SURVIVORS - Class of March 20, 2013

SURVIVORS - Class of March 20, 2013

 

 

What drives a man to cross 
a vast ocean
Heading to Brazil
Leaving his wife, children and family?

The need.

And the Dream

of a better life.


My students came from
Haiti and Africa
(Mali, Guinea, Gambia, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Somalia, and other countries).
HAITI: a land devastated by famine,
by poverty and the earthquake of January 2010,
that killed 200 000 people.

Africa: a vast and magnificent continent,
however, still marked by inequality,
and tribal strife and political persecution.


Men in search of a better life.

Human lives

So valuable

As all the others

In this world.


I understand you.

I can see it on your faces

I feel your pain.


So, I said to them:

"My friends,

The hardest thing you've already done:
You have left your homeland
and traveled thousands of miles
to a distant and foreign land.

Now,
is only a matter of time,
until you learn the Portuguese well
and you establish yourselves in Brazil.

For this reason,

Have force!

Have courage!


I am with you.

Me too,

I believe in the Dream."


Alex.
São Paulo,
March 20, 2013.