In Pursuit of Opportunity
An Interview with Ericon Carlos Costa dos Santos from Suruacá

by Elizabeth Thelen

Youth in rural Brazilian communities, such as Suruacá, often migrate to larger cities in pursuit of education and jobs, but few who leave return to their community. Ericon Carlos Coast dos Santos, 22, is an exception. He left his hometown of Suruacá to attend high school in Santarém, but after six years in the city, he returned to his village. Although Ericon is still frustrated by the limited resources in Suruacá, he expresses a commitment to his community and the hope that he and other youth can improve it.

Ericon's struggles to find and make opportunities began at a very young age. Poverty created constant worries and troubles in his home. His family's difficulties seemed insurmountable, and Ericon often felt like giving up. Even getting a basic education was challenging. There was an elementary school in his community, but Ericon's schooling was frequently interrupted by staffing difficulties exacerbated by government bureaucracy. With no classes offered beyond fourth grade, by the age of twelve, Ericon felt there would be no opportunities for him if he stayed in Suruacá.

>Initially attracted to the city by the allure of more educational opportunities and jobs, Ericon was frustrated by his lack of success and worried about the influences of city life. Compared with Suruacá, Santarém seemed dangerous and unpleasant; it was filled with the threats of violence, alcohol abuse, and gangs. He argued with his sister's husband, was harassed regularly at work by a brother also living in Santarém, and felt his isolation from the rest of his family. In an effort to stabilize his life and renew his search for opportunity, Ericon returned to Suruacá in 2006.  Read the Full Story

Letter from the Field

by Angela Viehmayer
CEN Vice President and soon-to-become CEN's Field Manager

Hello to all!

It’s an honor to present you the first article concerning our experiences in the field. I’m Angela Viehmayer. I will be moving later this month from Rio de Janeiro, where I now live, to the Amazon so I can manage CEN’s field work there. Let me be your guide through the exciting journey CEN is about to start.

So far, CEN has worked based on short-term visits to the communities, helping them with specific issues and necessities that arose (see Amazon Pilot Project). We also worked in a regular basis with the aid of information technology infrastructure already installed in those communities. We are proud of our efforts and accomplishments with our extremely limited resources, but we are now ready to implement a full program which aims at higher goals.

It will be a fulfilling experience for both sides. For us, it will be a great opportunity to follow their progress, learn from their actions and realities as well as work with them on a much more regular basis. For them, it will represent a new channel to help them improve their way of life without losing their culture and tradition.

Our regular presence in the region will be very important for them. Imagine yourself isolated from the world, full of doubts and difficulties to overcome and one of the few encouragements to keep you going on is Bob's (Bob Bortner, CEN's Director) voice coming from your computer through a Skype call, or the occasional visit by a CEN volunteer. While regular calls certainly provided a chance to touch bases and for CEN to provide mentorship, it was very difficult to maintain momentum.

One of my tasks in the Amazon will be to balance those two sensations: to deepen our interaction without creating a new sense of dependency. We must guide participants while letting them learn to accomplish activities on their own. To reach this “balance” is important in many levels. They must learn how to solve their problems without asking for help from outsiders, but still take advantage of resources that are available to them. It’s not only a matter of fighting for their rights, but also how to contribute to the region’s development.

CEN’s ideal of “balance” is also important because our method has the potential to become a model for other organizations that work in the Amazon. Although Brazilian organizations are expanding and creating new opportunities in several regions of the country, it is still a great challenge for us to accomplish autonomy. The great examples we have of organizations and projects that were able to create development in isolated regions are still very few, especially if we take into consideration Brazil’s huge size and cultural diversity.

CEN’s program will also improve communication among the communities in the region. Para, the state I’ll be moving to, is HUGE and the distance is a key reason why communities don’t share their experiences.  However, there are other reasons such as cultural differences, different ways to organize themselves and even internal disputes within communities. We believe that the Amazon Network (Rede Amazonia), an on-line and off-line network of communities, started by CEN, will help them reach a communication that goes beyond sharing experiences and reach a level of partnership in the future.  This is the sort of partnership that will inspire interdependence among the communities and affirm the ‘balance’ that I am striving for.

I hope this first “talk” helped you understand a little more about their realities, and how they relate to themselves, as well as how we hope to relate to the communities in the future. Our journey starts in April 29th and I sure hope to share more impressions of the Amazon life with you!

Until the next newsletter! :D 

In this issue

       Message from Robert Bortner, Director and Founder of CEN

       In Pursuit of Opportunity: An Interview with Ericon Carlos Costa dos Santos 

       CEN Gears Up for Action

       Letter from the Field

       Two More Easy Ways YOU Can Help Communities To Help Themselves!

Upcoming Event

Benefit Event for Nepalese Youth Camp

Please join us on April 25 at REI in Seattle for a no-charge event to benefit a youth camp in Nepal and to learn more about CEN.  More info and to RSVP

How You Can Help

Two More Easy Ways YOU Can Help Communities To Help Themselves! 

While we need cash donations, we know not everyone has a surplus of time or money to donate. So we have thought of two more EASY ways you can help CEN.

Donate Frequent Flier Points

Due to new rules at many airlines, your frequent flier points may expire in as little as 18 months! Donate them to CEN so they don’t expire and you can help stretch our budget. We need to fly staff to countries where we work, meet with prospective donors and attend conferences to share our results. Please DONATE YOUR MILES TO US. It's easy to do. Call us for details.

Provide Auction Items for our Fall Auction

Doing some spring cleaning and found an interesting treasure lying around in the attic? Are you a photographer or artist? Do you have a condo in Hawaii or the San Juan Islands you could make available for a holiday? Or perhaps you provide a service that others might like. Please consider donating items for our Fall Fundraiser’s auction to raise money to support our work. Last year items donated by our supporters raised thousands of dollars to fund our work.

Donate to CEN

It’s quick and easy – and it’s tax deductible*. Just go to our home page at www.communityempowernet.organd click on the bottom that looks like this (or click on the image here):