Bahian Exchange Student Flourishes at

Morehouse College

by Levantamos Staff Writers

         In our July 2005 newsletter we first reported about Levantamos’ support of three Bahian students who received full scholarships to study at Morehouse College, the United States' largest private liberal arts college for African-American men.  We later reported that in January 2006, despite tremendous obstacles (language, financial, immigration and others) they traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, from Bahia and started their studies in the winter of 2006.  It is two years later and the three young men are flourishing:  fluent in English with excellent grades and making an impact in their community in the U.S.  On break in January and in Bahia for the first time since beginning his studies, one of the students, Rogério Jesus Caldas, sat down with us to speak about his experiences and to give us his impressions of life in the U.S.

Levantamos:  How much time have you spent at Morehouse?

Rogério:  Spring 2006 to Spring 2007 and Fall 2007.  I’ve been taking classes for 5 semesters

L:  How has it been generally?

R:  It’s been a good experience.  Americans have different perspectives on education.

At Morehouse there are African American doctors who can help and show you a different perspective from the African point of view, and not only European point of view. 

L:  What does that mean “from the African point of view”?

R:  In Brazil, we don’t learn about African civilizations or African history, only European knowledge and European points of view.  There’s nothing to make us feel proud of our African history and the leaders of the Diaspora.  We don’t learn about this.  This is a limitation; because of it we aren’t proud of our African history.  This is why many don’t identify as African descendents.  They only know slavery.

L:  So all they know is Africans were brought as slaves?  That Princess Isabel freed them?

R:  Yes, they have the idea that they are inferior.  They don’t know about African kingdoms like Ghana, Mali, and Egypt.  They don’t know how important these civilizations were.

L:  Since you’ve been at Morehouse, you’ve had this experience in class or outside?

R:  Both.  We know that we are African-Brazilians.  I’m not [only just] a Brazilian like you know you are African Americans.  Everyday we see this.  [Morehouse] expose[s] us to this history and the importance of being African descendants and helping out when we can.

L:  This is interesting because some people in Brazil would argue that this view of identifying as Afro-Brazilian first and Brazilian second comes from the U.S. and is divisive in Brazil.  The argument is that Brazilians should not look to the U.S. because it divides Brazil.  What do you think?

R:  This is interesting.  In the U.S. there was segregation.  In Brazil, we didn’t have this.  You knew your history.  This didn’t happen in Brazil.  In Brazil, they said that African descendents had the same rights after slavery.  This is not true.  The racism was not explicit.  [Blacks] fought for education and to get a good job, but it didn’t happen.  They made people think that they could get these things.  It was a fallacy.  They made people think they are not African.  [Brazilians] don’t know about Malcolm X, Steve Biko, MLK, so it’s easier to control people.  They make you think you’re not African, you’re “Moreno.”  You don’t have an identity.  It makes it easier to control people.  They make you think you can get things that you can never get.  Like property rights, the idea is that you want to have your own house one day so you should protect White people’s property rights. But you could never have this.

R:  I really like education and knowledge.  I like to understand how society works, to think outside the box.  I like to think about how professors teach.  I can be critical about whether he is trying to make me think like he thinks.  That’s why I read books and magazines.  I go to class to get knowledge from the professor, but I like to think that I’m going to get the knowledge for myself.

L:  You have talked about different perspectives on education based on your Morehouse experience.  What are your perspectives on education in the U.S. – the positive and negative?

R:  On the positive side, in Morehouse, they don’t prevent you from studying what you want.  You can choose your major and study what you want.  In Brazil, you have to decide your major before you begin.  It is difficult to change.  I think [in the U.S.] they believe that you can help yourself and the country through education.  If you have knowledge you can produce.  In Brazil, knowledge is just for a minority.  In this case, a White minority and with this knowledge, they can keep themselves in power.  Also in Morehouse, you can have a mass of professors.  In Brazil, I never saw a black doctor in my life.  In Brazil, people say there is no racism, but you can see people struggling to get an education.  I can see that Brazil is a very racist country.  Black people have to struggle to get a college degree.

L:  The negatives?

R:  Sometimes professors don’t encourage you to read something other than the books that are assigned for the class.  I’m a sophomore now.  They should encourage you to read to understand the culture and the society.  Sometimes I read only what the professor asks me to read because I don’t have time to read more.  And sometimes, in some classes, they don’t encourage class discussion.  I think you understand more and more points of view through discussions.  Sometimes I miss the opportunity to think more and to think more deeply.

L:  What has been the reaction of the students at Morehouse to you and your colleagues?

R:  At first they were surprised.  They think about the beautiful Brazilian girls.  And some students who have some international experience want to talk to us about this.  Some don’t care.  Some want to learn more, to study Portuguese for example, and to learn about Brazilian girls.  Some are not interested.  They may think because we don’t speak English well, we don’t know about hip-hop.  They only want to talk about their own experience.  Sometimes I feel like a rich person because they want to meet me to get some Brazilian girls. 

L:  They want to be more popular by saying they have a Brazilian friend?

R:  Yes.  Some students want to just talk. They may ask for help in math.  They can see that I’m doing well in math.  They want to talk to me.  They say “oh, that’s a good guy.”

L:  Do you have many friends?

