A Nonprofit, a Public School, & A Community School
After meeting with the non-profit organization Parceiros da Educação, we joined them for a tour of one of the local public schools that they worked with. The school, CIEP Presidente Agostinho Neto, welcomed us with bright eyes and big smiles, as we walked into children yelling and playing during their recess. The building was multilevel and painted mostly blue, giving off a carefree and relaxing feeling. We toured many different classrooms and ran into students from Kindergarten to 5th grade, and even got to witness a presentation that students had put together on ways to make public transportation more accessible for people with disabilities. The school follows a bilingual education plan, and you could feel the excitement as the students practiced their English with us and in return, taught us some phrases in Portuguese. Overall, the classrooms reminded me the most of a typical public school that you would see here in America, and it was clear that the students were happy just to be there. You could tell it was a special place by the energy in the atmosphere, the fact that Cristo Redentor stood over, watching, perfectly in view-- and that the cool blue walls reminded you of the vast ocean that lay just east of us.
Meeting with Parceiros da Educação and learning about how they support schools.
Next, we traveled up the hills and walked over 200 steps to get to our final educational tour for the week. While the prior school reminded us of tidal waves, energetic at first but calm when needed, SOLAR Meninos de Luz stood tall on the mountainside, grounded in community and strength. The emerald green walls whispered stories of hope and hardship that reflected brightly against the multi-colored favelas that encompassed the surrounding view. The school was home to children ranging from infancy to the 12th grade and focused on enrolling those with the highest need for education. The school provided not only a place for learning, but everything a child could imagine; including art classes, a theatre, countless sports, musical instruments, and even a robotics area. You could tell it was a beacon of hope, as we gazed at the poster of last year’s graduates, who all had the most genuine smiles on their faces. We were told to notice how it was one of the only places on the external walls of the school that had not been vandalized, because of how much respect the community had for the institution and their students. Out of all the things I’ve witnessed throughout the trip to Brazil, SOLAR Meninos de Luz will always be one to remember.
