Brazil Study Abroad Program, 2007

Memoirs of Brazil - 2007 

Written by Patrice Harlan, Class of 2007, College of Liberal Arts and Education

View pictures from 2007:  Page 1 , Page 2  

I had always wanted to travel abroad, however, being a non‐traditional student AND single mother with a full time job‐ taking a semester off was not an option. When I stumbled upon UDM’s Brazil study abroad program, I was elated: a program that was two and half weeks where I could earn summer credits, I thought I hit the jackpot! And that was before the trip. I had no idea how fulfilling this trip was going to be. 

Most people, myself included, who imagine a study abroad program, picture working with a local university and attending lectures by local professors.  This program far exceeded this expectation.   First, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil is filled with so much African culture history, much of that which parallels to our history in the U.S., that I was completely enthralled to discover our lectures were given by local people in the community who actually work on or for particular projects or programs.  We visited several community centers, organizations, and after-school programs in Brazil, which allowed for an even broader experience.

The hands‐on learning, the personal visits, hugging the children, and let’s not forget the standard Brazilian greeting…the double kiss on the cheeks, gives one a feeling connected with the local Bahians, and a longing to go back for more...which is why I decided to return to Brazil this summer, again with the UDM program.

Many people do not know that Bahia, Brazil has the largest African population outside of Nigeria. It has the largest coastline in Brazil with 745 miles of coast, to which slaves were transported by boat from several west-African countries, including Benin and Angola.  Although African traditions were outlawed for many years, many remain intact today, such as the African religion of Condomble. We didn’t just read about the Condomble religion or hear about it from a local professor; we spent time with ‘Mother’ of the Condomble in Salvador, the Priestess Valdina, learning firsthand about how the religion came to be, and how it still exists. We took a field trip to the Condomble compound and visited with the people in their homes, an experience that cannot be gained from classroom learning.

Slavery in Brazil was abolished 150 years ago; the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery. Afro-Brazilian slaves worked on the sugar plantations, and, although slavery has been abolished and racism is illegal, as it is in the US, it still very much exists in Brazil. Bahia suffers from what the Brazilian government refers to a “problema sociao”. This social problem is racism. Afro‐Brazilians with lighter skin get better jobs; those with access to money get a better education. Brazilians must take an entrance test for college admittance, referred to as the vestibular, in which only those with the highest scores are accepted into college. Those students who attended the state schools, were not given the level of education needed to pass the vestibular, and thus could not be afforded a college education. Over half of Brazil’s population is black, yet the majority of college graduates are white. Obviously those who had attended the better schools, which are private, as children are going to score predominantly better on the vestibular (college entrance test) than those who could not afford a better education. We learned about the racial issues in Brazil from Gilberto Leal, a dynamic part of the Black‐movement in Brazil and other South American countries. 

On the way home from this trip, while waiting in the security line in Sao Paulo Airport, I met two students from Penn State University who were also returning home from study abroad trip in Bahia offered through their University. When speaking to them about their experiences in Salvador, they hadn’t encountered nearly what we had covered in two and half short weeks. For example, these students did not get to go into the favellas (local communities), nor did they get to try to traditional foods of Bahia. They were limited to what the host families cooked for them and showed them.

They also did not learn the Portuguese language before departing for Brazil, which in Bahia, you need at least the basics to communicate; not many people speak fluent English.  The language classes offered through UDM, as part of program orientation, started weeks before departure and continued while in Brazil with a local Bahian instructor.     

Throughout the program, we visited several communities -- yet it was a very different experience to visit the home a friend who lives there, in accommodations much more modest than ours.  It touched my heart so deeply that I felt guilty for the benefits that I am not only afforded, such as the opportunity to have a college education, own a home and car, but that these are the benefits that are taken for granted.  On the otherhand, the sense of community cohesiveness and the sense of pride in what they do have, their warm and welcoming nature (Bahians love to invite you into their homes and make you feel part of their family), I felt, were unparalleled.

The interesting perspective in these experiences is that I can apply many of these situations to life in the United States: the fight for equal education, equal rights and pay for jobs regardless of skin tone, programs to help educate the homeless children, building and improving the foster care system.  I can say that all the experiences allowed me to step out of the everyday American egotism and viewpoints of privilege.  I have come to view things from a different perspective in a way that will allow me utilize these experiences to expand beyond my own personal boundaries.  P. Harlan

Read articles by Gisele Caver, in UDM's Varsity News, starting September, 2007 Varsitynews@udmercy.edu