Wired for success By Joseph Derr
*The Rotarian *
Photos by Alyce Henson/Rotary Images
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Gilberto Mendes Oliveira
*G*ilberto Mendes Oliveira is limping, but he makes his way steadily up the
hilly path, chatting with everyone he meets. He's surrounded by a pack of
kids, one of whom spots a monkey in a tree. "We used to catch those when I
was their age," Oliveira says. "That's how I got electrocuted."
Oliveira was nine years old when it happened. Catching and selling wild
animals was a way to support his family. One afternoon, he climbed a tree
near his home in rural Brazil and thrust a bamboo rod through the leaves,
hoping to uncover a monkey. Instead, he hit an electrical transmitter,
absorbing enough voltage to kill an adult. Oliveira survived, but for the
next five years, he was confined to a hospital, 120 miles from his family
and friends. Doctors had to amputate a leg and an arm. But he didn't let
that slow him down.
In fact, he grew up to become a successful manager for the same energy
company whose transmitter nearly killed him. Now a member of the Rotary Club
of Betim, he became a Rotarian in late 2005. His first project: training
young Brazilians how to handle high voltages – not as victims, but as
electricians.
The program takes place at a community center run by Missão Ramacrisna, a
charity on the outskirts of Betim, a suburb of Belo Horizonte in the
mountainous southeastern state of Minas Gerais. With a US$7,150 Rotary
Foundation Matching Grant and $9,700 from districts 4760 (Brazil) and 5060
(Canada), Rotarians equipped a classroom with supplies and work stalls that
mirror typical household electrical systems. Oliveira and other Rotarian
volunteers create the curriculum and teach. Missão Ramacrisna pays the
tuition with support from the Betim city government.
Named after a 19th-century Indian guru, Missão Ramacrisna is a nonreligious
organization that offers more than a dozen educational and professional
programs, many focusing on children and adolescents from poor or troubled
backgrounds. Built on several acres in the countryside, the center is filled
with the sounds of children practicing instruments and playing on the
playground. It is for Oliveira a very special place; indeed, as he
negotiates the path outside the center, his voice cracks with emotion. "This
is where I lived, and it's still my home," he says. "This place helped me
prepare for the world outside."
Discipline on the road to recovery
After he was released from the hospital, 14-year-old Oliveira had nowhere to
go. His family was poor, and his hometown lacked services for people with
disabilities. Upon hearing about Oliveira's situation, Missão Ramacrisna
offered to fund the teenager's education and invited him to live in one of
its dormitories. He stayed until he married at the age of 26.
Oliveira, now 45, credits the charity for his success. He's especially
grateful to its founder, Arlindo Corrêa da Silva, for treating him like any
other student. "He would say, 'What's that piece of paper on the ground?
Pick it up!' At the time, I thought it was harsh," says Oliveira. "But now I
recognize that he was teaching me discipline. I learned that even though I
was missing an arm and a leg, I was capable."
He swept the center's floors and later cared for new arrivals – mostly
orphans or abandoned children – before going to work at Missão Ramacrisna's
nonprofit pasta factory, his first paying job. After seeing Oliveira blossom
at the center, Companhia Energética de Minas Gerais (CEMIG), the state
energy conglomerate, offered him work as an office assistant. He quickly
moved up the ranks, often besting strong competition.
"Once there were 40 applicants for a single job vacancy," he says. "I
studied and studied and even hired a math tutor – and I got the position."
Now a manager of CEMIG's customer service center, Oliveira sees a bit of
himself in the students who have entered the training program. On a Friday
evening in May, the first group of prospective electricians – 18 in all –
are sitting at their desks, already dressed the part in gray uniforms
supplied by the Rotarians. They're hanging on every word of their
instructor, Nelson Fonseca Leite, of the Rotary Club of Belo
Horizonte-Pampulha. For them, the course is the opportunity of a lifetime.
After class, Leite, who headed up the effort alongside Oliveira, says that
20 students had enrolled. "Two left the program," he says. "One because he
found a job, and the other because he committed a crime and fled the
police."
Learning an ethical trade
Even though it has one of the largest economies in the world, Brazil still
struggles with the problems of poverty. In the mainly rural region served by
the Missão Ramacrisna center, about 70 percent of households live on less
than $400 per month. Jobs and training opportunities are rare, and violence
and drugs are common.
