Suddenly, with the fanfare of the end of term exams and the obligatory sugar-fueled party classes on the final Friday, I was no longer a teacher.

My semester had reached its conclusion. Memories still bounce around inside my skull of the final day, recorded with forensic precision in my personal journal. The smallest and roundest student from my 4 p.m. class, Nimsy, participated only partially in the “construct a mummy” race, standing in his giant heeled wheely shoes gazing with affection at the miniature doughnut in his hand as his team mate knelt at his feet, industriously wrapping them in toilet paper.

I was doused in tearful goodbye hugs by an unexpected and terrifying wall of early teenage female hormones as my 5 p.m. class said their farewells. My final 6 p.m. class brought its own bitter sweet conclusion, the highly dubious home-made money in the class game of poker ranging in value from $73 per note to an ambitious $100,000. All these are my treasured memories, but did my students get anything out of the hours that I invested teaching them English?

Beginnings
I came to Latin America in January 2009, arriving in the small town of Chiapa de Corzo in the rural state of Chiapas, Mexico. My Spanish was fairly embarrassing and I’d not been out of the UK longer than four months prior to the trip, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. To prevent a complete leap into the unknown, I’d booked onto a TEFL training course at the Dunham Institute, a language school and TEFL training centre in Chiapa de Corzo; following a successful graduation I’d continue as a teacher for the subsequent semester.

I was nervous by the time my first full day of classes arrived after getting my certificate, but ready. Confident in my ability to teach, I also already knew the kids and the community somewhat from the previous month. Deemed by the academic coordinator to be the best person to handle the beginner classes, I knew that some of my students wouldn’t speak a lick of English. Undaunted, I strode into the classroom on that first day, introduced myself to the selection of wide-eyed little faces and kicked things off with a wordless clapping game.

Progress
It’s difficult to see changes when you’re staring it in the face day to day. In English class, new topics were introduced, forgotten and reviewed as the weeks passed. Some students were naturally more capable than others. They soaked up every word I passed them, and jumped with reaching fingers on a raised hand every time I asked for a volunteer. Some just sat, and stared into space.

We moved slowly through games, exercises, progress tests and mid-terms. I left Chiapas for two weeks in Semana Santa to enjoy a break in the semester. When I came back, I realized with a degree of surprise that my students spoke English. Not the finely drilled sentences that march from the mouths of grammar-drones, but the shapeless verbal enthusiasm that tumbles from students without concern. Games were beset on all sides by shouting teams, yelling in…English! My tentative questions were no longer pre-empted by a hollow silence, but by naughty mouths beating their classmates to the answer in…English!

Endings
By the end of the term, there was no denying it. The silence of my classroom was a thing of the past. All barriers long since departed, my students clung to me on the last day and proclaimed their sorrow at my departure. That wasn’t the only thing affecting me; they were speaking to me in the language I’d been chipping away at as the days, weeks and months passed. Looking around the other classrooms, I wasn’t the only recipient of special treatment. All the teachers were receiving hugs from their classes and smiling warmly at the presentation of soft toys and cards festooned with the romantic heart-shaped stamp of glorious Mexican kitsch.

New beginnings
It’s a given that only a proportion of the students will ever use their English for anything useful. Some will give up, and never continue beyond the classes that I gave. Many of them will never leave Mexico, or take their language beyond the classroom. Some will use my lessons to pass exams in the state system to qualify for higher education. A few might even leave their country and travel or work abroad, grateful for the opportunity to be able to communicate.

But that’s not the enduring thing that sticks with me when I consider if the whole thing was worthwhile. I’ve seen my students go from nothing to the vibrant enthusiasm that comes with the successful beginning of a journey. Maybe further down the road, just one or two might use their English to get a job. They might start a business, or meet a future husband or wife, and the opportunity in their lives will have been brought about by my time and effort. Even though they will be few in number, that’s enough to make it worth it.

For more on teaching English in Latin America, check out these other posts by La Vida Idealist bloggers.

