A Season of Change by Randy M. Ataide

I returned from Portugal a few days ago, my first visit to the country during the month of August. I had heard many times of the great heat and discomfort during the late summer, reinforcing the long tradition of the Portuguese of all stations and locations to head "south", signifying a long holiday at the beach, typically the expansive and lovely Algarve region. I was very curious to see if the economic crisis had an impact on the widespread European tradition of  this 4-6 week holiday.

Instead of horrific heat (to the Portuguese this seems to be around 90 degrees F), we enjoyed many comfortable days of lower to mid-80's, plenty of sun, gorgeous sunrises, and picturesque scenery. And yes, many Portuguese did "head south" making life much easier for those who stayed in the cities during August, as traffic, restaurants, stores and other destinations were fairly light.

But there were "cracks" in the tradition of long summer holiday, with enough signs of change in Portugal. A significant number of storekeepers, restaurants and ordinary Portuguese reported that holidays were shortened to no more than 2 weeks, and some reported its cancellation entirely. The economy was cited as the reason for this change, and as we know the behaviors and habits of the Portuguese can change very slowly, there is clear evidence of some changes in attitudes. Besides shorter holidays, the word "promoções" (promotions), has entered the Portuguese merchant vocubulary, something that is generally very new and interesting to the Portuguese and international consumer alike. Large banners of 50% to 70% off were quite prominent, and during my first visits to Portugal years ago the locals told me that there was really no sense among shoppers and storekeepers of such a thing as sales and discounts. The "price was the price" and the seller was in charge. There are clear signs that this is changing, and changing fast.

Personally, I was asked if I would speak to a group of high school and college students from several churches on the topic of entrepreneurship and small business, which I was glad to do. At the Otto and Marjorie Ekk home on a Sunday night, eight of them showed up and we had a great conversation about their interests, curiousity of bringing ideas to reality, and dreams and aspirations of self-improvement. The sheer volume of interest and ideas that these exciting young people generated led to an impromptu "entrepreneur contest" where I offered to personally provide some counsel to their ideas if they wrote them out and submitted them to us within the next week. When I mentioned that I would award 100 euros to the most creative, imaginative and interesting entrepreneurial idea that was submitted, the students were excited and energetic. We decided to meet again the following Sunday night.

What happened during that week and last Sunday night was exciting and encouraging. The group had swelled from 8 to 14 students, and the living room was "elbow to elbow" as we reviwed and discussed the various ideas that had been submitted. In my next blog post I will share about these ideas and how the evening's events turned out.  Under the capable leadership of Pastor Marques Mente, these young people are inspiring!

It is clear to me, and I think to many others, that there is positive signs of change coming to Portugal. And as with most revolutions, both quiet and loud ones, the youth often lead the way.

Friends of France are also Friends of Portugal by Randy M. Ataide

Two Directors of the Friends of Portugal just returned from a quick trip to Normandy France, at the lovely town of Franceville-Mereville, just north of the famed 'Pegasus Bridge' where the British invasion forces of the Allied Forces commenced the D Day Invasion of June 6, 1944. Located there is the retreat center and ministry of the Jacques Lefevre Institute, led by Stephen Darling who has lived in France for 20 years. At right is Stephen and Otto Ekk of Portugal at the well preserved German gun battery and museum at Mereville. 

In addition to good conversations of strategies, approaches, opportunities and challenges in Europe, Otto and I also had several meals and extended conversations with the French. At the Institute were many visitors from many parts of the world, including a wonderful Coptic Christian family originally from Egypt; several leaders from a large church in Paris heavily involved in Christian movements in the Muslim world; South Africans, Vietnamese, and native Parisians. Otto and I are non-French speakers, and this made it difficult at times, but common interests and faith brought us together to learn from one another about France and Portugal and emerging developments.

These times built upon recent times with other Portuguese friends, including the Pratas family who serve and work in Mozambique through sports. Pictured at right is the extended Pratas family in a recent visit in Lisbon with us shortly before their return to Mozambique. In addition to Jorge and Alice and their charming daugthers, and their parents in the photo at right, are Joe and Paula Arrias, another Friends of Portugal Director. (FYI Jorge Pratas and Paula Arrais are brother and sister.) It was good to hear of the work in Africa and how Friends of Portugal can be involved.

These times and many more conversations while on this trip lead up to a major planning meeting for the Friends of Portugal leadership team on Monday August 27, to be held in Loures, Portugal. Pictured at left are some of the leaders in a preliminary meeting held recently, to prepare for the entire leadership meeting for both North American and Portuguese leaders. Upon the conclusion of this meeting, we will present to our stakeholders, friends, donors and supporters the strategic priorities of Friends of Portugal for the next 18-24 months, including some exciting projects, proposals and initiatives. We ask for your continued prayers and encouragement for Friends of Portugal.

This time in France and Portugal has been an encouragement to the Friends of Portugal organization and leadership. We are thankful and also realize that we also have "Friends in France" and in many other parts of the world as well!

Sunday in Lisbon by Randy M. Ataide

So it is Sunday in Lisbon during August, and many of the Portuguese are on their annual vacation, usually to the south down in the Algarve, cooling off in the ocean. It is a deeply imbedded cultural, historical and familial tradition.

But for the rest of us, August can be a wonderful time to be here, with ample parking, open tables, and free museums on Sunday morning for all. For us, we visited the stunning royal coach museum and then were treated to a wonderful military parade, with striking calvary, gleaming swords, and ample pomp and circumstance.

It is great to see that the 'troika' from the North, the group of bankers and politicians who have so much control over people they are very distant from, have not yet taken away these beautiful and simple pleasures from this ancient and proud nation. Viva Lisboa! Viva Portugal!

And for my money, avoid the crowds in London, Paris and Munich, and come to Portugal!

