Jessie's Amazon Journal
Saturday, August 18th
This morning we rose at around 6 am, which seems to be a little on the late side by local standards, as the sun pouring in the open windows generally wakes everyone up pretty early. Also, the roosters start getting loud around 5:30-6ish.
First thing we went to the community school for 1st - 8th graders. All the kids (about 150 of them) came out and greeted us with a sign welcoming us to the community and a few songs. The songs included the national anthem of Brazil as well as the anthem for the community of Suruacá. We ate breakfast with the teachers, which included bread, various tapioca concocthttp://communityempowernet.org/cenweb/images/051JessieBraz2007wbkrnd.jpgions in pancake-like shapes, crackers, fried plantains (mmmmmm…), coffee, and hot chocolate. I was pleasantly surprised by how nice the school building was. It is only a few years old3. There are 6 classrooms with a lot of windows for air to move through, a kitchen, an outdoor covered area that they use for snack/meal time as well as group activities, bathrooms, and the office.
Classroom in the school at Suruacá
The new school in Suruacá
After breakfast we spoke to the teachers about the school. All the teachers grew up in Suruacá except one, a light-skinned guy who came to the community in 1987 and never left. The school day starts at 7 am with a group activity, and then classes start at 7:15. Kids usually go home for lunch around 11 and then come back at 1:00 pm for a few more hours in the afternoon. Teachers specialize in 1-2 subjects, which was different than what I am used to at the elementary level in the US, where students usually have one teacher for everything (at least that's how it was for me). The subjects taught at the school include Portuguese, Math, Science, Amazon Studies, and English. There are about 80 kids in 1st - 4th grade and another 80 in 5th - 8th grade.
Just recently Suruacá starting to have high school taught in the community, although they are facing challenges in getting it going. In 2004 the government conducted a survey regarding the community's interest in high school. They needed 30 people interested in order to start the program. There were about 60 people (some youth, some adults) interested in the community. They started with a class of 45, because that was all they could accommodate. Currently there are about 30 students attending. Some have dropped out because they are waiting on a history teacher to be available. In order to graduate from high school, students must satisfy several requirements, including history. The community is having a hard time finding a history teacher who can come to the community. Some of the elementary teachers have not completed high school themselves, are in the process of finishing their high school diplomas. There are a couple of young people (including Djalma's daughter) who are able to go to Santarém for high school. However, she is only able to do this because she can live with Djalma's mother who is there. Most youth from Suruacá would have nowhere to stay in the city.
When we asked about other difficulties, they mentioned that often kids arrive without any understanding of why school is important. Many kids clearly have no support from their parents, who are only sending their kids to school because of monetary incentives from the government. They have a difficult time engaging these kids without help from the parents. Also, they mentioned that they were interested in having a preschool, but the educational secretariat requires a quota of 25 kids in order to justify paying a teacher, and they only have 18 kids in the community whose parents are interested. Another challenge is insufficient energy, which is an issue throughout the community. The telecenter monitors recently reduced the amount of time that that the school could spend at the telecenter due to the batteries malfunctioning. They like to use the Internet for students to do research for projects, but have not been able to. Teachers also mentioned that they would like to have a library, as they have about 2,000 books but nowhere to put them (I saw them set up on shelves in the office - I wasn't really sure what the problem was with this arrangement).
On the way back from the school we passed the community health center. I learned about the health center from Djalma, who is a community health agent. He is not a nurse, but he does have some training to deal with minor health problems and helps to coordinate community health campaigns. The community is able to treat minor illnesses and injuries at the health center. However, for anything serious, community members would be forced to travel to Santarém. As you may recall, this is 6 hours away by riverboat which only comes twice per week. There is an emergency number for a speedboat that they can call, however they only pick up some of the time. Also, there are canoes with motors that could take people, but they would charge for the fuel which often people cannot afford.
After this we continued touring the community, passing by the variety of houses. Some are made of clay bricks like ours, with shingles for roofs. Others are wood with thatched roofs. The roads are all dirt (sand) and many trees provide shade, which is definitely needed in the middle of the day. We heard many people playing music (mostly upbeat Brazilian singers) on what I assumed were battery-powered CD players. We passed a dance rehearsal at the telecenter where a group was preparing for a performance in a neighboring community. I noticed that there are street lights down the main street, which provide some light during a couple of hours, a couple of evenings a week. For some reason I was surprised to also see the same brightly blue colored public pay phones that I had seen in Rio4. Even by 10am it had become very hot, bright and sunny. So I got used to the slow walking routine as we continued our tour of the communities.
