Acknowledgment

Since its implementation, Trem da Vale Heritage Education Program promotes train rides in Ouro Preto and Mariana, and other activities at the stations’ cultural spaces, thus offering a place for leisure and education to community members, students and teachers from local schools as well as to tourists.

Children and adults who participated in the activities have voice their satisfaction with the Program, by means of illustrations, letters and e-mails, acknowledging the relevance achieved by Trem da Vale within the communities where Vale operates.

Read some of their testimonials:

Testimonials on Vale Registrar [+]

“I’m happy, because this is something like an inheritance to my grandchildren and great-grandchildren…This will be part of the family’s history. I’ve been through quite a number of things that I haven’t had a chance to tell them about. But, now they will soon get to know about our life story, won’t they? (…) This Trem da Vale has brought us lots of joy. According to my grandchildren, this idea was already dead, since the train was no longer around. Now, Trem da Vale is back, and this is a good story.”

Mrs. Elza Silveira Fonseca, housewife, interview on thematic history - theme:railroad.

“Some people say the past should not be brought back. I don’t think so, you know? We have those short stories… We have a lot to tell, and I’d like to thank for the opportunity. I also hope to read some other testimonials because I believe that good things should be remembered. So, I’d like to have the chance to read some other testimonies. Who knows when? A lot of people I know are out there.”

Mr. André Luiz Cota, Equipment Maintenance General Supervisor, interview on thematic history - theme:mining

“I congratulate Vale for preserving both real and fancy stories told by witnesses. As for me, I assure you that I saw a lot of things - most of them - and a lot more was told by reliable people: my Mom and Dad.”

Mr. José Ramos Dias, College teacher, interview on thematic history -theme:railroad.

“I would like to thank you for the kindness, niceness, politeness and care with which you welcomed me. You’ve heard so many stories that I just don’t know how to thank you for being sat here all this time, hearing all of these baloneys.”

Ms Gracinda Bayão Toffolo, tradeswoman - interview on life history

“In terms of business, I believe that keeping record of a region’s mining history as well as the people’s interviews, is a pioneering initiative. I also believe that future generations will thank Vale for this piece of work.”

Mr. Wagner Colombarolli, entrepreneur, interview on thematic history -theme: mining

Testimonials given by video course students about cultural heritage [+]

“The idea of speaking about heritage on tape is kind of an instigating and challenging work. This is how I see Trem da Vale’s course.”

Celmar Ataídes Júnior, attended the course during November/December 2006.

“The video course on the cultural heritage was a great initiation and improvement exercise with respect to filming techniques, creation of scripts, the notion of several possibilities on both filming edition and production processes. The production of a documentary on the cultural heritage as the only assignment for the course’s final exam allowed not only for confronting theory and practice of the recording process but also for the creation of relevant products, whether material or not, about Mariana and Ouro Preto’s cultural heritage, in addition to an in-depth vision about it. I appreciate the opportunity!”

Rafael Almeida Santos, attended the course during November/December 2006 and, currently, is providing technical support to Vale Registrar Subprogram.

“The course covers a wealth of both technical and aesthetic aspects of video production. The teachers are thoughtful and the students are given freedom to become creative workshoppers under supervision and entertaining suggestions. As the possibilities of using filmmaking to depict both material and nonmaterial heritage are countless, the course allows us to develop a different vision about this heritage.”

Attended the video course during February 2007

“The workshop offers several new resources which can be used to understand the issues with respect to cultural heritage.”

Attended the video course during February 2007

“The course was excellent and the time we spent was really instrumental; it was really worthwhile taking some time to participate. All the basic information was properly handed over by reliable professionals, who were also very patient in clearing up our doubts. We participated in all of our video production stages - we had enough time to get in touch with new kinds of languages. The course inspired me to work with my students using audiovisual resources, having them engaged in all of the process stages.”

Walleska, attended the cultural heritage video course for teachers, held in September/October 2007

“The course helped expand the critical vision on the ‘object’ and widened out the perspective of using pedagogic resources. It was also a way to learn how video production works and to get acquainted with its ‘language’.”

