OUR TRIP TO BOA VISTA AND PRECE PROGRAMS

** Reflections from the Mission team from FPC Atlanta, GA**

We visited the Boa Vista Prece programs championed by Jose Alfredo, one of the early participants in the PRECE initiative for a meeting about how we can assist them. 

This meeting took place in what we would call a remote farmland community and the number of people completing or working on their college degree is amazing.

The meeting began with a presentation by Dan Smith about a technological educational project.  This was followed by comments and ideas.  Ze Alfredo stated that he would like to start small and add more students little by little to achieve success.  Paulo Gleisson spoke as the Facilitator and said that the quality of what they would teach will be important as students learn and they evaluate progress.  It was obvious that they need a coordinating group because they all have other responsibilities.  Ana Claudia shared her excitement and João Alfredo said he will be committed to make it work.  He said, “If we have a strong coordinating group, we will not fail.”

In conclusion, Boa Vista hopes to add cooperative learning techniques and E-learning to advance the kids’ education even more so they will be more prepared for college than their parents.  We are investigating helping them build a program that would serve eventually 20 families and 40 kids as a model for other communities.  We discussed starting small and growing as confidence is gained.

PRECE is now partnered with the State Secretary of Education and the Federal University of Ceará to operate a high school and professional school in a high tech building.  The facility is used for high school as well as after school classes and community programs.

The Audacity to Claim “I built this business by myself!”- Reflections from an American living abroad during an Election Year

Let me begin this blog with a word of warning.  I am writing this reflection as an American living abroad during an American Election Year.  I have no comments about either candidates- President Barack Obama or Gov. Mitt Romney.  Both have their pros and cons and as a registered Independent I tend to vote more for the person/their stance on issues rather than the party.  This is not a political commentary but rather a commentary/critique of recently displayed American arrogance compared with sincere Brazilian struggle.

I am frustrated and disheartened by signs and t-shirts that make the claim “I built this business by myself, not the government.”  Are you aware of the audacity it takes to make a statement such as this?  Let me explain to you a bit about the community where I live in the rural impoverished part of northeastern Brazil. 

This morning as I was driving out of my community I passed a group of 6 men who were building a speed bump on our gravel road because the local government has yet to express an interest in doing so.  The men themselves, not the road crew, took the initiative to provide this basic service for their families and neighbors.  While driving to a nearby community to participate in a conference I passed a young boy who was shoveling dirt from the side of the road in to the deep pot holes that littered the Federal Interstate.  Naturally, this is not the responsibility of a 7 year old, but rather the federal government that has either not shown an interest in does not have the money to build paved roads. 

When I arrived at the conference we told the story of hundreds of students who study under the shade of trees or in abandoned buildings because there are no public schools in their communities and no school buses to drive them the 30+ minutes to go to the nearest public school.  These same students who lack public schools also lack running water in their homes, paved roads, public buses, access to internet and at times access to phones and electricity.

From these impoverished communities more than 500 students have now entered the university and are returning to their communities to improve the quality of life there.  They are taking responsibility for their own destiny with or without the help, support and basic resources provided by the government.

But, there is a popular saying in Brazil.  “Sou Brasileiro. Nunca desisti.”  This means, I am Brazilian  I never give up.”  These people have the right to say.  “I built this by myself, not the government.”  Because, truly, the government has not met their basic needs and they been forced to pave their own way.

So, the next time you step out in your arrogance and claim that you have done everything on your own and the government has not helped you, think twice about what you are saying.  Did you have running water in your house to take a shower and make coffee before you left for work this morning?  Were you able to travel on paved roads to your business?  Do you have electricity at your business to light the building and run the cash register/credit card machine?  Did you come to work feeling relatively safe without the fear of being robbed or attacked?