R:  I have friends.  One is this guy who has a South African father. He’s African American, from Boston.  His name is John.  We have good conversations about school, sociology, history.  This is the person that I spend the most time with.  I consider him a friend.  But I have many friends that I just say “Hello, how you doing?”

L:  Do you spend time with the other students from Brazil?

R:  We spend a lot of time together.  We help each other.  I stop by his room and say “What’s up?”

L:  Were you friends with them before going to Morehouse?

R:  We were from the same organization, [Instituto Cultural] Steve Biko.  We met after we knew we all had the scholarship.

L:  What has been the biggest surprise about life in the U.S.?

R:  The culture in general and the pace of life.  People in the U.S are busy working, studying.  They sometimes don’t have time to spend with other people.  It’s a situation that sometimes makes me feel alone.  You leave your country and go to another country.  You leave your family.  You try to meet people, but sometimes people don’t have time to meet people.  It makes you sometimes feel lonely. You have to find out about the culture on your own.  You have to go out and meet people.  It makes you homesick sometimes.

L:  What has been the biggest myth about the U.S. that has been debunked?

R:  I thought going to the U.S. that we’d be in the black community and we would never have any problems, that the community would welcome us like in Salvador [Bahia, Brazil].  In part, this was true but sometimes I feel lonely like I don’t know anybody.  I thought people would be more close-- the way we welcome African Americans in Bahia.  I felt like I was somewhere that I had never been before.  I thought it would be different because I was going to Georgia to stay in the Black community.

L:  What has been the biggest unexpected positive?

R:  I applied for the Bonner Office of Community Service scholarship and I got into the program.  The good thing is that it is like a family.  You can work to help other people.  I can do something to help the brothers and sisters.  I feel good about this.  I didn’t expect this.  I can do something to help improve other people’s lives.

L:  So you do community service and you receive a stipend and your grades have to be a certain level?

R:  Correct.  I think over 3.0.

L:  What kinds of community service do you do?

R:  I cleaned streets.  I worked as an elementary school tutor.  I went to New Orleans to help clean houses after the hurricane.  Clothing drives, food drives, painting houses, ll kinds of community service.

L:  What is your impression of these communities where you work?  Are they poor and majority Black like in Salvador?  How do they compare?

R:  In some cases, they are the same because you can see many young Black men who drink, use drugs and at the same time, many of them don’t have the opportunity to go to school.  Even though it is difficult there, I think in the U.S. they have some opportunities that in Brazil don’t exist.  For example, they have organizations that work to improve the life in the communities.  In Brazil, we need this.  We need people to teach young people to think about going to school, but for many Black people, it’s like an invisible force that stops you from getting ahead.  Some people try and try, but they can never get a better life.  Sometimes in the U.S., you can see many Black people killing, going to jail.  It’s hard to see Black people in a situation like that and not want to do something to help them.  In some cases, they don’t want help or they’re not ready for help.  So you don’t know what can be done to help.  It’s hard to help somebody who isn’t helping themselves.

L:  Trivial questions:  What have been women’s reactions to you?  What’s your reaction to them?

R:  It’s good.  They like my accent.  They want to talk to me.  They like my name.  And after that, it’s different because they want to engage in conversation and you need to understand the culture in order to invite them to go out or to a movie that you may not understand.  The way we talk to girls in Brazil is different than in the U.S.  In Brazil, we like to talk and it doesn’t cost money or anything.  But [in the U.S.], they expect to go to a restaurant or to a movie.  Some of them want somebody who’s going to invite them to a nice or expensive restaurant to have a good time. 

L:  So in the U.S., they expect to have an outing based around an activity that may cost money?

R:  Yes. In Brazil, I can invite a girl to go to the beach or to a free movie. We can have a good time together.  It doesn’t mean that you have to spend money to know more about a girl.   In the U.S. you have to prove to them how much money you have.

L:  Can you think of things you can do with a girl in the U.S. that doesn’t involve money?

R:  I think so.  You can go out to museums, to the park, to the mall.  It depends on the person.  You just need to find the right person.

L:  What have you observed about how young Black men and women interact?

R:  I think Black men and women are respectful towards each other.  They know how to have a good conversation.  [In Brazil], I think men don’t always respect Black women. They just want to take advantage of them.  Sometimes the women don’t perceive this and problems occur.  Young women may get pregnant.  In the U.S., I think the young ladies know more about self respect.  They know how to take care of themselves.  They know when to engage in sexual relations.  In the U.S., some women don’t like the way men look at them and feel disrespected.  They know if a man is just looking for sexual relations.  The culture is different.  In Brazil, women like when men look at them.  They think they look good.  But [in the U.S.], women think about the motivations.

L:  What is your impression about how African American young people view money, success, and wealth?

R:  I think this is a good question.  I personally had an experience with some African-American guys and in conversations I could perceive how concerned they were with money; making money and buying a nice house and nice car.  Money, power, and women.  They’re so concerned about money that they forget about the simple things in life like to stop and talk with someone.  They think that if they can’t get something from this person, there’s no point to this.

L:  Is there anything else that you think is important to share with our readers?

R:  When I first got to Atlanta, I saw so many Black people.  I thought, “I am in Salvador.”  But here, they were driving nice cars.  I could see the racism in Salvador.  There Black people don’t have nice things. I was thinking about this and I said something is wrong.

L:  So overall, are you happy?

R:  Yes very much so.