About two hundred men, women, and children —representatives from several communities — gathered in front of City Hall with t-shirts, signs, protest songs, and elected speakers who took their turn in front of the megaphone.

Why? The City Department of Housing has officially announced that 119 entire favela communities, totaling at least 12,196 homes, will be removed by 2012. The city cites reasons of “risk” to justify their removal. According to the officials, “risk” means that these communities exist in places prone to flooding, landslides, or overall need for environmental protection.

However, not all of the communities threatened with removal are at risk. One such community is Vila Autódromo, whose only crime is existing in the very location where the city plans to build the Olympic Training and Media Centers. People do not want to go!

The argument is sound. If there is no environmental risk and if the community is safe and law abiding, the residents feel as if the city is simply cleaning up their city to make way for international tourists who are expected to flock in record numbers for the Olympic Games and World Cup. Residents feel like the city is once again trying to displace and exploit the voiceless poor because their houses aren’t pretty. Instead of helping them upgrade, the city wants them gone.

After years, and in some cases decades, of residence in these locations, where are they expected to go? One protest sign asked just that. Other signs read:

“There is so much vacant space is Rio, why displace us?”

“We’re asking for respect!”

“Say no to removal, Cariocas against social segregation!”

“Removal is a social crime!”

“We’re Rio’s chance to show that we have serious policy — Urbanization”

“Why do our news media give voice to the City and not the Community?”

Despite the peaceful and very orderly protest, City Hall closed its gates which, apparently, are always open to the public. In fact, I had walked through those very gates on my way to the protest just a few hours earlier.

In the end, a small handful of community leaders and journalists whose names were on a list were allowed past the gates of city hall to talk with the city officials. I personally hope for successful negotiations.

Jamie Worms is currently a volunteer with Catalytic Communities and Calle. To learn more about favelas and life in Rio de Janeiro, check out some of Jamie’s past posts.

Well, in my first few hours in Solentiname I realized that rushing into my projects was not the right way to start my year as a volunteer. The best thing I could do was to switch gears and take my time. After all, I was entering a small village with a population of roughly 300 people where life moves at a much slower pace than São Paulo – the metropolis I call home.

Before I got started on my work I had to start learning about the islands, their inhabitants, and how things work here. Don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not lying in a hammock all day twiddling my fingers. I’ve been busy helping teach reading classes to children and young adolescents, I’ve helped lug all sorts of heavy objects in preparation for Solentiname’s first music festival, and, most importantly, I’m constantly making an effort to establish new friendships and integrate myself into the community by participating in as many activities as possible, such as playing hide-and-go-seek with the kids, soccer with the young guys, and checkers with the old guys.

I can say that my change of plans is working out better than I had hoped.

Now, two weeks after my arrival, I’ve met most of the people that live in my village and feel more at home every day. I’ve started to photograph the people here as they go about their daily lives and, consequently, have received a lot of interest from several curious children and adolescents who are eager to attend my photo classes. If everything goes as planned I should be teaching my first class next week. In the meantime, I’ll start transitioning out of my “take your time” state of mind and into my “let’s get cracking” mode.

To check out some of my first pictures from Solentiname, check out my personal photo blog. For further reading on working as a volunteer within a new community, have a look at “Community Relations & Expectations.”

Preparing and serving breakfast, a fruit snack and lunch everyday for 500 kids is no small feat; even the busiest restaurant in town does not serve that many people on a daily basis. While the school did have a couple of good stoves, the amount of food being cooked definitely warranted something more industrial, as the regular stoves could not properly handle the work load.

Enter  Tony and Ginger Rogers of Texas, a couple who volunteered at Holy Cross this past summer. Ginger was helping with literacy and remedial reading while Tony assisted with building. During their stay, they asked the school what was needed most and were told a heavy duty stove. They went back home to Texas and and set the wheels in motion to raise the money needed to buy a quality stove of the kind most restaurants possess.