If you answered yes to any of these questions then realize not only that there is an entire community/country/government that made each “yes” possible, but also that there are others who cannot answer yes to even one of these questions.  And, when you have the audacity to claim that the government does not play a part in you success you are not only insulting the American government but this is a slap in the face to those who truly can claim, “I did it on my own.”  Of course, they, in humility and respect would never make such an ignorant claim.  So, please, think twice about the claims that you make because you not only make yourself look conceited but you offend millions around the world who already view you in a negative light.   

Thank you friends of PRECE

For the past 2 weeks Marilia and I have been travelling around the USA enjoying the fast paced culture, the delicious food, the fabulous people and personalities, and the landscape ranging from large city skylines to rural mid-western farm land.  The purpose of our trip to the USA was 3 fold- we attended a Cooperative Learning Conference at the University of Minnesota led by Roger and David Johnson and Edyth Houlebuc, visited friends and supporters of PRECE and got the chance to do a bit of sightseeing along the way!

 We are so incredibly grateful for the support of all of you!  Thank you to those of you who donated SkyMiles and money for in country travel expenses as well as those of you served as host families as we journeyed from Atlanta to Minneapolis or bought us lunches and dinners along the way.  Thank you to Roger, David, Edyth and all our new friends from the Cooperative Learning Conference who reminded us exactly why we do the work that we do.  We were both extremely motivated by what we experienced and cannot wait to get back to Brasil to implement some new strategies and share our knowledge with others.  Thank you!! Without your help this trip would not be possible and definitely not as much fun.Each time I am back in the USA I am overwhelmed by the support and love I and PRECE receive from all of you.  As I head back to Brasil tomorrow I will carry a piece of you with me.  Thank you!

We love visitors!

On the 29th of June many PRECE EPCs and the Professional School in Pentecoste were delighted to receive two North American partners, Kitch and Laura, from the Presbytery of Eastern Iowa.  Pastor Kitch has been to Ceara many times and was welcomed back with open arms by the students and other leaders.  But, this is Laura's first time in Brasil and she was extremely impressed with everyone she met and everyone she saw!


We started the day with a quick visit to EPC Ombreira where youth leaders were teaching Portuguese to a group of young children.  The teenagers told us a bit about the projects they have going on now- a computer lab where they work with young children and the community members can access the internet, a cooperative learning program for children, 5 students studying for the ENEM (university entrance exam), a hip hop group and a chess group.  Pastor Osterne, one of the leaders from the Presbytery of Ceara closed our visit with prayer and a blessing over the youth and the work they are doing.

Next we journeyed down the road to Serrota.  The community of Serrota has begun one of the newest PRECE EPCs.  They are so new infact, that they don't even have a real building.  Right now, the over 60 participants are meeting in a small room which is to the side of one of the coordinators homes.  This doesn't stop the activity though!  In Serrota there are 9 students in the hip hop group, 10 in the theater/arts group, 18 studying for the ENEM, and 30-40 children who participate in the cooperative learning program, and more who participate in the games group.  Many of the students at the Professional School are the ones leading the study groups and teaching the younger children.  So, where do the 60+ students meet when they don't have sufficient room?  Anywhere they can- on the street, under trees, under the awning in the front of the house. Though their dream is to build a space sufficient for their programs, they have not been detered by the fact they do not have a space to call their own, but continue to grow and expand their program.  

After enjoying a fabulous lunch with the Andrade family and Pastor Rosilene in Cipo and walking around the sacred grounds at Cipo where the PRECE movement first began we spent the afternoon with the students at the Professional School in Pentecoste.  I don't know that Laura and Kitch had ever seen a group of High School students with so much energy!  The students were delighted to welcome their new friends and had plenty of questions for them!  All of the students, including students who study English in the courses offered to the community sang two songs in English for Kitch and Laura- Imagine by John Lennon and Count on Me by Bruno Mars.  These songs showed them a bit about the cooperative learning environment at the school- how we are all working together to provide a better future and how we are always available to support one another through difficulties.  Each class then presented music and a dance to Laura and Kitch.  It was a nice mix of traditional Brasilian music, some American songs that fit with our cooperative learning methodology, and of course some newer hip hop!!  The students loved every minute of it and so did Laura and Kitch!

