Come visit!

“Education should no longer be mostly imparting knowledge, but must take a new path, seeking the release of human potentials.”
Maria Montessori.



"Itaparica is an island located at the entrance of Todos os Santos Bay on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in the state of Bahia, Brazil. It is located about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from the city of Salvador, Bahia and covers 146 square kilometres (56 sq mi). There are two municipalities on the island: Vera Cruz (87% of the land area, where Praia Do sol and our Educational House is located) and Itaparica (13%). Itaparica has 40 kilometres (25 mi) of beaches suitable for tourists and exuberant tropical vegetation. Itaparica is the largest maritime island in Brazil."

Praia Do sol is one of the Beaches in the Municipality of Vera Cruz and a small community of fishermen and builders. Their productions are mainly -if not entirely- distributed in the area and so we can say about their people, who follow their family metier or, at worst, search for the same two previously mentioned jobs in the closest city, Salvador.

The community of Praia Do Sol has a relaxing, peaceful lifestyle, but at the same time lacks of motivation and new opportunities for their children. Maria Montessori wrote in one of her books: “The environment must be rich in motives which lend interest to activity and invite the child to conduct his own experiences.” and their is no new truly constructive experiences if the community is blocking their own people's development.
Over the years, The municipality of Vera Cruz has not changed architecturally, commercially or culturally. It is not a primary need the presence of foreign tourists, but I have to admit that the only clean and cultural active places in the island are the international touristic ones.
I do believe the heart of the people is where there is no tourists, because it's where they express their culture in a natural spontaneous way. I don't pretend to turn the Praia do Sol into a touristic attraction, but I would like it to look naturally like those: clean and lively, participatory and entrepreneurial.

During their educational process in our House, the children of the island can end up realizing how much they love fishing and still thinking is what they want to dedicate their life to, but at least they have learned how to bake and build toy-sized car models, enable to read and write poetry in their spare time.

This is an invitation to everyone who would like to participate to the experience and learning process of these children, bringing them a little bit more of the world.


- How to get to the Educational House:

Itaparica can be reached in about thirty minutes/one hour by ferry from Salvador. The smaller passenger-ferry departs from near the Mercado Modelo towards Mar Grande, while the larger car-ferry goes from about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) north to Bom Despacho. Both of the destinations are located at the municipality of Vera Cruz, where there is easy access to public vans/cars -right side of the port, parked by the coast-. The van stops at Praia Do Sol after around fifteen/twenty minutes ride. Same side of the road, there will be signs guiding the way Home...



DECALOGUE OF TEACHER

Gabriela Mistral



1.- LOVE. If you cannot love much, do not teach children.

2.- SIMPLIFY. To know is to simplify without reducing essence.

3.- INSIST. Repeat as Nature repeats the species until reaching perfection.

4.- TEACH with intention of beauty, because beauty is mother.

5.- MASTER. Be fervent. In order to ignite lamps you have to carry fire in your heart.

6.- VIVIFY your class. Each lesson has to be alive like a being.

7.- CULTIVATE. In order to give it is necessary to have much.

8.- REMEMBER that your craft is not merchandise but that it is divine service.

9.- BEFORE dictating your daily lesson look at your heart and see if it is pure.

10.- THINK that God has put to you to create the world of the future.