Jane de Souza Silva - Humphrey Fellow from Brazil
U.S. Host Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Grant Dates: 2007-2008
Humphrey Fellows: Making a Difference in Search of a Better World
by Regina Vasquez
Jane Silva with her daughter in front of U.S. Capitol
When Jane de Souza Silva first heard about the Fulbright and Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Programs from a former Fulbrighter and friend of hers, she thought: “this has everything to do with me”. She applied to pursue the field that was dear to her heart: urban planning.
Jane faced long odds: a poor black girl born in an uneducated and unskilled family, and raised in a slum area; and she was a 35-year-old single mother of a six-year-old child at the time she applied. Nevertheless, she had the experience of growing up in a loving family with solid values, who taught her that education would be her passport to a better life.
The Humphrey Fellowship, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, made the difference in Jane’s life and enabled her to make a difference in the lives of others while contributing to a better world. The Fellowship provides a basis for lasting ties between citizens of the United States and their professional counterparts in other countries. It fosters an exchange of knowledge and mutual understanding, through which the United States joins in a significant partnership with developing countries.
Born in the city of Maringá, in the western part of Paraná state (South Brazil), where her parents survived with informal jobs after migrating from Bahia (Northeast Brazil), Jane was only three years old when her family moved to the outskirts of the city of São Paulo. There, her father found work in the building sector. They lived in a shack in a very poor neighborhood, Jardim São Jorge, in the midst of a large slum in the south of the city. There was no urban infrastructure, sanitation or public services. Jane was the third child of seven.
As a child, Jane wanted to work and contribute to the family living, but her father would not allow it. He insisted that she focus entirely on her studies. He told her that she had to aim at becoming a “doctor” in order to be respected. As Jane was already interested in housing and urban planning, she decided she would become an engineer. Her first dream was to change her neighborhood.
While in high school, Jane took a technical drafting class. She recalls the bitter feeling of realizing that people around her thought she was aiming too high and how some exerted their power to keep her from moving forward. She was offered a job as a drafter, but she had to give it up. School officials denied her the authorization even though she was an outstanding student.
So, Jane aimed at attending engineering school. For that, she had to pass the entrance exam and compete with hundreds of other students for a seat at a public university. To succeed, she had to enroll in a costly preparatory course. The entire Silva family pitched in, and Jane also had to contribute with informal jobs (selling clothes and food). It took her two years, but she finally was admitted to an engineering school at a state university in the city of Guaratinguetá. She soon obtained a scholarship and started to work on housing projects.
Jane felt lucky, but also very lonely at university. No one shared her skin color or her background, and she could feel the social and economic gap between her and her colleagues. After obtaining her engineering degree, she returned to São Paulo.
Her first engineering job was for the local Workers’ Health and Safety Reference Center, where she realized even more acutely the relevance of the urban environment in someone’s life and work. That realization impelled her to seek a master’s degree in Urban Engineering at the prestigious University of Sao Paolo’s Politécnica School, where she was awarded another scholarship.
At Politécnica, Jane discovered a whole new world. She felt welcome and her racial-social-economic awareness developed in a positive way. Jane volunteered to teach Math and Physics to poor students on the weekends. For her master’s dissertation, she did a case study in a favela (slum) and found her professional focus. Also while at Politécnica, Jane got pregnant, meaning she would have to postpone plans for a doctorate. Her daughter, Leticia, was born in 2000 and is the joy of her life.
After she got the master’s degree, Jane went to work, first with an NGO providing technical advice and assistance to social projects, and later with a small private enterprise. She also took an extra teaching job at a private university. She was happy with her work, but she was convinced she could contribute in a broader way. When she was awarded the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship in 2007, her horizons expanded further than she could have imagined.
Jane went first to the University of Oregon to participate in the Humphrey Fellowship’s Long-Term English (LTE) program — an intensive four-month pre-academic program to improve her English language skills. The Humphrey program offers a Long-Term English (LTE) language training opportunity to facilitate the participation of candidates from non-elite populations, rural areas, minority groups and others who may be excellent candidates but are lacking the necessary language skills. After completing the LTE program, Jane went to Boston, where she was affiliated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Special Program for Urban and Regional Studies, which also enabled her to attend courses at Harvard University.
On September 16, 2008, Jane took her next big step. She started working at the Inter American Development Bank’s Diversity Junior Professional Program in Washington, D.C. Jane had been selected for one of only seven positions from a worldwide pool of 6,000 candidates.
Jane knows that life is more than just hard work and overcoming difficulties. She has a sunny personality and booms with interest for cultural diversity. She is very fond of music and likes to sing and to go to concerts and the theater. She also enjoys travelling to visit new places and to have first-hand experiences with new cultures. Most of all, she treasures the time she spends with her daughter.
Learn more about the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program
To the U.S.-Brazil Fulbright Program