Ser Portuguese by Randy M. Ataide

Dispatch from Loures, Portugal

"Ser Portuguese" ("To Be Portuguese") starts the well worn but wonderful volume I picked up today for 2 Euros at the market at the top of old Lisbon, crowded with Portuguese from many nations, tourists from Germany, Italy, France and even the United States, on a sun splashed August day in the ancient city. The author Jose Mattoso starts his text with "Para descobrir a natureza das coisas nao ha como tentar saber como elas foram outrora." ("To understand the nature of things there is nothing like trying to find out how they used to be.") Is it possible for people from other 'younger' cultures and nations to have some sense of "how things used to be?"

This is now my tenth trip to Portugal, all taken within the past seven years. Indeed, last year I was here a total of three times, including one stretch of six weeks where not only did I host some MBA students and colleagues, but my wife and I were able to rent an apartment in a local community and begin to sense and feel and experience the normal rhythm of things in a small town. It was equal parts exhilirating, frightening and transformational.

In California I am accustomed to the things of life that I have come to know in nearly 55 years of life--the language, the patterns, the customs, the slang and even the idiosyncrasies. With time, I come to accept and practice them--they are my reality. But do I have a sense of "how things used to be?"

Well, if I visit the mansions of the industrialists who forged the modern state, I see a glimpse of life from a hundred years ago. Perhaps I may visit one of the Spanish missions, which form such a prominent part of California history, and they may take me back two hundred years or so. But the traces of the ancient people, the native Americans, are long gone, save a model village at Yosemite or some pictures in a museum. And who preceded even these natives? We are not sure.The old things are lost to us, and my sense of time and ultimately life inevitably looks ahead and rarely back. I am pushed, whether I am aware of it or not, always forward, ahead, to something I have not yet attained.

It is not this way in Portugal. As I sit here in an apartment in Loures, some fifteen miles north of Lisbon, I look across a small valley and can see the whitewashed walls and tower of a small parish church. Last fall, near dusk on our final night in Portugal, we jumped in the car on a whim, to drive to the church we saw every night from our window. We did this for no other reason than to see what was there. Down the road carved in the side of a hill, we passed a few cafes, industrial sites and villages, and wound our way through the town towards the landmark.

So what did we find at the small church in Frielas, Portugal that fall evening? We arrived as the sun set over the great Atlantic, and there sat but one more small church in another small town, neat and clean and with an old cemetary next door. Surely, it was at least two hundred years old--perhaps even three or four hundred years or more. We were not certain.

But here in Frielas, just a few miles off of the highway, next to the small church sat an archeological dig that from all appearances had long ago stopped work, sat the ruins of a Roman villa, five to ten feet underground, surrounded by a small fence. We stood in the gathering darkness and looked down at the work of men and women from 2,000 years ago, the marble columns, the mosaic floors, the rooms and antechambers where people gathered, ate, lived, fought, loved and died contemporaneously with the time of Jesus. It was mysterious and magical and something so unlike my own life in California that few words could really explain how I felt at that moment.There was but a small sign in English and Portuguese providing some information of what lay at our feet. (Photo credit to Paulo Juntas)

I thought of the movie 'Gladiator' from some ten years ago, and the capacity of modern magicians behind computers to create amazing graphics of coliseums and roads and battles of long ago. But here it actually was before me, the real and authentic thing, with little fanfare and no ceremony, nothing more than the crickets and birds and occasional passer by to take it in.

Nine months later, I am struck that in Frielas that fall evening, and at the market today, or as we drove past the Tagus River, and even at the local restaurant where we enjoyed chicken and potatoes for lunch, that at these times I am pointed to "the way things used to be." And it is something that is simply impossible for us who count the centuries of our history on but a few fingers to grasp until we come face to face with it in ancient culture.

So I encourage each of you, and in particular the North American reader, to pursue the wisdom of something or someone or somewhere that is much older than we are. It is there that we can not only discover the old ways but perhaps even a clearer understanding of the new ways.

The Heart of Portugal by Jason Ekk

My name is Jason Ekk and I am the North American Program Director of Friends of Portugal.  Here is a little bit about myself…

Many people have asked me throughout my life: “Where are you from?” Answering that question is harder than it seems.  I was born in Dinuba, CA (in the Central Valley for those of you that don’t know).  My family moved to Portugal when I was six.  I lived there until I moved back to California to attend Fresno Pacific University at age 18.  Currently I am living in San Diego finishing up law school with my beautiful wife of (almost) five years, Alicha, and two amazing kids (Ryan-2 and Ally-3 months). 

So, this question could be answered several ways… Dinuba? Fresno? Portugal? San Diego?

Growing up in Portugal, I never looked like I was from there.  Through my German/Mennonite roots I inherited, among many things: blonde hair, blue eyes and the inability to dance.  Portuguese generally have an olive complexion, brown or black hair and dark eyes.  Needless to say, I stuck out.  I remember random old people coming up to me as a little kid and tussling my hair.  Or another time when I was a teenager and a bunch of girls were talking about me in the back of a bus and didn’t realize that I spoke Portuguese.  The look on their faces when I turned around and starting talking to them in Portuguese was priceless.  I definitely looked like an outsider. 

But I felt at home.

A wise person (*cough* my dad *cough*) once said that there are three things at the heart of the Portuguese:  history (the “Discoveries” in particular), coffee (much of their culture takes place around cups of coffee at cafes), and soccer (the true “religion” of Portugal).   If that is true then maybe I am more Portuguese then I look….

I majored in history, love coffee and am an avid soccer fan.  I might not have been born in Portugal or look the part but I think a piece of my heart will always be a bit Portuguese. 

As the North American Program Director I am excited about the future and the work that is and will be done.  In the next few months I will be writing more about the three things mentioned above: history, coffee and soccer.