Presbytery of East Iowa

partnerships

BRAZIL PARTNERSHIP
Presbytery of East Iowa, U.S.A., and Presbytery of Ceará, Brazil

What Is It?
This is a partnership between our two presbyteries. The goal is friendship; worship and prayer together; mutual work and witness for the Kingdom of God. We believe God has called us into partnership for the purpose of discovering that we are one people of God. Though divided by geography, language, history and culture, we are given the opportunity to discover the much more important ways in which our faith unites us.

Where Is Ceará?

Ceará is a Brazilian state in northeast Brazil. The largest city is Fortaleza, with a population of almost two million people. A beautiful city with many cultural attractions and gorgeous beaches, it is also capital of one of the poorest regions of the country.

Who Are The Ceará Presbyterians?
                Ceará Presbytery (of the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil) was begun in 1995 as an effort to revitalize Presbyterian witness in northeast Brazil. In cooperation with Fortaleza Theological Seminary, founded in 1986, the Presbytery's churches have grown from two churches and three new church developments in the early 1980s to a total in 2003 of seven churches, eight new church developments, and four additional preaching outreach points.
Each church and new church development accepts the obligation of mission and social outreach, and works to help its neighborhood address the needs of its people, especially children and youth.

What Is The Partnership Doing?

One of the social projects the groups from East Iowa have visited is sponsored by the Pirambu Church in the Presbytery of Ceará, located in one of the poorest and most dangerous ghettos of the city of Fortaleza. This church serves children from the surrounding area, currently through an after-school program involving 55 elementary school children. This number is expected to grow.

Pirambu is now also offering training classes for adults. They recently started an electrician-training course. The next classes will be for plumbers and later on, masons.

One of the Iowans’ primary interests has been the Heart of Students school, on a poor road in the rural area of Cipo, about 60 miles from Fortaleza. Average income in the area is less than $30 per month; 42 percent of the people are illiterate; and 90 percent lack safe water supplies and adequate medical care.

The school was founded in 1994 by Manoel Andrade, a professor of chemistry at the Federal University of Ceará and an elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Fortaleza, where the Rev. Aureo de Rodrigues is the pastor.

Starting with five students, the school has grown to more than 400 in several locations, who are working to complete their elementary and high school education. Twenty-two students have passed the rigorous examinations to enter the university, where tuition is free and food and housing are provided.

Many more students, some of them married adults, took university exams in 2004. They’re pursuing degrees in agriculture, chemistry, health, geography, languages, and other subjects. Most want to return to their home areas to help improve the lives of others.

The Presbytery of East Iowa has begun a two-year capital campaign to raise $520,000 to support the work of God's kingdom with its partners in the Presbytery of Ceará. Look for more information at Speakers Bureau.

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HEARTS OF STUDENTS PROJECTS

Presbyterian Women in the Presbytery of East Iowa were recipients of one of four grants from the 2005 PW Birthday Offering. The history of the Birthday Offering is found at
http://www.pcusa.org/pw/birthday/#history

Below is a letter to Cindy Goodman, PW Associate for Special Offerings- Presbyterian Women, from Gil Dietz, who is a member of the presbytery's Brazil Task Force, and his wife Virginia, Moderator of Presbyterian Women in the Presbytery of East Iowa. Gil and Virginia were in Brazil in the summer of 2006 to see the projects funded by the Birthday Offering grant.

"Dear Ms. Goodman:

Virginia and I recently returned from a 12-day trip to Fortaleza, Brazil, and the rural area of Cipo where the Hearts of Students Institute (commonly known by its acronym of PRECE) is located.

I could write a book about this project, but will try to keep this report brief and mainly describe the building projects we visited. These projects were funded by the Presbyterian Women’s Birthday Offering grant for 2005.

First: Some background: PRECE was started in 1994 by Manoel Andrade at Cipo in an old building with no electricity or drinkable water, in an area where most of the residents had little education. There were seven students at the beginning. All seven have graduated from the university and continue serving their community. There are now about 800 students, men and women, boys and girls, in a total of 11 locations – including the first one within the city of Fortaleza. A total of 90 women and men have now passed the vestibular examination to be admitted to the federal university in Fortaleza, and several have been placed in other schools. Some have graduated, and several are working on master’s degrees.

Manoel Andrade has a doctor’s degree in chemistry. He and his family are coming to Iowa City on September 4, where he will be a visiting scholar at the University of Iowa doing post-graduate studies in chemistry – primarily in the field of plant fungi – for the 2006-07 school year. He will retain his salary from the government in Brazil, plus some other funding. Local churches in our Presbytery of East Iowa are contributing household goods and helping with a portion of the rent, medical insurance, and other expenses. He has a “team” of coordinators and volunteers who will continue the work of PRECE in his absence.