At the end of the day, when reflecting with Kitch and Laura, I was encouraged by their words.  They, like so many Americans who visit PRECE and the Professional school are impressed with the dedication and determination of the youth. Immediately visitors are taken by the way the youth have decided not to wait around for someone else to provide for them, but rather to create their own destiny.  I was reminded of a quote by Mahatma Gandhi in which he says "Be the change you wish to see in the world."  It is rather fitting that the PRECE group at Serrota adopted this as their theme!

Thank you Kitch and Laura for visiting!

Being an A-type highly organized and very structured north-American, adjusting to the more relaxed and fluid Brasil culture hasn’t always been easy.  Today was a perfect example:

Example 1:

Me: I have come to see if my current visa has arrived yet.

Official at the Federal Police:  No.  It isn’t here.  We don’t know where it is, but it isn’t here.

Me:  Well, I have been waiting for 6 months.  My visa is expired and I have to travel out of the country in a few weeks.

Official at the Federal Police:  Well, you can check on the website, call us or come back next week.

Me: Your website doesn’t work, no one picks up your phone, and the official in Brasilia (the capital) told me to come back and check here.

Official at the Federal Police:  Well, you can try again next week.

My blood pressure rises.

Example 2:

ATM: Beep beep beep.  Your card is blocked.  Please see a bank attendant.

Me: (after waiting in line for 30 minutes).  Hi, I need to unblock my debit card.

Bank Teller: Oh, okay.  Punches a few numbers in to her computer.  Oh, I am sorry.  You can’t do that at this agency.  You have to go to the agency where you opened your account.

Me: (after sitting in traffic for 30 minutes, and waiting in line at the bank for an 10 minutes) Hi, my card is blocked and I need to unblock it. 

Bank Teller 2:  Oh okay.  Punches a few keys on her computer.  Oh, I am sorry.  I can’t unblock this card.  You have to go around the corner where they are doing construction and wait in the other line.  But, I can help you open a credit card.

Me:  Thank you.  I already have a credit card.  But, I can’t pay the bill until you unblock my card.  So, I will wait in the next line.

Me:  (after waiting in the 2^nd line for 40 minutes).  Hi, I need to unblock my debit card.

Bank Teller 3:  Why is it blocked?

Me:  No clue.  You tell me.  This is the 3^rd time your bank has blocked it in 4 months. 

Bank Teller 3: Okay, well, sign this and enter in a new password.

Me:  Okay.

Bank Teller 3: No, that password won’t work.  No, that won’t work either.  Nope, sorry, try another.

Me:  AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!  I hate your country!  Nothing works here.

My boyfriend:  I know.  It is frustrating.  Nothing seems to work.

 

So, I now understand whole heartedly why so many Brasilians throw up their hands, call it a day, head to the beach and order a pitcher or two of beer! 

Of course, I don’t really hate Brasil.  I love Brasil.  If I didn’t love the people, the culture, the beaches and most of all the PRECE educational movement I wouldn’t stay here.  But, these are typical daily stresses that in the USA seem to be smoothed out in the matter of 10 minutes or a simple phone call.  Here, in Brasil, the lack of organization and dysfunctional bureaucracy are all too often disabling.   

Luckily the PRECE movement has not been deterred by the stressors.  And, amazingly they are taking action and putting in to place organizational systems and plans of actions to better systemize the PRECE EPCs and the wide reaching PRECE movement.

Yesterday and today over 30 PRECE leaders and university students met at a beach retreat where they began to plan best practices to collect and organize data about each of the PRECE EPCs, ways to evaluate and improve yearly PRECE conferences, strategies to teach the more formal cooperative learning methodology to each of the students studying at the PRECE EPCs, forms of communication between the EPCs, and ways to better progress as one unit as opposed to individual projects.  The leaders and university students who are paving the way are scholarship recipients at the Federal University who have been charged with the task of streamlining and systemizing the PRECE movement.  And, the work that they are doing is truly remarkable.  I felt honored to sit in on some of the meetings and observe the way these students are taking matters in to their own hands.  And, I look forward to seeing how the projects they are developing will better PRECE as a whole.  Congratulations!!!  

