YouMeWE Earth School- Brazil

We kicked off the project in Suzano, Brazil for numerous reasons.

Firstly, there is a large community of Brazilian Japanese living in Japan. Secondly, we have team members from Brazil who have been with us from the beginning and in some ways to create a full circle of now giving back from that which one has learned.

The biggest question was, where do we start?

So the home was sought out and the relationship started and faces started to be matched with names and the mechanisms of You...Me...We started to fall into place. Computers were ordered, WiFi connected. Meetings where held by our team members and their relatives, who live in the community, came together to make the children feel part of something larger than themselves.

"It takes a village to raise a child" could not apply more than in this project. Passed the names of the children, we learned of their stories. Their struggles and with hope and passion, we have brought to them the chance to put their heads up and keep moving forward. No one asks to be born but when we are, we deserve everything that life has to offer.

By teaching the children so intimately, we learned of some literacy issues, some vision challenges and simple acts of love from the community by bringing them into a local salon to style their hair the way they wanted rather than what they could get were all parts of building their confidence as we prepare them for the 21st century jobs that some will be seeking. Many children born today will live to the 22nd century.

Aside from the connection with Japan, Brazil is strategically located in the same time zones of companies in the Americas where they wish to now outsource calling centers and create opportunities for a younger population whom have picked up English, for an example, by being Digital Citizens and watching YouTube and learning.Our teachers present to them not only practical IT Skills but also English lessons. English is not the most important or most spoken language on earth but as a networking tool any language is only as important as the people speaking it and what they are discussing with the language.

All of this has only been made possible by your generosity. We hope you will continue to spread the word of our project and help us build this up and grow.

We are reminded of the poem by Kahlil Gibran On Giving:"Then said a rich man, Speak to us of Giving. And he answered: You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give. For what are your possessions but things you keep

and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow? And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring
to the overprudent dog burying bones in the
trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city? And what is fear of need by need itself? Is not dread of thirst when your well is full,
the thirst that is unquenchable? There are those who give little of the much which they have
—and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome. And there are those who have little and give it all. These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty. There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward. And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism. And there are those who give and know not pain in giving,
nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue; They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space. Through the hands of such as these God speaks,
and from behind their eyes. He smiles upon the earth. It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding; And to the open-handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than giving. And is there aught you would withhold? All you have shall some day be given; Therefore give now, that the season of
giving may be yours and not your inheritors’. You often say, “I would give, but only to the deserving.” The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture. They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish. Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and his nights,
is worthy of all else from you. And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves
to fill his cup from your little stream. And what desert greater shall there be, than that which lies in the courage
and the confidence, nay the charity, or receiving? And who are you that men should rend their bosom and unveil their pride,
that you may see their worth naked and their pride unabashed?See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving. For in truth it is life that gives unto life—while you, who deem yourself a giver,
are but a witness. And you receivers—and you are all receivers—assume no weight of gratitude,
lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him who gives. Rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings; For to be overmindful of your debt, is to doubt his generosity
who has the freehearted earth...

Regards,