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5th Amazon Exchange Combines Academic Formation, Mission, and Social Engagement
João Guilherme Porto
The project is directly connected to the longstanding presence of the Divine Word Missionaries (SVD) in the Amazon Region, where for decades they have carried out important pastoral, educational, and social work among riverine, Indigenous, and urban communities. As the institution responsible for the Arnaldo Janssen University Center in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, the Divine Word Missionaries made this exchange possible, bringing the university closer to the mission being carried out in the Amazon.
The project promotes a meaningful exchange of experiences among students, professors, and local communities, allowing academic knowledge to enter into dialogue with Amazonian realities and traditional knowledge. The experience is characterized by mutual learning, respect for diversity, and a commitment to social transformation.
In its fifth edition, the project also received important support from the Arjon Institute, an institutional partner that shares the values of education, social responsibility, and human development, helping this experience continue to transform lives and strengthen ties between the university and local communities.
During the exchange, professors and students from the Dentistry, Veterinary Medicine, and Psychology programs at the Arnaldo Janssen University Center carried out various activities aimed at promoting health, well-being, and quality of life in the communities they served. These included dental care, preventive procedures, oral health education, clinical care and educational activities in veterinary medicine, as well as psychological support, group discussions, welcoming activities, and mental health promotion. These initiatives sought to respond to local needs while respecting the culture, realities, and knowledge of the communities.
However, the essence of the Amazon Exchange goes far beyond providing services. Its primary objective is to foster a genuine exchange of experiences among groups with profoundly different histories, cultures, and ways of life. While students and professors place their knowledge at the service of the communities, they also learn from local wisdom, customs, sustainable relationships with nature, and the values of solidarity and community that characterize life in the Amazon.
This experience provides a distinctive form of academic formation, helping future professionals understand that technical excellence must go hand in hand with human sensitivity, ethics, respect for differences, and social responsibility. At the same time, it strengthens ties between the university and local communities, reaffirming the role of higher education as an agent of transformation and development.
With its fifth edition, the Amazon Exchange has established itself as one of the most important university extension projects of the Arnaldo Janssen University Center, reaffirming the institutional commitment of the Divine Word Missionaries, the Arnaldo Janssen University Center, and the Arjon Institute to an integral education that goes beyond the classroom and brings the university closer to people, communities, and the diverse realities of Brazil.
More than bringing knowledge to communities, the project demonstrates that true education takes place through encounter, listening, and sharing. In this exchange, everyone learns, everyone teaches, and everyone returns transformed. The 5th Amazon Exchange thus reaffirms the commitment to forming professionals who are technically qualified, humanly sensitive, and prepared to practice their professions with responsibility, empathy, and a commitment to building a more just and supportive society.
