Zumbi - The Equivalent (kind of) the United States' HBCUs

Note: It doesn't seem as if I can upload pictures onto the computers at our new hotel, so unfortunately you will all have to use your imaginations for now... (Pictures have been added at a later date.)

Today is our last day in Sao Paulo, and of course it is finally warm here and we are leaving! When we arrived, Sao Paulo was having an unusual cold spell that none of us were prepared for, especially coming from 104° NYC.  I think the hot weather and beaches in Salvador will be much appreciated by all of us!  Oh and a note to all of you - caipirinhas are VERY dangerous...

This afternoon we visited Zumbi - the semi-equivalent of an HBCU in the United States.  I say semi because the reason HBCUs were created in the United States was because blacks were not allowed to attend the same school as whites.  This was also the same reason all-women colleges were created in the States as well.  As I mentioned earlier, there were never segregation laws in Brazil preventing whites and blacks from participating in the same activities, so technically there isn't a need for an HBCU in the same way, but obviously as we have seen blacks in Brazil do not have the same access to education as the white population.

 Zumbi is a private college, which means the students pay tuition to attend, rather than the free public universities.  Whereas the universities like UNICAMP and USP typically focus on research and are equivalent to the Harvard and Yales of the U.S., Zumbi is more of a technical school, with undergraduate degrees in areas like PR and marketing, administration, teaching and transportation services (focusing on the transport of goods and services, as well as people.)

The programs are typically around 2 1/2 years long, and the price ranges depending on the degree.  For example, the law program is about $R315/month (right now this is about $178/month).  Tuition cost is also subsidized in some ways.  For example, PR tends to attract a younger crowd around the ages of 18-22, and because their parents are usually carrying the cost, the tuition is more flexible.  On the other hand, the average age of someone in the transportation concentration is around 35, and they typically have to pay out of pocket, since they should hopefully be supporting themselves in some way already.  Students from a lower socio-economic status may get scholarships for up to 1 year.  Unfortunately attrition is an issue, typically because of economic constraints.  Last month alone that lost 36% of their students because of money issues.  Often times things pick back up and a students returns to finish their degree.  If they are gone for less than 6 months, they can keep their credits, but if it is 6 months - 1 year, then they have to start the process all over again - including retaking the vestibular.

  In addition to the subsidies above, if a class is only 80% full, they will call EducAfro to fill up the rest of the class, and they are eligible for up to a 100% scholarship.  It is nice to see that they are working with other local organizations!

There are a few reasons why this school was created.  The first was that their were quotas created at schools for women, people with disabilites, etc., but there was a lack of racial quotas.  Zumbi was also created as a "safe space" where students could be surrounded by others of the same background (economically speaking.) For example, if a student who is wearing a cheap pair of tennis shoes, and he/she looks around and sees that everyone else is wearing expensice Air Jordans, they may not feel very comfortable. 

Unfortunately there is also a saying in Brazil (one of many - just another example of the microaggressions being ignored) that goes, " Anything done by a black is not done well."  This weighs heavily on the students and faculty of Zumbi, and the school works really hard at building up their self esteem.

You do not necessarily need to be black to attend the school - one of the missions of Zumbi is to show how people of all kinds can work together, but they do ensure that at least 50% of the applicants self identify as black.  90% of their students are black, some are white, and they do have an indigenous student from the Amazonas region. 

An interesting note about the indigenous student - the faculty has noticed that he does not hang around the black students at all, and only hangs out with the white ones.  Unfortunately many black and indigenous people still have it stuck in their heads that white = better.  In fact, according to the professor we met with, many of the white students identify more with being black than the actual black students do (dressing black, listening to black music, etc.)

One of the most surprising things we learned while we were there was that Zumbi does not yet have a permanent location.  In the last 7 years, they have moved locations 3 times!  Any funding they receive usually gos to paying rent.  The space they are in now used to be a sports club, but it was abandoned so they took it on.  They need to be creative with whatever space they get, and all of the classrooms we saw were created afterwards.  This points to the disparity behind the government sponsored public universities, and the private schools who are just trying to give additional opportunities to the under-represented.

Zumbi also shares it's location with Centro Paulo Souza - a technical high school.  Technical high schools are usually suplemental education that gives high school students a leg up in a specialized area - for example, event planning, or law.  High school in Brazil is usually only a half day, so the students who go to these technical high schools go to regular school in the morning or afternoon, and then the tech school the other half of the day.  (I guess you can call them super nerds in a way.)  Again for you New Yokers - I guess this program is kind of like BOCES?

We got to visit a classroom, and these kids were AWESOME! The groups of kids we met with were studying event planning, and this class happened to be about the French type of waiter service.  They presented to us a demonstration of what French wait service looks like.  They usually study how an event works from beginning to end, and they visit actual events and businesses to see how it works in actual practice.  They also submitted their own proposal to a company that organizes all of the Samba events for Carnival, and you can follow the project on twitter @escolafazsamba or their blog at http://www.escolafazsamba.blogspot.com/.

I wish I could post pictures because these kids rocked!  And they were so excited to have us there as well - having us pose for pictures and everything.  The main objective of the technical high school is to prepare the students to go directly into the work force, but when we asked if any of them wanted to go to university, almost all of them said they were planning to take the vestibular and apply.  And not all of them want to go into PR/marketing/event planning.  Some want to be doctors, lawyers or go into business. 

Overall I really enjoyed this visit. Because the public university system is so competitive, it was nice to see what the other options are like.  Although increased access to the universities for blacks would be more beneficial, at least there are some other options for people to better their lives if they want to, as well as subsidies for those who cannot afford it.

As I mentioned, today is the last post from Sao Paulo - next we move onward to Salvador de Bahia in the north east of Brazil.  This area is extremely different from Sao Paulo as the majority of the population if Afro-Brazilian - should be an interesting experience. 

Tchao for now!