Dance Lest We All Fall Down - Margaret Willson [120]
Christina also passed, remarkably, but she still has psychological problems and is violent toward the other girls. Her mother moves from shack to shack, surviving as she can. Christina eats at the Center, takes showers there, and continues to come. The Center is clearly the only security in her life. We have also not been able to locate her younger brother, and now the mother is pregnant again. How this girl passed with the grades she did is a mystery, but it reflects a determination deep inside her. We can only hold her close to our hearts, watch carefully, and hope.
The older girls this year were all in the eighth grade and studied in preparation for an exam to try to get into a special school. This school is actually a “public” school (i.e. funded by the State), but the exam for admission is so difficult that only children who have attended the best private schools generally get in. It has one of the best records of students passing the university exam in the city. It also has an excellent reputation for all kinds of professions and creativity.
Our aim is to get as many of our girls into this school as possible, as we have realized that we cannot afford to pay for the specialized tutoring that these upper grades require. The girls admitted to this school will remain connected to Bahia Street, but their primary academic focus will be this new school.
The girls took the exam on the Sunday I arrived in Brazil. At lunch, on the day I was leaving, Rita received a call on her cell phone. It was Dazá, one of the brightest and most motivated of our older girls. She was crying and shouting and laughing so much that I could hear her across the table. She passed the exam. Rita herself began to cry and, I must admit, so did I. We don’t know the results of the other girls yet, but Dazá is on her way.
It would be wonderful if we could buy our own building, particularly since we will now be paying about $500 a month in rent (including lights and water), money which could be used on our own building. I would consider, with advice, borrowing money here to buy a building if the payments would be about the same as the current rent. Anyone have ideas on this?
With these short days and interruptions, I see that the sun is setting beneath the clouds, creating shafts of temporary color between the shifting gray. I hope you have all survived the holidays with good cheer and fortitude, and that this New Year brings to us all moments of laughter and awareness, peace, and the companionship of good friends.
Margaret
twenty-six
storms
A profitable commerce had started in the States of companies setting up programs for students or other young people to travel overseas for three months, have an overseas experience, and help, supposedly, local nonprofits by participating in short-term projects. Many charge these students about $12,000. The problem is that these companies, and the students, expect the local struggling nonprofits to provide the space and supervision for these projects to take place. Bahia Street was on their list (they likely found us through our website), so now Bahia Street in Salvador was being inundated with eager young foreigners wanting to teach the girls, do photo projects, whatever. And the girls were trying to study for their exams.
I came into Bahia Street one afternoon to find Fio almost in tears. “What’s going on?” I asked. “Fio, what’s wrong?”
He waved his hand and walked into the other room. After a few moments, he returned. “I’m sure they don’t mean any harm,” he said.
“They’re arrogant,” Rita said. “They wouldn’t treat a school in their own country like this.”
“Are you going to tell me what happened?”
Rita sighed. “More students wanting to be volunteers. We have to control this somehow, Margaret. We told them we didn’t want them right now, but they just walked in anyway. They speak