The financial crisis and the search for a better quality of life are causing hundreds of workers to leave Brazil to venture abroad. Until the beginning of the year, the declaration of definitive exit from Brazil saw a 40% increase. One of the main destinations for these Brazilians is the United States.
The couple Wellington and Sandra Tavares arrived in New Jersey just over four months ago. They left their diploma and a law office in Goiás to provide a better life for their children here in the land of Uncle Sam. In their luggage, they brought money for the first month’s expenses, enough to buy a used car, and a lot of courage to start from scratch. Without mastery of the language, he managed to secure an entry-level position in construction. She became a cleaning assistant. The earnings are still far below expectations. “What we earn, for now, only covers basic expenses; the rent consumes almost all our income,” Sandra explained.
Not knowing the language is among the main problems faced by Brazilians. The teacher and co-owner of the Língua Franca English School, Élcio Magueta, deals with this reality daily. According to him, the demand for English courses is growing. “These workers are aware that only fluency in English will guarantee them better job opportunities and consequently increase their income,” Magueta states.
This lesson was well learned by Dalila de Oliveira (photo above). She arrived in the United States three years ago. As she had no knowledge of English, she worked for a while as a cleaning assistant; now she has her own houses. “Knowing how to communicate is helping me grow on my own. Today I can also do shopping and other basic activities like going to the hospital. I look back and see how much I have learned and how much I still have to learn. I will never stop studying,” she concluded.