Monday 26 September 2016

Rio 2016 - My View

Rio de Janeiro is a beautiful place and one of the most visited cities in the Southern Hemisphere. It is known for its beaches, Carnival, the Maracanã, Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain among other things. It has just recently had the Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games making it the first South American host of these events. I recently returned to Brazil to spend three weeks in Cidade Maravilhosa to take in the Olympic Games, but continue some of the social action work I was involved with back in 2014. I had the opportunity to link up with Street Child United www.streetchildunited.org (SCU) during my trip and witness the work they have going on in the North of Rio, but also expand the education network project that started back in Curitiba.



In March 2015 the idea of this trip first came to fruition, following a year living in the south of Brazil, and how great it would be to provide young people from the UK with an experience of a lifetime. I realised the benefit of taking a step out of my comfort zone had and wanted to find a way to create a similar opportunity for others. The execution of this idea differed to how it was initially planned through a variety of factors prior to Rio 2016. This was mainly driven by the media with stories such as the Zika virus, threats of violence and terrorism creating a nervous environment.

I’ve been extremely fortunate enough to visit Rio four times over the last couple of years, but on this occasion I spent most of my time in the North Zone. During 2014 we would travel in to the city for a weekend and pitch up on one of the beaches in the South Zone. Our aim was to try and improve our futvolei ability, normally watching in awe of the Brazilian players and to return to Curitiba with as much tan as possible.

The tourist idea of Rio de Janeiro is the neighbourhoods of Ipanema, Copacabana and Leblon in the South Zone which is a reflection of the usual visit to the second most populous municipality in Brazil. It is extremely rare that Complexo do Penha, Lins de Vasconcelos or Engenhão de Dentro would make the Lonely Planet tour guide. Just before my latest trip I read an article from the Daily Mail that described favelas (otherwise known as shanty towns) as a grim slum where poverty, drug gangs and young men with assault rifles dominate life for the residents that live there. While this is not totally inaccurate, it does not paint a fair portrayal for the entire population in these communities in my opinion.



Rio 2016 was incredible to witness live, but also before arriving in Brazil just watching the events, seeing the landmarks and Brazil successfully hosting the event despite the issues added to the emotion. I saw the highs and the lows for Team GB including Mo Farah as he made history taking gold in the 10,000m, but also the heartbreak for Lutalo Muhammad as he lost out on a gold medal with only one second to go in the taekwondo. During the Olympics it felt as it you could see action happening at any given time, at one point we turned onto Copacabana and the female triathlon was entering into the final stages. It was surreal to see everything so close and personal, after having watched the opening events on TV back in the UK. It feels special to have been part of it.



My first encounter with SCU came at the Santuario da Penha as we met up with staff members prior to a Moto Taxi across the community to the foot of Morro do Caracol. The Moto Taxi is not my usual method of transport, however it does give an extreme adrenaline rush as you veer through the streets, over speed bumps and uphill. The church can be seen from the Linha Vermelho as you depart the International airport or from the bohemian neighbourhood of Santa Teresa. I’ve seen it many times on my visits to Rio, but it was just the ‘church in the mist’ before I had the opportunity to visit it. At the foot of the Morro or ‘downstairs’ as local residents referred to it you are met by children flying kites and the Moto Taxi stop where the drivers wait for jobs, kitted out with colourful vests reminiscent to a Football League away kit from the 1990’s. We were met by a group of young men sitting outside on an old sofa as we started our ascent into Chatuba. These young men were usually armed and communicating to other members of their group via walkie talkie. As you navigate the narrow inclines, past the stray animals and children playing among the unfinished building work you eventually arrive at the Safe Space football pitch developed by SCU.


There are training sessions at this facility six evenings a week, usually thirty to forty young people from the community attend, and they are led by Drika, Jessica and Biel. During my first session I was one of the last players to be selected for a team, normally perceived to be a poorer player, but maybe previous British visitors had left a lasting reputation of our footballing ability? The opening match was noticeable as the standard was extremely high, not just for the boys, but the girls were of equal ability if not better than their counterparts. I had entered the field of the Street Child World Cup 2014 female champions after all… My performance for a first session exceeded my own expectations as I dispelled the myth that Gringos couldn’t play football. I also received the nickname of ‘Bolt’ for my athletics display, but be assured this was only over 5m. The pitch is etched into the side of the Morro and can be seen from the Moto Taxi spot at the foot of the community. It is a welcoming environment and offers a stunning view of Complexo da Penha, especially as the sun sets and the sky plays host to the latest kite fights.