CIPO: Virginia and I were present for the celebration (dedication) of the new “studentorio” building on July 18. It is the largest single project and involved approximately $35,000 from the Presbyterian Women’s Birthday Offering. It is a large outdoor auditorium (concrete floor, roof, electrical outlets, etc.) with open sides. It has two large wings in a V shape, coming together at the open center. It can be used for large meetings, or for small student study groups. The tradition at Cipo has always shown PRECE students studying in small groups under the trees for shade. Now they can use this large new covered area, or they still use the original building that has been enlarged with a finished kitchen.

The celebration crowd was estimated at nearly 1,100 with all chairs taken and people standing on the edges and sides. We were among those who arrived from Fortaleza on four large tour buses – mainly university students – plus a group of more than 20 persons from churches in Atlanta. There was a 5th bus from the city of Pentecoste where many of the students live. Other students and adults arrived by cars, trucks, motorbike, or on foot.

Earlier in the afternoon, as we were arriving, there was a large crowd in the auditorium discussing home safety and security. The building is primarily for students, but is used by the entire PRECE community because they never had a facility like this available. This building was (is) one of Andrade’s dreams, but he never had the money.

The program included talks by the mayor of Pentecoste, plus officials from government and the university. I talked briefly about the Birthday Offering and Virginia said how proud she is to be a Presbyterian Woman, and to be able to represent PW at this event.

OMBREIRA: This is a community on the other side of a large dam at Pentecoste. The government gave PRECE an abandoned building. It was just the shell of a structure, and was being used sometimes at night by druggies. Now, it is very usable with a good floor, tiled walls, electricity, water and a small kitchen. There is a bedroom apartment for a couple of married students who live there and keep the building secure. July is a public school vacation month, but the building is being used for several school programs, and an adjoining new building will have recreational facilities for youth. They have a small pool table, and an old ping-pong table, and will be adding other equipment to make the two-building facility more of a community center. There will be a television with DVDs for movie nights. A garden is being constructed, and there will also be a small chemistry lab for the study of plant diseases by one of the university graduates.

CANAFISTULA: This is a community of 600 to 800 people. They have nearly 40 students involved in PRECE and 14 in the university. A completely new building is being constructed on donated property. It is about half finished, and will need additional funding. There will be classrooms, a kitchen, bathrooms and a dormitory for students who come from some distance in the rural area. One of the original students lives here. He rode his bike about five miles to Cipo in the beginning. Now he is working on a master’s degree and is considered a leader in the community. Nobody in this community had much of an education until Norberto started in PRECE.

PROVIDENCIA: This is another small community. A building had been started about 20 years ago for intended other purposes, but there was nothing but a foundation, and it was made available to PRECE. A building has been constructed on the original foundation, with a large classroom area, electricity, water, kitchen, etc. It still needs some work and funding to be complete, but it is usable now. I met a girl there two years ago who was the first one from her community to reach the university. She returns home every weekend as a teacher.

BENFICA: This is one of two sites within the city of Fortaleza – the other is in an existing church school addition in the Pirambu slum. Benfica has 50 to 70 PRECE students every morning, and a similar number in the afternoon. They are currently using an adjacent building until the end of August, but need to continue renovation of an old school building that has been given or leased to PRECE by the federal government. The building is being almost totally reconstructed. PW money is being used, but additional funding will be required. The students here are all high school graduates who need a year or two of classes to be able to pass the university vestibular (entrance) examination.

BOA VISTA: This rural PRECE site is located in an old school building that did not need as much work. It has lights, water, etc. Jose Alfredo is the coordinator. He is a university student in agronomy, and lives within a motorbike ride of Boa Vista. He is in his 40s and has eight children. His oldest daughter is in the university and his oldest son is preparing for the vestibular. His wife, “a warrior” keeps things going at home.

We were there on a Saturday, with about 30 high school-age students present. During school vacation time they go to Boa Vista seven days a week, from 7 to 11 in the morning and from 1 to 5 in the afternoon. (The two-hour lunch break is so they can walk or ride bikes home.) When school is on, PRECE will be evenings and weekends. We talked at length with these young people and they desperately want an education because they know it is the only way to change their social condition.

PRECE is fulfilling the original vision of changing lives and changing a society. This social project continues to grow and serve an expanding community.

By Gil Dietz, August 11, 2006 "

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