sarah, as a grown woman now living in the US, wrote to her brother who had died as a child so many years ago. She ends the letter by writing the Hebrew words Zakhor. Al Tichkah which mean “Remember. Never forget.”

This phrase was of great importance because the entire book emphasized how the French people had shut their eyes and tried to forget that their own police had been responsible for the arrest and deaths of nearly 10,000 Jewish men, women and children. Remember. Never forget.

Unfortunately we forget the past all too often. Sometimes it is too painful to remember. Sometimes, at the time, the events don’t seem important enough to share. Sometimes it just fades away with time and with the passing of generations. Sometimes we don’t do our part in telling the story so that others will learn their heritage. Remember. Never forget.

This past weekend I had the privilege of attending a conference for all PRECE facilitators and leaders where I was reminded of PRECE's history. Prof. Manoel Andrade began the conference by reminding us all why we were there- where we had started as PRECE 16 years ago and how far we had come. 16 years ago Prof. Andrade joined with a group of 7 students. These students were all from (or around) the small community of Cipó in the rural northeastern part of Brasil. These students had a dream- a dream to enter the university, to receive an education, to return to their community and to empower others to do the same. These students knew that they were intelligent and that they had potential, but they also knew that the Brasilian education system was broken and that they were going to have to take this responsibility upon themselves rather than waiting for someone else to present the opportunity to them. In 1996 they began to study in a small group- learning together, living together, supporting each other and experiencing successes together. In 1998 the first student of the seven entered the Federal University of Ceará. Today, 16 years later more than 400 PRECE students have entered the university, over 50 have graduated, and 18 have gone on to masters and doctoral programs. Remember. Never forget.

This is a powerful story and a powerful testimony to the potential of the self-motivated individual as well as the strength of collaborative learning. But the students who are studying with PRECE now were only children (some not even yet born) when these 7 students made their dream a reality and began to walk the long winding road that has become PRECE. So, how are they to know the history, the story which intrinsically weaves itself in to their own story the first moment they begin to study in a PRECE cell? It is the responsibility of all of those who have walked the path before them. Like Prof. Andrade this past weekend we must continue to tell the story. We must Remember. And Never forget.