School Day

Oswaldo

Today is my last day in the office and I spent most of it at school. I visited two of CDI’s schools. One in a low-income community far north of the city and another in a co-op on the 35th floor of an office building downtown.

I was immediately struck by how independent both schools are. They only get two visits per year from CDI, the rest of the time they’re on their own to develop their curriculum, raise funds, find resources, etc. CDI checks in to help them identify goals, obstacles to achieve those goals, and tasks needed to overcome said obstacles.

The low-income neighborhood school is housed in a…house on a dusty street lined with broken down cars. I couldn’t get a good look, but it looked like someone had build a lean-to against the street wall opposite the houses and was running a small garage out of it.

Within this house are several rooms devoted to community learning maintained by a baptist church. The computer classes are given upstairs in a narrow room with PC’s lining the two walls that stretch back away from the door. It was about 1/3 full when we peeked in, with most of the students around 11 years old not using the computers but writing in notebooks. One kid, however, was dabbling in Microsoft paint. He was designing some kind of poster for ARTES MARCIAIS (MARTIAL ARTS) that featured a figure that I think was supposed to be doing a roundhouse, but looked like it was doing ballet. Either way, it got me amped.

I’m moved by the work done by CDI because the computer seemed to be engaging this kid in the same way I’m engaged by my computer and have been engaged by computers ever since my parents bought a Macintosh 512 when I was 5. I was thrilled to see this kid exploring his creativity and hope something comes of it.

I accompanied my two guides from CDI to a room in the back where we discussed the school’s challenges with its director and two of its volunteers. Their goals included starting history classes, getting a DVD player, a van, and developing relationships with private donors and public schools among others. They discussed the problems of bureaucracy (regarding relationships with public schools in particular), the lack of resources, and, most importantly, the plight of the community.

Oswaldo, the director of the school (who, incidentally, doesn’t have an email address), lamented that the biggest strike against them is “the violence and the low self esteem of the community because this is what [the school's] students grow up with. This is what they grow up knowing, and they’re left thinking that they’re poor and that escape is impossible.”

I tried to shake his hand after the meeting had ended and we had to leave, but he wouldn’t leave it at that. He wanted to hug me all of us before he left even thought I’d barely opened my mouth all morning. He sees me, as a representative of CDI, as something of a savior. He and his volunteers lamented that we couldn’t visit more often. You know how people feel humbled when that sort of thing happens? That’s what happened to me. I’m excited to visit two more schools tomorrow.

If only I had the courage to devote myself to something the way he’s given himself to his church and community. More on this tomorrow.