Physical Fitness... We are on our way!

My parents decided at the age of 3 it was time I become involved in organized athletic activities.  They were tired of me doing flips off the couch and running circles around the house.  Seeing as how they both were extremely athletic they began enrolling me in any and all sporting events- soccer, ballet, gymnastics, swimming, etc.  As a child gymnastics was the sport that won over my heart and I was extremely dedicated and competitive- committing 4 hours a day, 3 days a week to my gym that was 40 miles away.  This is not to mention the weekends my family spent at competitions around the region and summer camps around the country.  As a teenager in high school I played volleyball, basketball, tennis and ran track.  And tennis followed me through college and into adulthood.

So, for a girl who has been extremely athletic since childhood, moving to a region of Brasil where physical fitness is not a top priority was a bit of a struggle.  I got strange looks as I did yoga on the beach.  When jogging along the country roads people asked me “What happened?  What are you running away from?”.  And the daily diet filled with meat and carbs (yes, both rice and pasta for the same meal) did nothing for either my appetite or my figure.  So, you can imagine my excitement when at the Alan Pinho Tabosa Professional School we began to take a different approach to wellness.

Since the beginning of the year the following weekly activities have begun:

A Capoeira Group for adults and children

A Soccer League for teachers and friends of the school

A Girl’s Handball team for the students at the school

Various dances during Physical Education and Art

An Aerobics and Yoga class for the community

And, last week all of the students, teachers and staff members at the school participated in the “Challenge Day” where we all did 30 minutes of aerobics, dance and athletic activity.  I am so excited to be part of a community that is not only bringing new forms of education within the classroom to students, but also is bringing new opportunities and possibilities to the entire community within and without the classroom. 

This week the Girls Handball team (coached by Joyce Mota Campelo), which has 15 girls who have been training for 4 months, will play in their first competition with other teams from the county.  We wish all of the players the very best of luck and applaud them for their hard work! 

Our Shame... and Our Beauty... We are one in the Same

6 years ago a fell in love with a country, a people, a culture, and a rhythm.  I first arrived in Brasil as a skeptic.  I came to the shores of Fortaleza as a part of a mission partnership team from FPC Atlanta to continue building a strong and desired relationship.  But, to be honest, I was so disillusioned by the word "mission" that I was more of a pessimist than an optimist.  Until I arrived here.  It didn't take long.  The mannerisms of the people, the welcoming nature of the people from Ceara, the openness to learn and embrace, the love that exuded from every child and community I encountered.  I was hooked.  It was just a year later when I encountered Prof Manoel Andrade and PRECE, the educational movement, that would set my life on a different path.  I had never seen anything quite as miraculous as it.  It was the hope that was revolutionizing not only education but the lives of entire communities and cities.  I knew I had to be a part of it.

Since moving to Brasil in 2010 I have seen the best and the worst of Brasil.  I have seen families overcome seemingly impossible obstacles.  At the same time I have seen mothers leave babies on street corners while they go beg for food.  I have seen impoverished communities raise themselves out of illiteracy and lack of education to self- sufficiency.  All the while I have seen politicians misuse and abuse their own people.  I have seen people of faith and conviction return to their small communities to build a better tomorrow and plant seeds for the next generation.  And, in the same breath I have seen despair and lack of hope that cripples millions.

But tonight I saw something that I never believed possible even though my friends attested to it.  After my English classes at PRECE ended at 9 p.m. I waited for my friends to finish a meeting and we headed out to one of our favorite neighborhood bars.  We spend many a Thursday/Friday evening there and never have I witnesses any injustice or violence.  Tonight our mistake was that we were out on a night when Ceara (the football team) was playing America (MG).  The stadium is in our neighborhood and just 2 blocks away from the bar where we were eating, drinking and talking.

