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Brazil Diary Accounts of Howard Students Researching in Sao Paulo and Bahia, Brazil and Brazilian students researching at Howard.

Edvan P. de Brito Exchange Student Universidade de São Paulo January/May 2005
For more information on this program please click here

• Diary of Camila V. Pereria
• Diary of Edvan P. de Brito (below)

My experience at Howard University

By Edvan P. de Brito - Brazil Exchange Student
Universidade de São Paulo
January/May 2005

In 2000, when I started studying English, I worked as a postman. Many of my coworkers used to ask me ‘Why are you spending your money doing a course that you will never use?' I always gave them the following answer: ‘Things are going to change!' Indeed, I dreamed with the possibility of traveling to an English speaking country. I knew that it would be very difficult because I had to work hard to save as much money as I could. In January 2005 I could reach my dream, and the “Race, Development and Social Inequality” exchange program supported it. Thus I went to the United States of America to attend classes at Howard University in Washington , D.C.

Different from what I had imagined, this experience gave me more than the improvement of my language skills and resources for my research. Being in Washington , especially at HU, gave me the possibility of looking at the world differently. As I say to my friends, during this time I had the interesting sensation of having a shower of self-esteem.

Since I was away from my home country, I could reflect better on race relations in Brazil and in the US . All the things I saw in Washington D.C. made me feel happy and sad at the same time. There is no way to describe how is to be in a place where you are not the “different”. Everybody is like you, even your professor. That's wonderful! This point made all the difference.

However, when I looked at the Brazilian reality, I realized that we, the Brazilian society, especially the Afro-Brazilians, had many problems to solve. I realized that we were at the very beginning. I am not saying that the African Americans have no problems. In fact, I think we all have many specific problems. In Brazil 's case, we fight against an invisible and not-declared enemy called racism that determines many of the relations between people, especially when these relations are related to money or power.

Another thing I felt at Howard was the love and respect for the ancestors through the celebration of culture and history. Due to that rediscovery of my past, during the 5 months I was there, I had something like an identity crisis. All the thoughts that covered my mind made me seek for my roots, my identity. I needed references to re-formulate my personality; I needed to find an answer to who I was. Then I realized that the only way of answering this question was to come back to my family. They were the only reference point that could give me answers about me. Since then my love for my family has became bigger and bigger because I definitely understood that I am part of them.