I didn’t expect to find.

by Alfredo Alves da Silva Neto (Brazil)

I didn't expect to find USA

Life in Passira, a small town in the Northeast of Brazil, has never been easy, but it worsens on rainy days. As is the case in many parts of my country, the streets become muddy and flooded. The story I’m about to tell you took place on such a day. I had left my house and was traipsing around the mud outside when I saw some people sitting on the sidewalk. I overheard their conversation, in which they were comparing their lives to those of Americans, and one of them said something that made me come to a halt. It was something about wishing to leave this land and never look back. Why did I freeze, one might wonder. I did so because a question swiftly came to my mind: To whom do I compare my life to? I like to compare my life to a jigsaw puzzle in the sense that when I am working on solving it, I do so from the corners toward where I intend to go to create the big picture. English has been a part of my puzzle, and more than once I had to work on multiple pieces at the same time to make sense of it, rearranging the pieces in my mind to make sentences. And, hard as it was, I became determined to understand who I truly am and what I am made of. First challenge: Here, there are no English schools, the closest ones being in neighboring cities. Since my parents couldn’t afford private classes, I was on my own. After gaining an understanding of the English language, I was given a life changing opportunity through an exchange program called “Win The World” to a full semester scholarship in the United States. Second challenge: As I pursued more pieces of the puzzle, now in the USA, I was faced with a new obstacle: reconciling the stark social differences between my new environment and the place I had come from. At Lennard High School in Florida, students parked their luxurious cars and traveled abroad during vacation, altogether differing from my previous lifestyle in Brazil, where I walked an hour to get to school on a daily basis. I had gone to the USA in order to attain better education and, hopefully, attend college, both of which were things that only the wealthiest in Passira could do. Third challenge: Upon returning to my city in Brazil, I was feeling a new and unstoppable drive to do more than just build my own story; I wanted to enable others to do the same. With this goal in mind, I started the “Will to Learn Languages Project”, which would be the first language school in Passira. There, my friends and I began teaching English and Spanish combined to socio-emotional learning and self awareness to 124 low-income students. This project thrived and garnered media attention, as evidenced by the Mayor’s visit to the project headquarters and my subsequent interviews to a local radio and a state newspaper. I plan on continuing my volunteer work. I know it’s only a small piece of a much larger puzzle and that there is a lot more to be done. All in all, my fundamental goal is to help my community overcome challenges, such as poverty and inequality, through education. What inspires me is knowing that education can transform a person’s life. Going back to the people I saw on the sidewalk, if they could see the social differences I have seen, they would not be complaining about their lives in Brazil if they knew that the power to change everything lies within them: the desire for change. A hunger for knowledge. This incredible power that emanates from education: the power to change lives. Based on all I’ve seen and lived so far, I am inspired to not only seize my potential, but empower others to feel the same, because I am living proof of this, and it’s something I didn’t expected to find it.