Ode to Beja

To the castle, its tower a beacon of help as we loose our way along narrow, winding streets

To the café’ next door with its sweet treats, my lattes each morning, and friendly conversation in the afternoon

To the mandolin concert in Pax Julia and citizen band on the street outside

To the Heritage Center with its local crafts and our euros

To Paula who coordinates our presence in the schools

To Ana Paula and her jewelry—bracelets, necklaces, pins

To Joe our fearless leader guiding us to yet another new restaurant for dinner

To Helder and his photocopies of dictionary pages

To olives, bread, and cheese served at meals

To the metals platters full of meat and fries

To the pitchers of red and white wines that cushion our days

To the food—and lots of it

To all our new students friends

To the teachers who remain behind in the classrooms

To us—retired teachers who still have the spirit and spunk to engage students in learning

To Beja—our home away from home

- Kay Hendrich, volunteer on Beja team #6

Goodbye!

This morning we said our first “goodbye’. I don’t look forward to our final “goodbye” to our last class on Friday afternoon. Just last week we greeted our first class with “hello.” How quickly I became attached to our students.

We are fortunate, I feel that Robin and I have worked with the same teacher and classes throughout our stay in Beja. The students recognize us and greet us in the hallways with smiles, giggles, and proudly voiced “good morning” or “good afternoon."

I don’t remember their names but I do remember who plays the piano, who likes to read Harry Potter and who is the mother of a 2 year old son.

A Typical Day in Beja

The work of Tuesday actually began in earnest at our 6 o’clock meeting on Monday (10-5-09). It’s hard to believe that we have been here a whole week. We took time to look back at the goals we had set when we first arrived (cultural awareness, personal growth, providing educational services, improve the image of Americans, and humor). As a group we are making great progress on each of these goals. In the area of “humor” we scored a 15 out of a possible 10. We laugh a lot.

As in most of our 6 o’clock meeting we discussed the Portuguese educational system. Day-by-day we are getting a better idea of the “larger picture”. We understand what they are trying to accomplish, but we don’t always agree with the methods they are using.

Tonight we have a group meeting at 6 and a language lesson at 7. I’m really making progress on the language front—room number, thank you, beer and good morning.

Day Two in Beja

Feeling more familiar with our school, we started our second day. Now they are ready for us, and we are ready for them. Funny how much they are like our students at home. The smile, the laugh, and so open to anything—that distracts them from their regular day! Nothing like having someone new in your class.

I feel humble when I realize these children know more English than I know Portuguese. I’m not sure who is going to grow the greatest from this experience—the children or me! After lunch we had our library time—thinking that it might be a bit lonely. That didn’t last. Before we know it we were surrounded with students eager to talk, listen and help us with our visitor’s map. We let them circle anything of interest as long as they talked to us. Needles to say, we have a map filled with a lot of circled museums, churches, etc.

Each day has been a bit like unwrapping a surprising package. We ask ourselves will today’s present be a treasured gift or unsatisfactory?

WORDS OF THE DAY: Anna Paula (teacher at Santa Maria) “How wonderful it is to be a teacher and to share knowledge and tenderness.”

Team Six's First Day

With wide open eyes we observed the white washed buildings, the mosaic like cobblestones and the blue tiles on the walls. We settled into our various rooms in the immaculate Residencial Bejense. The afternoon was filled with organizational meetings. Bonding has begun! Several of us went to a catholic church for a real local experience. The day ended with a family style dinner at the Tem Averdios. An evening walk for some of us helped to digest the food and the newness of our locale.

Due to a high dropout rate and relative low achievement of students, Portugal has revised the way teacher are evaluated. In addition, they are required to be more competitive to earn higher ratings and promotions—and one teacher called it the end of cooperation and the beginnings of “cannibalism”. Paula, the representative of our host, said there were many teachers who retired early due to the changes and that out of 150,000 teachers, 120,000 attended an anti government demonstration. More observations, more committee work, more time at school equal a great deal of tension at our schools.

Millennium Development Goal Accomplished:

Goal # 2: Achieve universal primary education:

Hours of English instruction to students by volunteers: 340.5
Number of students taught English by volunteers: 1779

March 13, 2009 - As we say 'Goodbye' to Beja ...

As our Portuguese adventure draws to a close most of us probably have mixed feelings. I know I do. A sense of sadness and melancholy at leaving delightful Beja and especially our new found friends and colleagues. And a certain sense of pride at what we have accomplished in our two short weeks – a furthering of the English skills of our students, a desire to continue their studies and our help in paving the way for future volunteers to continue Global Volunteers' work in Beja.

- Jane Burch

Thought for the day: To teach is to touch the future.