By Andrea Barreto, Brazil – Volunteer for Change team April 2024
At another time in my life, before CICD, I had other experiences living in a community, in Buddhist centers. Especially at the beginning here, I felt a similar sensation, a certain similarity in the routine and the energy.
From my point of view, everything starts with the motivation of the community’s members. In the Buddhist center, the motivation was to study, practice, and pray for the well-being of all beings. At CICD, I believe it is the preparation for volunteer work in the African continent and, in a way, to stimulate our skills related to altruism and, primarily, resilience.
I once read in a Buddhist book the phrase, “Practice infinite altruism with the help of wisdom. This is the path.” Here at CICD, I feel that in some way we are seeking this.
Everything starts with the motivation of the community’s members
Thinking about altruism, first, what comes to mind is the motivation to act in the best way as individuals and, with the same intensity, in the community. In the day-to-day here we are most of the time together as a community, whether we are fully feeling it or when we forget or are distracted by other matters. We are rarely alone, especially physically, but also in our minds. As time passes, we get more involved with each other and in each other’s stories, and yes, we end up living the experience of a kind of crazy family where everyone lives in the same house or constantly shares the same spaces. And, being a family, we care for and look out for each other.
From the wisdom perspective, school life adds intensity and growth. All activities revolve around the program, with class schedules and the period calendar as the basis for all activities that occur weekly or monthly. The content of the classes is profound, activating our intellect and reasoning and regularly stirring our emotions. Days and weeks are spent addressing subjects like hunger, poverty, and colonialism – one complex topic after another, often with considerable passion.
Even though each person is impacted differently, everyone is still strongly affected.
Community life is part of the pedagogy
The CICD methodology is one of community living 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This includes not only the numerous daily activities (making breakfast, cleaning, attending classes, cooking, washing dishes, participating in evening events, etc.) but also the interaction between everyone, dealing again with personal issues, mood swings, physical disposition (or lack thereof), even indirectly.
Regardless of age, we end up sharing our own routines, bathrooms, kitchens, living rooms, and often our rooms, and it is a challenge to handle each person’s rhythm and needs. However, it is a challenge that I believe benefits our next life experience and our contribution to the community in the African country.
As I see it, as the days pass, personal issues influence us more and more – after all, we are human beings and not machines. In the beginning, we have our own ways of being and doing things, fitting them with others and their needs. However, during the program, we become increasingly part of the school and community, and the intensity grows. The questioning and some disagreements also take on greater proportions. Then I see the school’s pedagogy in practice because, in our experience in the African country, we will not be only with ourselves. We will be in another completely different community, and at that moment, knowing how to deal with our insecurities and exhaustion is essential. Therefore we need to learn where to renew our energies and our motivation to be able to complete what we committed and proposed ourselves to do.
…and now the next big step…
I am in the last month of the first part of the 10-month program, and I just took the vaccines as part of the preparation to go to Zambia next month. The past two months have been powerful and profound, and these last weeks have been provocative and inspiring. After all, it is an important journey we have already taken, and what an extraordinary journey lies ahead. So, I continue here in the day-to-day of the community, strengthening myself and at the same time providing the support I can so that our group completes this fantastic experience. I hope that we can share our experience with the public upon our return and that we can still admire and follow the path and achievements of each other in the future – this crazy family that, in different ways and configurations, now lives in my heart.
