Reflections from a friend of PRECE

For over a year now, Kacy has been working with PRECE and using their methodology of cooperative learning to teach English at the EPC’s (Popular Cooperative Schools) around the country-side of Pentecoste and most recently at the Professional School. Since I learned about PRECE and their methodology from Kacy, I have wanted to know and understand more about them and possibly arrange a partnership with them so that together we can use my knowledge and experience to PRECE’s benefit.

I want to talk about my experience visiting some of the EPCs around Pentecoste’s county. I will write about my experience with the Professional School at another time.

On the 5th and 6th of November I travelled to many communities, with Kacy, to witness and experience teaching English and also to learn how the EPCs work. But, I must say, it is not an easy trip to make. The communities are in the middle of the desert, and very remote. There, the reality quite different from what most Brasilians from the cities classify “normal”. It is so different that usually we pretend it doesn't exist or we just pretend to be blind to it. In some parts of the “Sertão” not even clean running water or basic sanitation have yet reached the people, it is where the sun punishes the animals, vegetation and people day in and day out. And the sand dust is everywhere. Because of conditions the families that live there are frequently poor and they don’t have access to good education or better opportunities.

But PRECE came to change that, because what they do is invest in people from these communities, by helping them to get into the university. And then once those students reach the university or are about to graduate they return to their homes to help the communities and help another people to walk the same path. So PRECE creates a circular process and uses the Cooperative Learning Method in all that it does.

As I was saying: It is not an easy task to do- to go between the EPCs you usually have to travel miles before you get to the next community, under a hot weather, dusty air and bad roads (we were lucky that we had a car to take us everywhere, but I saw people doing the same route on foot under the sun!). Every trip was really tough and tiring, and some of the EPCs didn’t have fans to cool off from the scalding heat. So by the end of the second day when we returned to Pentecoste we were covered in sweat and dust and we were really, REALLY exhausted.

Then I started to think that Kacy does this crazy routine every week and not once I have seen her complain. When I was still in London and we used to talk over SKYPE she sometimes would tell me that she was tired (Which is totally understandable; my legs were numb and my throat full of dust after only two days!), but I have never heard her complain about having to do this trip every week. So I started to question myself: “Is it worth?”, “Would I do the same?”. And the answer is “Yes, I would!”. The rewards that you get from spending time with the people of PRECE are priceless!

First, I have never seen people so eager to learn! As I said earlier, I saw people travelling by foot to the EPCs in extremely hot weather to learn. When in class they would follow Kacy’s instructions and then try and practice until they got it right. And above that they were very patient with her when her badly spoken Portuguese confused them.

Second, the people who live in the rural communities of Ceará are so warm and welcoming!!! Everywhere we went people would receive us with big smiles, kisses and hugs. I even got to be invited to play Soccer with a bunch of kids, and after lunch with the family of José Alfredo and Dona Marta I played memory game with the family beautiful twin kids named Fernando and Fernanda! I couldn’t have felt more at home!

Third, and most importantly, I believe education is a means to liberation and empowerment. Someone once told me that “Where education and knowledge arrives, also arrives development and prosperity”. I truly believe that and I think that this is what PRECE is trying to create. In the near future, I think those communities won’t be impoverished anymore because the people who are studying at the university and graduating with their abilities in hand will invest in their home town, bringing their jobs and expertise to be used in the community. And then doors of opportunity will open, roads will be built, businesses will appear, clinics will operate, houses will increase, etc…

And finally, I believe in the work that PRECE is doing in the interior of Ceará and I think everyone should use PRECE as an example of humility as well as faith in the power of people and a brighter future. I think if everyone did as PRECE does we would have a different Brazil.

Leonardo de Oliveira

1st Cooperative Learning Conference in Ceara

The past two days were filled with love, laughter, pride, appreciation and a great sense of solidarity and community. The Federal University of Ceara, in partnership with PRECE and the Secretary of Education in Ceara hosted the first ever Cooperative Learning conference!

The conference boasted presentations from PRECE student leaders, COFAC students at UFC, teachers at the new Professional School in Pentecoste, and a round table composed of UFC professors, SEDUC teachers and other leaders in the educational community. Each presentation was unique as each showed how the different communities are using the methodology of cooperative learning in their own special way. The PRECE students talked about the history of their EPCs, the difficulties they have overcome and some that they still face, and the projects they have developed. Their experience of informal cooperative learning outside the classroom is changing individual lives, the entire county of Pentecoste and now spreading throughout northeast Brasil. The COFAC students talked about their experiences facilitating groups of peers and their joy in developing something that is improving the entire university. They are helping to pave the way for something brand new and dynamic. And, the teachers spoke about their experiences implementing cooperative learning in the classroom. They shared their stresses as well as successes and showed how the climate of the school and the relationships between the students is flourishing. The school, a project of UFC, SEDUC and PRECE is the first to formally use cooperative learning within the classroom here in Ceara, Brasil.

The most beautiful part of the conference was watching how the participants supported and encouraged each other during their presentations. It was truly cooperative learning in action. Not only can the presenters talk about their experiences using cooperative learning, but they live the methodology in all that they do. It was my great pleasure to be surrounded by such a sense of cooperation, solidarity and love.