To help combat these issues, the Rotarian-funded program goes beyond the
nuts and bolts of an electrician's apprenticeship; the students learn about
character too. "There are electricians who will charge absurd rates. We're
learning that you have to charge a fair price," says Ezequiel Ferreira
Gomes, 24, one of the students. "We are also learning what it means to be a
citizen and how to work in groups."
Before entering the program, Gomes worked as a bricklayer and did odd jobs.
"I like the electrical field a lot," he says. "But I never had the chance to
get professional training, and my dad couldn't afford to pay tuition."
As a child, Oliveira also couldn't afford to study; even if he could, the
closest classroom was 30 miles away. Instead of going to school, he and his
siblings helped their parents work in kilns that processed wood into
charcoal, or sometimes hunted and sold wild animals – a practice that has
since been outlawed in Brazil.
Connecting with Rotary
Oliveira had not heard much about Rotary until 2005, when he met Leite, his
future collaborator in the electrician training program. Leite had just
become CEMIG's superintendent for the Belo Horizonte region and met Oliveira
while making his rounds in Betim. The two got to talking about topics beyond
work: Rotary, Oliveira's charitable efforts, and the lack of opportunities
for young people in the community.
Oliveira invited Leite to visit Missão Ramacrisna. Leite accepted the
invitation and was immediately impressed. It seemed "an ideal location for
us to do a project," says Leite. Also, Oliveira clearly "had the spirit of
Rotary, because helping others is part of his life's goal."
At Leite's suggestion, the Rotary Club of Betim invited Oliveira to join.
"We consider him to be like a precious stone," says club president Marcio
Nogueira Resende. "Gilberto is very charismatic, knows many people, and is
always attentive to the needs of others."
Around the time Oliveira was joining Rotary, Leite's then 16-year-old
daughter, Mariana, was on a Rotary Youth Exchange in Kamloops, B.C., Canada.
There she met Sherry Chamberlain, a local Rotarian, and the two discussed
possible projects that would link Canadian Rotarians with the Brazilians.
Mariana's father mentioned Oliveira and Missão Ramacrisna, and the Rotary
Club of Kamloops pitched in funds and secured additional support from the
Rotary Club of Chase, B.C.
Graduation day
That original group of 18 students graduated from the program in July. As of
late August, more than half had found employment as electricians. When he
mentions this success, Oliveira cracks a wide smile. "I don't have words to
describe how I felt when they graduated," he says. "I just know it was
marvelous."
The Rotary clubs plan to support classes for at least the next two years,
training about 120 more students. That's great news for Betim, a growing
city that needs to invest in a skilled workforce. "As this project helps the
students and their families, it helps our city at the same time," says the
mayor, Carlaile Pedrosa.
The advantages of the four-month course aren't just financial. "The young
people participating in this project have a new outlook on life," Oliveira
says. "Now they can face life with more dignity."
Today, Oliveira lives in a large house close to Betim and has a country home
a few miles away, where he raises fruit and fish. The poverty of his early
years seems a distant memory, and so does the accident. "I feel no trauma.
In fact, it's the opposite," he says. "I have a lot of pride in my job. It
helped me build a life. Sometimes a little kid will tell me, 'Hey, your arm
is missing,' and then I'll remember."
*The Institution
* *Mission* "To offer to solutions in education and professionalization
the low income people, contributing for the subsistence and growth of the
individual and the community."
In February of 2007, the Ramacrisna, institution of the 3º Sector, without
lucrative ends, completed *48 years of performance*. A history that started
with the dream of *professor Arlindo Corrêa Da
Silva*<http://72.30.186.56/babelfish/translate_url_content?lp=pt_en&trurl=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ramacrisna.org.br%2farlindo.htm>to
promote
*the growth of the human being* through the education, art,
professionalization and social support.
The Ramacrisna acts together to the people *from 6 years of age and takes
care of, per year, about 3 a thousand people*. For the 486 pupils of basic
education of 5 schools you publish of the agricultural region of Betim (MG)
offers *complementary action to the school with I assist pedagogical*,
English lessons, dances, artesanato, I sing, percussion, violin, workshop of
arts, sports and computer science. Moreover, it offers *professionalizing
courses for young* in situation of social and personal risk above of 16
years, inhabitants of all the quarters of Betim. It also has a work of *support
to the family* with courses of generation of income for the mothers and
third informative age, lectures, festive events, esportivos matches and
alfabetização of adults.
Everything this with the objective to make with that the people *recognize
its values, develop its abilities and abilities* and become,
therefore, *protagonists
of its proper destinations*.
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