The public pay phone in Suruacá
At lunch we had rice, beans, and fish, and then took a little afternoon siesta, which was quite welcome given the heat. We woke to a confused rooster just in time for our interview with Dona Martina, Djalma's mother-in-law.
At first she thought we were in the community with Projecto Bagagem. This is a program organized by a local non-governmental organization, PSA, to bring tourists (Brazilian and foreign alike) to the communities. In 2004 and 2005 they had one group. There was no group in 2006, and now in 2007 they are preparing for the arrival of another group. The groups are about 15-20 people each. Dona Martina explained that while the community is quite open to receiving tourists, there are some people who question how it benefits the community. Some tourists would set up interviews (similar to how we did) but it would not yield any results. I don't think it's entirely clear to the residents what the exact motivation of Projecto Bagagem is, and if the tourists are conducting the interviews for any reason beyond their personal interest.
Dona Martinha showing photos
Dona Martina has been living in Suruacá for 72 years. She was born here and had 10 children, but 4 died. The family made a living with their mandioca (manioc root) crop and the rubber latex (rubber latex is no longer harvested in the community, as the rubber company went bankrupt). When her kids got older, the family left to go to Santarém so that some of them could attend high school. The oldest brother worked in the Coca Cola factory in Santarém in order to pay for his 4 younger brothers to go to school. Dona Martina and her husband worked in the city to pay for the family's living expenses. She worked as a maid in private homes and her husband worked doing odd jobs - fixing things and selling items as a street vendor. Now that they have moved back to Suruacá, she works doing her own household chores but no longer outside the home. She receives a social security benefit, which I presume is quite low.
She also showed us some of her paneiro, which is a loose basket weaving style. Mostly the older women in the community know this craft, and she is worried that the community is losing the knowledge because the young people don't know how to do it.
After our interview we visited the health center where there was a sick child as well as a sick elderly woman. Both of them had severe fevers and the child was vomiting and had diarrhea. They really needed to see a doctor, however they weren't able to go to Santarém today. I was worried about them, but Djalma insisted that if they got any worse they would find a way to send them to Santarém tomorrow.
On the way to our next meeting we ran into a group of Djalma's neighbors relaxing in hammocks and wooden benches in the shade, enjoying the afternoon. They invited us to have a beer with them, so we did. Of course that is when Djalma showed up and was like "hey, you aren't working!!" (he was just teasing). Then a couple of women came and met us for interviews. One was one of the teachers and the other woman was a leader from the community association. The main thing that I got out of these interviews, with Angela explaining to me after the fact, was that both the women seemed to be very cautious in how they approached us. They didn't seem to be very sure of our intentions, and didn't want to answer a lot of questions if they weren't sure why they were being asked. They have experienced outsiders coming in before and asking questions (through Project Bagagem) that never actually accomplished anything with the information they gathered. So clearly they are wary of outsiders seeking information.
As we (or should I say Angela) were talking to the two women, I had fun taking pictures of some of the kids nearby. One little girl, the daughter of the teacher, who was about 3 kept worrying me with all of the mischief she was getting into. One minute she was running with scissors, the next minute was playing with some other sharp object, the next minute twisting herself up so tight in the hammock I thought she might choke herself. But none of the adults seemed to think anything of it, so I just had to tell myself "Jessie, chill out" and realize that it was her mom's job to deal with her and they obviously aren't as uptight as we Americans are.
Kids playing fútbol
There was also a group of kids playing soccer - about 6-11 year olds, girls and boys both together. They were having a grand old time, so much fun that they didn't even notice me taking pictures of them. It has made me so happy to see kids (including boys and girls!) playing so freely. This is a common scene here in Suruacá, whereas kids working (whether in the fields or with domestic labor) is not, at least not excessively. All the kids seem to go to school, at least up to 8th grade, now that it is available in the community. This is refreshing to me, since over the course of my travels to developing countries I have seen all too many kids with a certain eyes-glazed-over look about them, where they have sort of lost their curiosity about the world - lost their childhood in a way - due to circumstances of poverty that have resulted in child labor, malnutrition, or other things that take away from experiencing childhood. And while Suruacá is certainly poor, I would say the quality of life is really exceptionally high. People have healthy bodies and happy spirits. Despite the many challenges they face, people seem to have quite a positive outlook on life.
