São Paulo. Brazil. Friday August 4th 2006

Up early and after breakfast I take to the streets to walk to my morning appointment. This is a lively quarter awash with friendly faces and brightened by clear skies and sunshine.

After a short walk I arrive at the Pinheiros Branch of the Cultura Inglesa where I am to deliver a lecture on the pedagogy of English teaching and the uses and importance of language. It is great fun to address the group of in-service educators and to answer their informed questions.

Today I am returning to the classroom full-time and what a day of contrasts it proves to be...

For lunch I am taken across town by Susan Marcus to the exclusive Itaim neighbourhood where we will dine in arguably São Paulo's most exclusive restaurant, the Bar des Arts.

Our journey out through the clogged traffic of the city is a reminder to me of one of the 'dangers' that São Paulo is famous for (lightening highjacks). The first thing that Susan does is lock the doors and we use the air conditioning system rather than wind down the windows. All of that said, the journey is perfectly pleasant and Susan is most engaging lady with whom I can talk freely for hours.

I learn about São Paulo's Radizio which is essentially an attempt to control both pollution and traffic. All cars in the city are banned by law from driving between the hours of 7am and 10am and 5pm and 8pm on one day a week. The day of your 'ban' depends on the number on your registration plate. The model serves to remove around 20% of traffic that would otherwise join rush-hour...the people of the city have come to live with this though and many 'get round' the system by owning more than one car.

The Bar des Arts is in reality the first time in this wonderful city where I could say I feel uncomfortable. Not because of the company or the safety of my surroundings but because of the conspicuous display of wealth that is 'international' and not simply Brazilian in standing.

All around us the beautiful people dine...the ladies who lunch and the men and women whose plastic surgeries are not simply the topic of dinner conversation, but arguably they represent the GNP of many small nations.

In analysing my surroundings I become acutely aware of the 'faces of my friends' in the people around me. This is the way I live in England. The men and women are dressed from top to toe by Armani and Gucci with the obligatory large dark sunglasses.

On my arrival in São Paulo and attending the reception yesterday evening I felt dreadful that I was inappropriately dressed for the cocktail party. Never, at home, would I have been so casual at any function. The last time I attended an Embassy reception, in Paris in March, I was dressed top to toe by Saville Row.
However there were no conspicuous displays of wealth at the Cultura reception last night and everyone put me at my ease.
Here in this wonderful restaurant I sense the 'threat' such displays of wealth present to the serving classes. Only once before, in China, have I seen such obvious division between wealth and poverty.

São Paulo is certainly vying to be a first world city and the social and economic infrastructure is most certainly here.

Social commentary over, I have my first taste of Guaranã at lunch. This is a typically Brazilian soft drink and it is delicious. The food I enjoy is fit to rival any great European restaurant.

After lunch it is back into the classroom to teach a group of around thirty teenagers about Global Citizenship. These students are a delight. They have a very sound command of the English language and they have informed opinions about a range of topics.

They are as equally well informed about the global environment as students back in the UK and USA. That said they are students from the higher end of the social strata and one would expect such informed opinions.

The young ladies who come to me after the talk are a delight and they have as clearly defined goals and career plans as comparable students at home.

I also learn a great deal today about Max Weber´s work in comparing Brazilian and North American cultural development. Weber basically proposed that many of Brazil's "ills" can be traced to its developmental history...

In forming the United States the colonists had on a personal level essentially ended their direct links with 'home' and so they had to "make it work". In contrast the Portuguese development of Brazil was seen much more as exploration with strong links maintained with your "old life".

In the United States the protestant work ethic was the driving force and in many ways Thanksgiving came about as a result of thanking God for enabling successful harvests. In contrast the strong Catholic belief of the Portuguese led to an ethic of 'God will provide'.

Webers' third component relates to the role of women. In the United States women played an active role from the countries inception across all social classes because of economic necessity. In Brazil women remained 'protected' and were traditionally provided for.

Whether you agree or disagree with Webers' ideas they make interesting reading!

Across town again to the Morumbi district where I join the most unique classroom you are likely to witness anywhere in the world. I am following in the footsteps of Colin Powell who made the same journey into the heart of the Meninos do Morumbi project.