After raising the funds, Ginger and Tony were able to get the stove to Amarillo, Texas to Pastor Tim Tam from the Word at Work Ministry. Transportation from Texas to San Pedro was generously provided by Belize Natural Energy Trust (BNET), headquartered in Belmopan. Last but not least, Sterling Vorus of Island Ferry stepped up and volunteered to get the stove from Belize City to San Pedro.

This was definitely an event to capture for the school blog. I decided to ask my friend Mitch to come along to check out Holy Cross School, and catch the ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating the new stove which was followed by lunch prepared by Chef Victor Nal of Sunset Grill. Among the people who came out to celebrate were Sterling Voris of Island Ferry, officials Sylvia Baumgart Laasner and Deborah Sewell from BNET, representatives from local papers and of course, school staff. Mitch told me afterward she was glad she went and got to see firsthand what the school was like, not to mention hear the stove story. She was also able to taste something cooked on the new stove by Chef Victor – Belize’s 2009 Chef of the Year and a frequent volunteer with the feeding program – and Miss Rosalia, head kitchen staff.

So you can see that all of these people were the drops of water that helped fill the bucket to get a much needed industrial stove for the school. And it’s a gift that keeps on giving – the kids will continue to benefit from the feeding program and get served two meals a day and a mid-morning snack, keeping their bellies full.

Community Library in Novo Iguaçu, Baixada Fluminense de Combate a Pobreza e a Fome

Once I stepped foot into my first favela, there was no turning back. I was truly spellbound. I had learned how they formed, I knew a bit of their tumultuous history, and my next obstacle was to understand how they functioned.

It also came time for me to choose a topic for my master’s thesis. Initially, I wanted to study the drug traffickers. I figured they held the answer to how favelas were managed. Fortunately, or not, that idea was quickly overruled. (Mostly due to my non-existent Portuguese skills and the danger these factions represent.) Luckily, for my family and friends, much on this subject had also already been written. And, for the most part, I get the gist. Traffickers work with lucrative material, and are therefore able to purchase their protection from the police and from the residents, in the form of guns and bribes. Because of this, they become powerful, and almost authoritarian, actors in the favela arena.

So, in the light of restrictions and impositions, I wanted to know more about the daily lives of the residents. I wanted to ask them who they were, what they did, what they used, and what they needed. This would give me an idea about how their lives were affected by all of the actions and actors implicated in the management of their communities.

Samba School, Aós Pes do Santa Marta

Soon enough my research question had been redefined. Instead of focusing on the negative aspects of favela life, I began to focus on the positive. Over the course of six months Roseli Franco, the Network Director for Catalytic Communities, brought me to a number of community projects. We visited a library, a physical therapy clinic, a workshop for children, a physical disability center, a program for prophylaxis and treatment of dental disease, a samba dance school, and a Catholic day care center for girls. All of the projects were designed around positively addressing a problem being faced by the community.

What I found was that in light of poor schools, poor health care, governmental neglect, political exploitation, danger, isolation, and poverty, residents were uniting to produce interesting and unique forms of development to improve their lives and the lives of others. As residents assembled to eradicate a specific problem, new community solutions were born.

At this point I knew I could no longer be a casual bystander.

But the school does more than educate underprivileged kids – it helps a community of people who are in serious need a lifeline.

After visiting the area of San Mateo (next to the school) and having the chance to interact with some of the local residents living there, I definitely have a strong sense of their appreciation of having the lifeline of Holy Cross School. It’s a school whose goal is to help build up the community, from providing kids with an opportunity to get an education and proper medical attention to leading marches against violence through town.

They also encourage parents to be involved with their kids’ schooling, and form a stronger bond with the community. They empower parents by providing them with opportunities to get ahead, such as holding ESL and computer classes, and stocking an adult section in the school library with inspiring and motivating books.

While formulating ideas for this post, I found myself thinking back to Emily’s entry last week about The Highs…and the Lows she has seen volunteering in Nicaragua. It was a good reminder to me that other people are going through similar, but different, experiences and even though some of the lows are pretty low, the highs are what help keep me moving forward towards helping this community any way I can.