Brazil – Day 2

As if day 1 wasn’t enough fun, Day 2 was even better!  The conversations we had were genuinely inspiring.  I’m so lucky to be having this experience!    It’s really giving me a feeling of how the other half live – being treated like royalty, but also being able to learn from and observe something I’d never otherwise observe.  On Day 2 we started off by visiting the Fabricas da Cultura, followed by a real life ‘business lunch’ with an entrepreneur and then having another business chat with Francisco Itzaina.  We finished off with a reception at the British Council residence in Sao Paulo.  We got to meet lots of Prime Ministers’ Fellows – 30 18 year olds spending 6 weeks in Brazil and learning about the culture.

First though, a quick mention of the most important discovery I’ve made in Brazil!!  They eat cake for breakfast!!  This was where my intentions to be sensible food wise have failed 100%!!  They’re really small cakes too, so they appear to be quite harmless, but I suspect that my waistline will record a different story on my return to the UK!

After we’d had breakfast, we made our way to the home of the Fabricas da Cultura.  This is a social action project that is designed to give kids the opportunity to experience something different and to give them skills that they need to get themselves out of the difficult areas in which they may find themselves.  They have nine centres across the city of Sao Paulo, and they are having brand new buildings built to make sure this work can take place.  The kids take part in the centres for one year initially, and are given a theme.  Last year the theme was based around Petrushka by Stravinsky and the story attached.  This year they are working with the Brazilian Composer Villa-Lobos (incidentally, I seem to remember doing a piece by him for my grade 5 exam)?  The centres then use the four disciplines – drama, art, music and theatre to help students prepare a show for their neighbourhood.  I was disappointed we only got to see a snippet of one of these shows.  It looked amazing – the quality can only be described as 100% professional.  What struck some of us was the concept they had about raising a child’s self awareness – they talked about helping them understand the areas of “me”, “you and me”, “how I relate to you” etc.  This was all about emotional intelligence.  This seems to me something that we don’t really take seriously in the UK – having the odd lesson on it, is simply not enough (writing this four days late means that you will see more about how I arrived at this opinion later)!!

What I also liked, was the fact that the students were not abandoned at the end of the year!  They were given opportunities to continue developing their chosen discipline, and they can also (should they wish) carry on into year 3 and 4 where they have opportunities to work with formal partners to use their skills in the marketplace.

After this I had one of those experiences that kind of blows you away!  We were taken to a restaurant called Kaa – it had a pool and trees (see below) … Posh isn’t the word.  We were to have a business lunch with a gentleman called Daniel Heise – Daniel is the founder of a group called Grupo Direct – a company that supports small start ups and entrepreneurs.  The Brazilian marketplace is a somewhere where it’s difficult to get started … they are expected to pay over 100% tax for each employee.  This means ambitious people have overheads that are ridiculous to start with.  He also talked about something called Hacking Education – something set up by a VC called Fred Wilson.  This is about using technology to impact schools (quite close to my heart)!!  This splits the concept up into a few areas:

1. Produce the content
2. Make the content available to students
3. Get it accredited

We them talked about public/private partnerships.  What’s interesting is that in Brazil, these are absolutely necessary.  The education system in Brazil is not good!  They need money if they are to move forward.  There is not enough government money to make the improvements that they need.  Not sure how this relates the UK yet, but I’m being challenged, and that has to be a good thing!!

Daniel also told us about his blog - Aprendendo Empreendendo – this means Learning how to be an entrepreneur.  That’s his passion (you won’t be able to understand it though, unless you know Portugese)!  He’s trying to get people to understand and learn how to be an entrepreneur.  Then, he’s helping them get started!  Awesome …

He also said something that hit me - “try twelve ideas – only two will work” … Don’t be afraid to take risks!

Then we had a brief meeting with Francisco Itzaina – a man with a CBE (apparently for heading up the British trade group in Sao Paulo).  A lovely, genial man with a genuine smile and passion for Brazil and the UK.  He talked to us about the economic position of Brazil and opened our eyes to the wealth of opportunity that the country has.  He works for Rolls Royce in Brazil.  We also enjoyed some chat in the arena of politics (something I’m quite enthusiastic for)!  He also talked about seeing Ed Miliband the day before – just think, Ed Miliband one day, Graeme Smith the next – what heady circles!! ;)

When we got back we used a couple of hours of free time to mooch around the shops – one or two pictures that amused me!

A Birmingham City top for £50 … ($R140)

Tee-hee - (I shouldn’t find this kind of thing funny)!

After we got back and freshened up, we went for a reception at the British Council residence in Sao Paulo – here’s one or two pics from the evening.  Something lavish and really quite fun!  We met some of the Prime Ministers fellows – 30 students who have just finished A Levels, and now experiencing 6 weeks in another culture.  What an opportunity!  Met the most enthusiastic boy in the world … and he was from Market Harborough!  Anything I said was greeted by “yeah, brilliant, yeah” – you could see he was loving every minute … so am I!

Most important thing from Day 2 – The small snippet from the Fabrica da Cultura DVD.  Seeing the students from poorer backgrounds  produce some work so professional and to know that it’s helped give them a better chance was an amazing feeling!  The message that came through from Daniel Heise was one of go for it – don’t be afraid to try new things!