Tues. 6/22
Today was a bit of a treat because we went to of two schools that is a pilot for a new public/private sector model that the state of Rio de Janeiro is trying. Allow me to explain…(this is a pretty interesting concept…) The school, called NATA (yes, an acronym) is only two years old and is dually funded by the state as well asa private company called Pau de Acucar, which is a grocery store chain. The school building is a purchased and remodeled old dairy factory and part of the factory remains active because the mission behind the school is to provide training in food technology through an integrated curriculum. (*Note: while this may sound something like Great Oaks in Ohio, I assure it is not because they are not necessarily trying to train kids to enter these types of jobs, it is just a practical way to give what they learn a practical component…that and kids have to perform well on an entrance exam to get in.) Anyways, I suppose a good comparison in the states would be our magnet schools. The cool thing is that because of the funding from the private sector they have lab equipment that rivals that of a college lab and their classes are conducted in a similar fashion as well as they have the theory/lecture part of the class in a classroom and the lab practical in the lab at different times. The samples that they make in lab are then used in the food production. Many students travel very far to get to the school each day, and we even talked to one girl who has a three hour commute EACH WAY every day to school, and they go to school longer than most other public school students but it is worth it for them because of the opportunity it provides them. They leave here with skills for many types of science careers in addition to the food science industry.
When we arrived they served us the most AMAZING cheese and dolce de leite (caramelized milk) on crackers and we came to find out that the kids made it! In fact all of what they make gets used in their cafeteria for meals. SO COOL. So yeah approximately 30% of the content teachers have to cover gets integrated into the technical skills aspect of their education. In order to accomplish this, every Wednesday from 1-5:30 teachers meet to plan this curriculum integration while students work on in-school internships in the cheese factory, microbiology lab, etc. led by technical instructors. Students also study entrepreneurship and cooperative management…After speaking with the students it was clear that they see being at the school as an opportunity to change their lives and as a result they are very motivated. I was surprised at how many of them knew some basic bits of English.
Later in the day we went to a social project organization called Afroreggae. It was in the Cantagalo favela, which is the one right behind where we are staying. This, however is a pacified favela (there is an internal police force that controls the drug trafficers)so no worries there. It was cool because we got to take this giant elevator up to the favela since it is on the top of one of the hills. We got to talk to several of the people who work for Afroreggae including dance instructors, psychologists, and social workers. Many of the people that work there live in the favela or participated in the program when they were younger and it was so inspiring to them that they wanted to give back. They have several govt. and private sponsors and they offer classes such as hp hop and circus (yes, circus….in fact the whole place resembled a circus ring.) Their mission is to sort of rescue kids off the streets from the drug trade and develop them as good people and teach them job skills while helping them to understand that progress is a slow process. They were very honest about the harsh reality that some of these kids live but also hopeful about giving the kids a safe place and a place to live a better life. They try to involve kids from “the pavement” (neighborhoods down below that are not favelas) in order to bridge the gap between the youth. It seems like a very positive way to keep kids safe, give them an outlet/assort of art therapy for the negative effects of having family member involved in drug trafficking. Finally we got to see a breakdancing class! Apparently hip hop has recently become more of a demand among the youth here as it infiltrates from the US. The kids were so into it and their instructor (yet another reminder of why I value guys who can dance as wonders of the world haha) has a great rapport with them and they behave so well. Not only were some of them very good but they were all having fun and some even spoke some very poignant words about their philosophy on dance or “being a B boy” as a part of life….which was really touching. I really wanted to get up and learn some moves but I guess a free show and a picture with the instructor was enough.Great experience and great dialogue. Good things are happening in little pockets all over this city…
We finished up the day with Portuguese class #2 and a nice dinner at Bibi, the restaurant at which we are now becoming regulars. They love us there and we help them with English while they help us with Portuguese. And they even brought me the English salad order form because they knew I have ordered a salad the past two times that I’ve been there. Haha. Their salads are soo good because you get to choose up to 15 items off of an incredible array of options. This time I had a spinach, ricotta and walnut crepe and of course acai….they have the best in Copacabana.
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