I’m grateful that I have picked up the ability to communicate in Portuguese as I feel this creates a rapport straight away, especially given the lack of English among the group. The Geordie accent is something that is hard to shake off, but with a Curitibano twang I was able to get my point across and discuss the intricacies of ‘last man back’. One of the young lads I met has been studying English for 6 months in school and was keen to use some of what he has learnt to make small conversations. For Jhone and the others I hope the great work that SCU do continues because these opportunities are the inspiration for young people to excel. As Kevin Garside put it in his piece following a visit to the project, although the Olympic Games have ended, Street Child United will be here tomorrow. The coaches that lead the sessions are the pinnacle of this community and I had the honour of visiting one of their homes in Duque de Caxias for a family meal. Her story is incredible and testimony to the opportunity SCU provide for a society left to fend for itself. Her mother was a delight as she provided a lunch fit for seven, although with only five turning up our guide Joe had to make up the numbers…sweating out feijoada juice during a second helping. The hospitality of Brazilian people is amazing and something that despite a lack of belongings, they make up for it with heart and love.


The community is unpacified, but within it there are schools, businesses and families living their typical daily life. As we walked around the community we picked up a child that would join us for the remainder of the walk and passed a number of retro arcade machines. This was not a ‘unique chance’ to see a favela with a local tour guide from the comfort of a safari jeep. This was a routine day in the community with the exception of some foreign guests who came looking for retro arcade games and some scrumptious home cooked food. We were given a tour of the neighbourhood by the family and it is almost surreal to have come from the idea of Rio de Janeiro to the reality of everyday life. We encountered young men selling drugs, armed and with one of them juggling a grenade. On the next street corner we passed through a crack den that housed people dependent on the drug and came to a stop as a monkey made an appearance much to the delight of school children trying to catch a glimpse. The previous week there was a forty minute shootout between the drug traffickers and police, but on this afternoon the atmosphere was without hostility.

During my stay I had the opportunity to visit three public schools in Lins de Vasconcelos, Penha (Vila Cruzeiro) and Engenhão de Dentro. We hosted question and answer sessions with students which gave them the opportunity to use their English, but also take a selfie and an autograph from a British visitor. British tea parties, a ‘Royal’ visit and football also made up part of the visit as well as an exchange of flags from the UK to Brazil. It was a thought provoking trip not just for the students, but we had a number of questions that went beyond the realms of pop culture. Students asked us how we felt living in Europe with a higher risk of terrorist behaviour, what we thought about the Ryan Lochte incident, whether Brexit would have a big impact on us and although we created the game of football…how we felt visiting the country of football.



The school run in Lins is markedly different to how it happens in the UK as we passed the drug traffickers to enter the school area. From the outside it looked like a youth detention centre as the school entrance was behind a row of steel bars with televisions locked behind metal cages. This was following a shot into the air to signal that the traffickers were open for business. The next day we learned that there was a shootout between police and the young men we had saw previously following our visit which was a reality check for us about the type of life the young people we had spent the day with lived in.


One of the driving forces in Rio de Janeiro for the expansion of the education project has been Luciana Matos who works as an English teacher for the local Prefeitura. I recently visited her partner school here in North Shields to hand over the school uniform they had sent back with me. She explained that when the children in EM Londres saw a child in the UK wearing their uniform they felt proud to be associated and involved with this project. At times the uniform can be a visual representation of a poor education, but they looked at this photo with joy at seeing a child 6,000 miles away sporting their daily attire. Following the visits the students felt very special to have been chosen to work within this project and have the opportunity to meet a foreign person. It was not just the students, but staff at one of the schools would like to learn English and plans are being made to create a group to help staff learn more spoken English so they can have a better understanding of the project and impact on their students.


I left Rio de Janeiro with a lump in my throat, it wasn’t a symptom of contracting the Zika virus, but with the sadness that I was about to leave another community that was hospitable, warm and welcoming. On my last visit to the Safe Space project we had young children following us down the spiraling staircases to say the last goodbye. I celebrated my 27th birthday with a guard of honour from the kids at the foot of the Morro. The entire trip is a toss up between my legs and heart as to which muscle got the biggest work out as these type of moments stay with you as life continues.

In November 2015, following a trip to Brazil with a group of teachers from the UK, I realised the impact of this type of social work. Many of the British teachers expressed their sadness at leaving Brazil because it had a positive impact on their life as they developed relationships with staff members in their partner school and the children that reminded them of their own, but also partly why they were in this profession. This feeling of ‘saudade’ develops a social value and with that value it leads to productive outcomes. One example of this is the introduction of Children’s Day in North Tyneside which the three UK schools will link up on after being amazed in Curitiba by the way in which they celebrated the event.



I don’t know what the next step will be, but if you had told me in 2013 that Brazil would feature prominently in my life I wouldn’t have believed it…but here I am.

“Like many young people I believe I have potential to make a positive impact on the world.” Cameron Russell