Anyways, we went back to Djalma's house for dinner, and had some more fish beans and rice (this is a common theme, it seems!). And then we had yet another shower adventure. Tonight I made Angela go first. I had just settled in my hammock with my book when I saw Angela come back to the house… dry. Hmmmm… I thought… this isn't good. "Jessie," she said, "there are two of those huge spiders in the shower, and they are moving!" This proved to be just too much for both of us. We sheepishly asked Margarete if we could have a bucket of water for a bucket shower, much to the amusement in Djalma's household.
3. The installation of the telecenter, which Bob managed, was one of the impetuses to finally getting the school build. The community had been trying for years to replace the woefully inadequate small two room school and the publicity surrounding the telecetner project helped them finally gain approval.
4. The Brasilian phone company is required to provide phone service to every community larger than a certain size. The infrastructure to provide the single phone is quite impressive. It includes quite a few solar panels, batteries, a large satellite dish and a cement block building, all surrounded by a tall chain-link fence. The entire installation must be about 1000 square feet in sizes. All this for a single pay phone that until recently, at least, rarely worked.
Sunday, August 19th
This morning we visited the site for the proposed micro-hydroelectric dam. It will serve 800 people, most of whom are in Suruacá. We got to ride bikes there, which made it a fun excursion. Angela doesn't know how to ride a bike, so several of the guys took turns carrying her on the back of their bikes. (Djalma, his youngest son, Dorinelson who is about 8, and a couple other guys came with us).
Djalma's sons. Djama Jr.
teaching
Dorinelson how to read about two
years ago
We were going at a comfortable pace - not super fast but not leisurely either, at least not for me. So I was surprised that the person carrying Angela was able to keep up! Dorinelson led the way most of the time. He was so cute on the full sized bike - he had to stand in order to pedal, but that didn't slow him down, no sir! We biked for about an hour each way. The trails through the forest began as quite broad and level as we first left the community and then progressively became narrower and narrower and involved more and more dodging of branches and roots. Luckily there weren't too many hills, since we were on one-speed bikes. Being next in line after Dorinelson, who is of course very small, meant that I was the first one to break through all the spider webs at face level - lucky for the rest of those guys I cleared the way!
Angela waiting for a corona
(ride)
on the visit to the micro-hydroelectric
dam site
We had to cross a small stream which meant taking off our shoes and carrying our bikes across. I was very surprised by how cold and crisp the water was. If someone were to have asked me to picture a stream through the Amazon Rainforest, I would have thought of something murky and warm. But this was quite the opposite - cold and clear like a Northwest mountain stream transplanted into the rainforest. It was really refreshing!
We continued on and eventually came to a seemingly random place in the trail where Djalma announced that if we wanted to continue to the actual site it would involve some "off-roading", or should I say bushwhacking. There was an overgrown trail at times but other times we literally did have to slash our way through. After about 20 minutes we came to the site. Again, a seemingly random place but apparently chosen due to its location situated in a ravine. It was a small stream, maybe about 10-15 feet wide and a couple feet deep in the middle. Apparently with the dam some water from other nearby streams would be diverted into this one to increase the water flow. Unfortunately this whole site visit was rather confusing because I could never really figure out the exact significance of where we were. It seemed like the area that we were taken to was the area that would eventually be flooded by the dam, not the area of the dam itself. In any case, it did give me a good appreciation for the scale of the project (i.e. quite small).
The site of the proposed
micro hydroelectric dam.
On the way back we stopped to take a dip in the cool stream, which was quite nice as the day's heat was already beginning.
After a lunch break when we got back, we spoke to some of the community leaders. It is quite impressive how organized Suruacá is. Also, it is striking how there seems to be a very strong sense of community here. People are proud to be from Suruacá and seem to work together quite a bit. I am not sure if this is related, but I have also noted how clean the community is. There is hardly any litter, compared to what I have seen in other poor areas, urban and rural alike.
For dinner we had fish that Djalma Jr. (Djalma's son - about 13 years old) caught in the river. It was small and bony, but not too bad. Then of course there is the obligatory mandioca flour that they put on absolutely everything. Farming the mandioca crop and producing the flour is one of the main economic activities of the community. It is a hard crunchy flour that doesn't have much of a taste, but people LOVE to put it on top of everything. In this case, we poured the broth from the fish soup over it to make it into a paste.
I must say that the one thing I do love about the food here is all the kinds of juice. Every day there seems to be a different kind of juice made from one of the local fruits (often times right from the family's backyard). My favorite so far is the star fruit juice. Yum!