I had gone to the bathroom when I heard screams, glass breaking, and women running back toward the bathroom.  At the same time I saw a young man and his friends in panic trading shirts and being pushed back out in to the crowd by the waiters.  The waiters were screaming "run, run, run the other direction, but you can't stay here!"  I couldn't imagine what had gone wrong, but I knew that the soccer game had just let out.  But what had led to this?  As I was washing my hands a saw the  mob come closer toward the young man and heard the bottles breaking before being pushed back in to the bathroom by a group of women who warned me we needed to stay there.

Once the noise calmed and we re-entered the bar I saw the young man and a friend washing his bloody and beaten back at the sink and police cars on the other side of the bar.  Amist the broken bottles I found my friends and my belongings.  How had all of this errupted?  It was simple.  Mob mentality at it's worst.  The young man, a fan from the other team, had been scratching cars as he left the stadium.  The Ceara fans had seen him and were ready to attack.  Not only were they ready to attack but they were prepared to take a life.  Granted what he was doing was wrong, but did his crime fit the punishment of death by a mob attack?  Absolutely not.

So, how is it that he survived such a terror.  My friends told me later that 1 woman.  1 woman only stood up to the mob, grabbed the young man, thew him back toward the bathroom area and warned the mob to leave.  The mob stopped when they saw it was a woman.  But, what about the waiters that tried to push him out of the bar telling him to run in the other direction so that their bar wasn't destroyed?  What about me who was hiding in the bathroom with the rest of the terrified women?  What about the rest of the customers whose tables were upturned but ran from the mob instead of helping the boy?  What was our role in this disgusting event?  How were we responsible for what could have been an untimely death?

Tonight I reflect not only on the worst of Brasil- the mob mentality, the lack of pride and resources that cause a nation to wax and wane with the results of a soccer game, and the injustices that plague all of Brasil and make such an event not only a 1 time catastrophy but a weekly happening- but I reflect on what lies within each of us.  I reflect on the spirit of the woman who saved the young man's life as well as the spirit that  lies within those of us who fled thinking only of our own well-being.  Tonight I remember one of my favorite poems by the wise teacher Thich Nhat Hahn who reminds us that the presence of good and evil of beauty and horror lies within each of us at every moment.  Let us always try to live out the beauty.

Don't say that I will depart tomorrow -- 
even today I am still arriving. 

Look deeply: every second I am arriving 
to be a bud on a Spring branch, 
to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings, 
learning to sing in my new nest, 
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower, 
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone. 

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry, 
to fear and to hope. 

The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death 
of all that is alive. 

I am the mayfly metamorphosing 
on the surface of the river. 
And I am the bird 
that swoops down to swallow the mayfly. 

I am the frog swimming happily 
in the clear water of a pond. 
And I am the grass-snake 
that silently feeds itself on the frog. 

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones, 
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks. 
And I am the arms merchant, 
selling deadly weapons to Uganda. 

I am the twelve-year-old girl, 
refugee on a small boat, 
who throws herself into the ocean 
after being raped by a sea pirate. 
And I am the pirate, 
my heart not yet capable 
of seeing and loving. 

I am a member of the politburo, 
with plenty of power in my hands. 
And I am the man who has to pay 
his "debt of blood" to my people 
dying slowly in a forced-labor camp. 

My joy is like Spring, so warm 
it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth. 
My pain is like a river of tears, 
so vast it fills the four oceans. 

Please call me by my true names, 
so I can hear all my cries and my laughter at once, 
so I can see that my joy and pain are one. 

Please call me by my true names, 
so I can wake up, 
and so the door of my heart 
can be left open, 
the door of compassion. 


- Thich Nhat Hahn "Please Call Me By My True Names"