|
|
Celebrating the Life and Work of Paulo Freire
Political Clarity
Competence
Risk Taking
Courage
Humility
Do you have any of the above qualities? Paulo Freire challenged us to adopt one if not all of these qualities if we wanted to transform the world to a more just and equal place. it was For this reason 120 community workers, educators, literacy teachers and development workers, learners and participants from Cork, Dublin , Letterkenny, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Peru were drawn together to celebrate a life dedicated to transformation, the life of Paulo Freire.
We gathered together on January 17th in Kimmage Manor. In the morning the participants choose between one of five workshop, each of which related to aspects of Freire’s approach for example, Literacy in 1998 and a global picture of adult education and social change. Central themes were the attitudes of maximising dialogue, participation, creativity and asking relevant questions relating to real life experiences. Later after more dialogue and dancing, Marcos Arruda, an economist, educator, from Rio de Janeiro who was exiled from Brazil at the same time as Paulo Freire gave us an address. They were in New York and Geneva around the same time and worked together in Guinea Bissau. Marcos spoke of Paulo as a critical friend, sharing his philosophy and remembering him as the man who also made mistakes and who especially had indignation towards injustices. (Listen for Marcos’ address on NEAR FM 102 at...............)
We ended the day making dolls, villages, bridges and ties between Ireland and Peru with recycled materials provided by the Travellers Resource Warehouse in Pavee Point (Contact Geraldine at 8780257 for more information) and finally closing in a large circle with a tropical rain dance.