Many people don’t know his other identity, that is a college student at the Rio Catholic University (puc-Rio).
pic source Reuters
college student cleaning the street
Philip comes from a small town in the north of Rio , which is about two hours' drive away.
Because of his poor family, Philip was forced to give up the opportunity to go to college and received a cleaning job provided by the Rio city government since 2009.
In 2017, Philip received a full scholarship for the Humanities and Social Studies at Rio Catholic University.
Picture Source Reuters
This school is well-known in Brazil , and has cultivated several central bank presidents and movie stars.
It seems to be one step further from the dream for Philip, but it seems that nothing has changed.
In order to support the family (wife and 7-year-old stepdaughter), Philip stayed in school during the day to pursue his degree. At night, he would come down from the university covered by the mountainside and come to the wealthy area at the foot of the mountain to work as a cleaner.
Picture source Reuters
When Philip told his classmates what he is doing now, many people would be extremely surprised.
Although he can continue his studies, his long-term two-faced life reminds him from time to time the existence of the gap between the rich and the poor in Brazil society.
"Brazil has many students in the same situation as me. They came out to support their families when they were very young. In this way, they naturally lost the time and resources to compete fairly with the children of elite families."
is regarded as a waiter on campus
. In this top university, he has experienced the current racial problems in Brazil at a close distance.
In Brazil, where the elite class is mostly white, 54% of people have African descent.
According to the 2000 national census, white Brazilians have five times more chances of going to college than African-Americans, mixed-race children and indigenous peoples.
Image source Reuters
"It is precisely because I studied in this prestigious school that many people habitually treat black people as service personnel, not students."
Philip recalled that he had several embarrassing experiences of being misidentified on campus.
Once, a female classmate mistakenly regarded him as an elevator operator, and a male classmate thought he was a restaurant waiter. After buying coffee, he went straight to him to check out the bill.
" To some extent, this is really hurtful because it will give you a feeling that you don't belong here. "
The epidemic has exacerbated educational injustice
As a developing country with a large population, the gap between the rich and the poor has always been very disparity.
According to data from the Brazilian Bureau of Geographical Statistics, the average income of the Brazilian population with the highest monthly income in 2020 is 34.9 times that of the Brazilian population with the lowest income.
Economic inequality will inevitably lead to educational inequalities among different ethnic groups and social classes in Brazil.
Because many students in Brazil are located in the Amazon jungle, urban slums and isolated rural areas, this has led to the tilt of educational resources towards the urban elite.
And during the outbreak of the epidemic, the inequality of educational resources in Brazil is becoming increasingly prominent.
Remote teaching forces students to stay at home, which makes poor students who do not have computers, network equipment, and live in remote areas suffer.
pic source Reuters
Phillip lives in the student dormitory of the Bay city Niterói. Because of frequent power outages, he has been able to read books at night with candles for several months.
Picture source Reuters
From 9 pm to 5 AM, it is his working hours when he goes out to clean. Philip will take advantage of the convenience of work to fully charge his mobile phone and computer in advance.
"The courses I take require a lot of material to read. I want a better computer than now, but think about it, some people don't even have a computer."
He pointed out that the disadvantaged students are forced to accept the challenge of long-distance teaching. "Not all mobile phones have good performance to take online classes, and not everyone can have a mobile phone, or have enough network traffic to download learning materials."
Although Brazil has been promoting education reform for many years, the pace of change is very slow. The quality of education in different regions is uneven, and the enrollment rate of higher education is slow.
This is not a good phenomenon for a country, because the development of a country needs to be achieved through talents. Students like Philip who are struggling between survival and studying will not be the first or the last.
Live in the fear of violent police enforcement
Educational injustice is just a microcosm of Brazil. The major events that have occurred in recent years have further stimulated the long-standing social contradictions in Brazil.
In May this year, Brazilian police raided the slum "Jacarezinho favela" in northern Rio during a mission to combat drug trafficking groups.
Hours of gunfight killed 27 African-American men and a policeman.
The police operation with the largest number of deaths in Rio has triggered overwhelming criticism from human rights organizations and strong protests from African-American groups.
Image source Reuters
African Philip also participated in the demonstrations on the streets to protest the police's violent behavior against African-Americans. During the demonstration, someone held signs that read "Say no to the massacre of black people" and "oppose genocide against black people."
Photo source Reuters
Philip revealed that he has been living in fear of police violence.
Whenever night falls, he will deliberately avoid going to certain streets.
Picture Source Reuters
" Even if I become rich or famous, it cannot change the fact that I am a black man.
In this city and the entire country, it seems that black people can sacrifice at will."
According to statistics from Human Rights Watch, 9,000 Brazilians have been killed by police in the past 10 years, three quarters of which are black men.
The future is full of infinite possibilities
Despite facing the threat of racial discrimination and excessive police enforcement, African-Brazilian culture still flourishes in Brazil for centuries.
Philip will attend the local "Ubanda" religious ritual twice a week. He will change into all-white clothes, have beaded necklaces hanging on his chest, and sing and dancing with other believers. They believe that doing so will "talk" with his ancestors.
Image source Reuters
"Ubanda religion" originated from West Africa . At that time, nearly 5 million people sold from Africa to Brazil as slaves, and the number of people was 10 times that they brought to the United States.
Since the 1930s, the "Ubanda religion" has emerged in Rio.
In order to prevent religious activities from being harassed by Europeans, believers merged their African traditions with Roman Catholicism. Currently, this fusion religion has more than 500,000 believers across the country.
The Catholic church in Brazil is often used as a gathering center by the "Ubanda Church". Philip's path to university is due to the funding of a church.
Picture source Reuters
It was in 2017 that he took a free college pre-requisite course through the church that gave him the opportunity to go to Rio to continue his studies in the future.
Phillip also cherishes his educational opportunities very much. He said that after he obtained his college degree, one of his goals is to teach potential students in low-income communities pre-college courses.
gives back what you have learned to the next generation of young people, helping them open the door to university. Most importantly, Philip hopes to let them know that has endless possibilities in the future, and life is that can be changed through education.
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