Maria da Trindade Carneiro, attended the cultural heritage video course for teachers, held in September/October 2007

“It was a very rewarding experience. The course made me think about several job possibilities based on visual language through videos. Drifting the vision towards the senses and the sensibility through the chosen objects has awakened on us the need to better define and refine the information by synthesizing it. Therefore, it became essential to reach out for an increasingly creative and interesting result.”

Elizete Aparecida Lima, attended the cultural heritage video course for teachers, held in September/October 2007

“All of the course’s features on editing were awesome. I loved it, especially the opportunity to produce the final video for the inauguration (…). Once more, Vale Registrar opened up a precious and important space for the community, thereby conveying quite a lot of knowledge.”

Luiz Felipe Viana Cardoso, attended the video editing course held in June/July 2008

Teachers who attended the Formation Course [+]

“In today’s world, we can notice that, most of the times, people are not interested in preserving the cultural heritage, let alone its meaning. In historical cities like Mariana, it’s our duty to incite every child, youngster and adults alike so they can look at, feel and admire each spot in the city they live in. This project becomes even more relevant when we consider the divers heritage of Santa Rita Durão District, which is to be studied, restored and preserved - based on this study, history can be shared. My idea is to use this project to develop actions with which I will be albe bring issues to the fore and engage the students in discussions for them to learn and preserve their surrounding environment.”

Luciana Gonçalves Batista, History teacher at Sinhô Machado Municipal School

“I work at a school located in Mariana’s countryside and my students don’t have a good grasp on the concept of heritage education. They still think that the idea of valuing the heritage is restricted to people leaving in the so-called historical centers. This idea became even more evident when a local eighteenth-century church was demolished and a new, more modern one was put up. I would say that by ‘replacing’ the church, the community lost some of its notion of valuing heritage. My idea is to develop this project at Águas Claras Municipal School in order to retrieve the concept and the valuation of the historical heritage, whether material or not. Although this community is away from Mariana’s historical center, it’s also part of our history and because of that I intend to redeem what’s left of its cultural traditions.”

Janaína da Costa, teacher at Águas Claras Municipal Schoo

“During last Saturday’s first lecture, when the structure, organization, guiding principles and, specially the purpose of the teachers qualification course on heritage education were presented, I realized that it would be a great opportunity, not only for qualification, but also to develop a more qualified work with my students. It is common sense to say that events like this help inspire creativity, interest and even the passion put asleep by daily routine. There’s been a lot of talk about distinguished work at schools, and this is, without a doubt, a real possibility to develop such a project.”

Rubens Marcelo de Oliveira, teacher at Cônego Mauro de Faria State School

People attending the Mini-course on Heritage Education [+]

“I noticed that the material regarding Trem da Vale Heritage Education hosts a wealth of information and thereby makes available a lot of knowledge. Based on this material, I also noticed that it is possible to develop a series of playful activities.”

Teacher at Professora Juventina Drummond Municipal School

Participants on Distinguished Circuits [+]

“It was a wonderful tour. The children had a great time. The stations’ employees finely welcomed us. Everything was so fine that we can hardly describe what they liked the most. It was great. Thank you very much!”

Lourdes Carvalho Ribeiro, community leader

Participants on the Sensory Trail [+]

“This tour is very interesting and well grounded on the city history. The guide is quite acquainted with the history. Congratulations on the project!”

Rafael Camargo Matheus.

“It was a great tour and the guide proved to be very thoughtful and quite acquainted with the city history.”

Auuf Auba Euas.

“As a tourist, I found it interesting and agreeable being supported in learning about local history - being welcomed like this gives you both the satisfaction to know the place and the desire to come back. The guide was really nice and thoughtful, with lots of information.”

Laura Cândida de Souza Lima.

“You’ve done a real nice, objective, concise and interesting job. Keep on doing that because this is a very “soft” way of getting to know Ouro Preto. It’s worthwhile. Congratulations!”

Francisco Anísio Pires Braga.

“The trail’s creative and educational portion makes it very interesting and also depicts the city’s actual history. It’s an awe-inspiring trip back to the past!”

Marco Aurélio de Oliveira.