Why am I here?

While I was visiting Brazil on a 2 month visit in 2006, I was sitting at a cafe in Maceio in the North East. Little was I to know that seemingly random events about to unfold would in a sense change my life.

The cafe had a few people in it, and all were talking Portuguese. It became obvious that a table nearby had some English speakers at it. On some of this trip I had not spoken English for days at a time, so it was kind of a novelty and treat to hear some. Upon leaving my friend Jen and I chatted with the ‘English Speakers’. It turned out the man’s name was David Leiner, a softly spoken American and he was with his partner Claudia (a Brazilian woman from Sao Paulo). They had been having a business meeting. David, in his gentle way told us that he and Claudia had started a school here in Maceio for poor kids and asked if we would like to visit it. Well, with nowhere to be, nothing to do and always looking for a slight random element to my travels, I said “Sure…”

Minutes later we were all in a taxi being whisked across Maceio en route to the tiny Escola Estrela do Mar. Effectively it was running out of a house. About 25 kids, maybe 2-3 teachers it was small and humble beginnings. But I could already see that something amazing was happening here. These kids were being giving a chance, a quality of education they would never normally receive, a protective safe and nurturing environment, healthy vegetarian meals. This was exciting!

That was 3 years ago, and I have been receiving monthly newsletters from Estrela do Mar ever since. Amazing things happened from those humble beginnings. The school is now totally different, but still with the same core and spirit. It now has 150 kids, around 20 teachers, owns its own land and has buildings and class rooms. A massive shift from the humble beginnings operating out of a house.

About 5 months ago (April 2009) the monthly newsletter from the school really touched a nerve with me. Some people in Japan had donated some money to the school for furniture. The touching part was a photo of the “before-after” of the furntiture. That photo really affected me, as it showed how tough things are at the school – just look at the “before-after” shots below.

I hadn’t been in touch with David since I met him in 2006, but I felt inspired to email him and tell him how moving I had found that particular newsletter. And the brief dialogue that followed somehow brought me here. In the same email, I applauded his efforts and courage for what he is doing (against all odds too – you can read about that on other pages). I also suggested (in a kind of off-hand manner) that I had thought about volunteering at the school at some point, but things hadnt really lined up any time in the last 3 years.

Somehow David kind of interpreted that as an offer to help (Im still not really sure how) and next thing he had me falling off my chair – he said he wanted to talk to me on Skype, and during that converation he said

“You’re into music arent you?”….
“Err – yes sort of”.
“Why don’t you come over and teach the kids music?”
~silence~
….
~more silence~
“Umm, really? What you mean ? But errr (trying to stall)…Umm But Im not a music teacher by any means”

I was kind of in shock to be honest. My vision of coming over to the school and volunteering – if it ever even happened, would be to help in the kitchen, build things, sweep floors, teach kids or teachers English – just whatever was needed. I had no aspirations of actually doing any kind of teaching program. That was another reality away.

I had to think about it. More shock set in. I had to talk to Natalia. I had to find a way out. My brief instinct – escape….But then it dawned on me this could be a once in a lifetime experience. Natalia had investigated the idea of volunteering in Nepal a while back and I got the impression that unless you have contacts where you want to help, you kind of need to go through an agency. In many cases you have to pay the agency some fee (for your help – weird huh?) and there seems to be that impersonal aspect of being treated a little like a number. In contrast here I was being invited by the Founder of the School to come and teach kids – does it get any better than that?

The other realisation that quickly dawned on me was that there was no infrastructure for music, no program, no teaching methodology (for music). Nothing, nil, nada. Somehow that got me even more interested. I have a lot of philosophies about music that I consider quite progressive and interesting (Ill be writing about them soon). Here was a chance for me to design my own program! To teach in my own style! Once again I thought – could it really get any better than this?

Those personal aspects aside, the thought of helping kids who come from very poor backgrounds, and also very challenging ones, where they live in unsafe and unhealthy environments, kids who have so few opportunities in life, was also a compelling a reason.

There’s a great book out there called “Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway”. I like the concept, it allows you to acknowledge that your scared shitless, but then move on and do it anyway. I think thats better than pretending you’re not scared which is way more artificial. So that’s what I did, I felt scared then did it anyway.

Only closer to the time did David inform me that he wanted me to teach all the kids in the school – 150 of them. From as young as 3 years old, and up to 10. This I found out with a healthy 14 days before I left to come here. Where was that book again about feeling the fear. Suddenly I had to rethink my approach. I had lots of ideas, but many of them were simply not going to work with 3 year olds. Thank god for the internet!

I’ve been here 3 weeks now as I write this. Every week I teach 150 kids – its amazing. I love it, somehow Im just taking it in my stride. Already it is indeed a life changing experience, just because I happened to be randomly sitting at a cafe in Maceio in 2006. Its amazing what life can offer us if we are open to it.