Studying at PRECE

Studying at PRECE
Students from PRECE study together under the juazeiro tree in small groups using cooperative learning

Monday, April 18, 2011

Dirt Roads + Rain = Disaster




I don’t know what your weekends looked like as a college student, but on a Friday nights I could either be found at 1) the frat houses, 2) visiting my boyfriend at his college, 3) travelling to an away match with my tennis team, or 4) relaxing with friends, pizza and a movie in the dorms. I definitely wasn’t travelling back to my hometown to tutor children over the weekend. As I have mentioned before, my college days differed greatly from those of the PRECE student.


On Friday nights around 10 p.m. over 100 PRECE university students gather at ICE (Instituto Coração de Estudante) with backpacks stuffed full of clothes and teaching supplies. There are 3 old school buses with drivers provided by the State Secretary of Education which transport PRECE students to their home communities so they can facilitate classes over the weekend. On a typical night I arrive in the community of Boa Vista around 1 a.m.


And, then began the rainy season.

Normally the bus ride is brutal because of the rough dirt roads, and the rain which creates muddy conditions and deep pot holes. Typically around 11:30 p.m. I begin to drift in and out of consciousness- partially because of the massive amounts of Dramamine I take (thank you motion sickness), partially because of the late hour and partially because my head is banging against the headrest.


It was around 12:30 last night that I was awoken from my Dramamine induced coma to see everyone rushing to the front of the bus. Not having the energy or interest to get up I tried to sleep again… until I realized that everyone was getting off the bus. The driver had come to an impasse. The heavy rains during the week had cut a ditch (also known as a small river) in to the dirt road and the driver knew he wouldn’t be able to go further. So, he and a few students who also knew they would have no chance of reaching their community decided to head back to Fortaleza.


The rest of us (no one asked my opinion) decided to walk. And walk. And walk. We waded through small rivers, slid across patches of mud and climbed around the deep holes. The numbers of our group dwindled as some people stopped at their homes or homes of friends. And, at 3:30 a.m. a truck met us on the dirt road and carried us the rest of the way to Boa Vista.


What amazed me most was that I appeared to be the only one who was absolutely disgusted by the situation! Why was everyone else talking and laughing and seemingly enjoying the walk when I was so frustrated that I could hardly think? I couldn’t reconcile the ridiculousness of the situation. So, I asked my wise friend, Jose Alfredo, if this had happened before or if this was the first time. “Oh, yes, we have had to walk before,” he replied and rattled off examples. And, with nearly 70% of Brasil’s roads being unpaved it was bound to happen again. He went on to say that when the rainy season ended, in June, the local government would begin to repair the dirt roads. For some reason this fact and these stories only seemed to fuel my frustration.


Why couldn’t the country with the 6th fastest growing economy provide better for its people? I realize that as an American I am extremely spoiled in to expecting that my government will provide certain things, but paved roads don’t seem to be too much to ask. Unlike my PRECE friends I had not been raised accepting that situations such as this were simply part of the struggle (nossa luta).


The next day after teaching class in Boa Vista I hopped on the back of a motorcycle ready to brave the muddy roads, ditches, streams and more rain. Remembering the words of Jose Alfredo I was not surprised to see local community members on the side of the road filling in pot holes with dirt from the fields. This was their struggle and it is a struggle in which they will come out victorious. When I want to throw up my hands in disgust and defeat, the determination and fortitude of the PRECE people stands as an example of true strength and faith, and the audacity to envision a better future against all odds.

Monday, April 4, 2011

The Law of Interdependency

This morning when I returned to the world of the internet after being in the interior for the weekend my Facebook newsfeed, email inbox and news updates were dominated by two things: Obama’s announcement for re-election and the already energized Republican campaigns… and the Butler Bulldogs heading to the NCAA Championship (go Bulldogs!). Both are dominated by the idea of competition. Only one person/team can win. Only one will succeed. Only one will be given the title. Granted- Butler has got to have 5 men on the court playing together and Obama and the Republican candidates need a team of leaders to win. But, when it is all said and done; only one is victorious. This inevitably means that the others lose. This message of competition stands in stark contrast to the message of cooperation and cooperative learning upon which PRECE stands. The message of cooperation creates a foundation upon which all succeed rather than just one. The entire community develops and improves because of the cooperative actions off all invested individuals. This past weekend PRECE leaders continued with the conferences on Cooperative Learning where we are helping all facilitators better understand the history of PRECE, the methodology of cooperative learning and the vision of the movement. One of the workshops was titled “The Law of Interdependency”. The message is simple: Nature functions interdependently with all natural items working in tandem. The trees need the sun and rain to grow and flourish. Without the sun and rain the trees will perish. Likewise, people need one another to grow and flourish. Without one another we will perish. And, when we work in contrast to this idea of interdependency we are working against nature. But, so often, we design systems of operation which make us believe that we are better off without others, that we must beat others to find our own success, that we must work independently rather than interdependently. Why is this? All my life I have been an athlete and all my life I learned that in order to win- a gymnastics meet, a tennis match, a 200 yard dash- I had to be better than everyone else. Two of us couldn’t win. There is no such thing as a tie in a tennis match (just ask John Isner and Nicholas Mahut who played for 11 hours and 5 minutes and 183 games during Wimbledon 2010). So, it is deeply ingrained in me that in order to achieve success I have to be better than someone else. I think that is how many of us were taught to think. PRECE, through cooperative learning, provides a different methodology. There is never just one person who wins the race or walks away with the title. The journey might be longer and it might appear to be more strenuous at times. But, at the end an entire community, an entire city, an entire state is empowered and everyone “wins”. Through this law of interdependency everyone remains connected and in “right relation” with the other. Everyone rises and falls together and the entire entity makes strides toward progress. “Human longing and capacity for active struggle toward justice [are] born of the aspiration for rightly related community.” – Beverly Wildung Harrison

Though this group looks pretty awesome, I am not endorsing them... just supporting their great video! :)