The project is the brainchild and the baby of the inspiring and unassuming Flãvio Pimenta its director.

Meninos do Morumbi grew out of Flãvio inviting 'street children' into his own home and beginning a band in his kitchen with the implements that he had available. As you can imagine the children loved playing music and as the project grew Flãvio saw that he could do more and more for the children with the aim of giving them a personal perspective on life that would allow them to use their energies in a positive way.

This project is genuine in its attempts to make a difference and it most certainly does!!! Plaudits are plenty, Flãvio is feted by world leaders and indeed project students were invited by Tony Blair to Downing Street...but as he says UNICEF awards aside the real action has to be here in Morumbi where it matters, giving chances to the children of the Favela. And let me tell you I got to meet, socialise, dine and dance with a talented, energetic and inspiring group of young people of all ages...Trust me there is natural rhythm.

In order to continue participating the 'students' must agree to a Fair Deal, where they not only agree to go to school but also they agree to achieve a certain standard of grade...failure to do so would mean leaving a project where teenagers are treated in a non-patronising way by Flãvio (who sees his role as one of social responsibility and not parenting). No-one will 'dictate' participation but if you want the chance to improve it is provided.

The conditions are 'strict', and it is refreshing to see a policy of non acceptance of drugs adhered to so strongly in a city where drug crime is rife.

This project is anything but a sanctimonious display. Flãvio has, sometimes on a regular basis, to "disappear" because of the threats to his life from drug barons. He is after all removing his "students" from the client base of the cartels. Former students can also pose a problem when they get to that point in life when they are no longer willing to "play by the rules". The students I speak with are only too well aware of the realities of life and the fact that the project gives them a chance that many of their contemporaries do not have. The Favela is still an area where dying at 12 or 20 is common. The project also provides 29,000 meals a month (three meals a day).

The home of Meninos do Morumbi could have come straight from Hollywood and you simply cannot describe the vibe when you enter this cavernous warehouse on a Friday night in São Paulo to an African beat where organised informality finds a huge group of young people actively engaged in and enthusiastic about dance and music...this is one Natural High!!!

The Cultura Inglesa teach English to the students here free of charge. Flãvio recognises that technology and English language learning are vital skills for the students if they are to be economically and socially viable citizens in the future. As well as dance, singing and music classes participants take English and computing classes. There is no good, after all, keeping children off the streets if they do not have the skills to translate what they have learnt through the project into future citizenship.

The programme has in fact become so popular that it has begun to attract the children of the vast middle class who live in exclusive Morumbi neighbourhoods that border the favelas.

You could argue that my visit here is of little value at best, and at worst it is patronising. I discover this could not be further from the truth. The students are proud of what they do and the love to showcase their work. One young man, with whom I am photographed for this website, is keen to tell me all about the pãozinho (or small bread) that is home baked here in the project...and by the way...it's delicious!!

I am not a politician and I am not engaged on this project as a sound-bite or an ego trip. I am an educator, I am fascinated by what I see and I encourage you to find out more. This is the sort of project we in the UK should be linking with and I intend to do all I can to bring this work to interested young people in the UK.

On leaving I am presented with an official T-shirt (which I will wear with PRIDE) and a CD (which I hope in years to come will help my thoughts drift back to this marvellous city).

www.meninosdomorumbi.org.br

I round off my evening in the only way one can in São Paulo in the company of a beautiful young lady over a Japanese supper at Nakombi.

Cuca is a fascinating guide to the city and as well as being an architect she is an academic coordinator with the Cultura here in São Paulo. She also happens to have translated a true Brazilian classic Bom de Bola, a book about...what else but football...into English. The book is great. It is a pictoral history of football in Brazil and its incorporation into the national psyche.

Here in Brazil Football is Life and it is played with a poetry that exists no-where else in the world. Pitches I have already seen improvised everywhere and most often in the most unlikely of venues.

Our evening becomes early morning and we make our way home in the small hours through streets of people enjoying a Friday night in São Paulo...I certainly enjoyed mine and would repeat the experience again and again if I could.