Long Overdue!

I've eventually got around to doing another blog piece as it has been quite a hectic end of the year. We would like to wish you a Merry Xmas (Feliz Natal) and a Happy New Year (Bom fin de ano). I hope you've had as exciting year as we have throughout 2013 and all the best for 2014.

We visited London on Tuesday, which was a crazy day of travelling, to secure our volunteer VISA for next year. The appointment did not go as smoothly as we thought, but we did get it accepted. Now it is a waiting game so hopefully in January we get everything we need processed so we can still fly out on January 29th.

Our schools project and the work Lionsraw did featured in Gazeta do Povo yesterday and you can read it (in Portuguese) on this link http://www.gazetadopovo.com.br/vidaecidadania/conteudo.phtml?tl=1&id=1434422&tit=Um-gol-social-dos-amantes-do-futebol.

We did a Skype between Holystone Primary and CEI Maria Augusta Jouve at the start of December which was amazing. Children and staff from both schools had the opportunity to talk about their school system, hobbies, food, vacation activities and of course football. They also shared a joint passion for One Direction which involved singing together despite being thousands of miles away!

In the last few months we managed to reach £9000 raised which started from our own personal challenges. An amazing total and honestly it is much appreciated for all the support from friends, family and the schools.

We did more Brazil Days in St. John's Primary, St. Cuthbert's Primary and Tyneview Primary. A huge thank you to all the children, parents and staff involved in the day!

The art work by pupils from Excelsior Academy was completed and featured in numerous media across the North East like this http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/news/north-east/pupils-artwork-heads-to-world-cup-1-6290050.

Thanks to all the students from Brazil at International House who have helped us over the year. Every thing is much appreciated and wish you all the best in 2014!

You can share our Facebook page or Twitter to keep updated much quicker than this blog! www.facebook.com/ProjectCuritiba or www.twitter.com/ProjectCuritiba.

We might have released another video as well so have a look at www.youtube.com/ProjectCuritiba too!

Brazil Update

We hosted a final Brazil Day at Excelsior Academy before the schools broke up for Summer. A great day had by all and they will be doing activities in September to raise funds towards the project.

We spent some time in Birmingham with StreetGames to support the youth conference as Young Advisors. We met Rik Waddon, a Paralympian who competed in Beijing and London.

We have some new kit with an adapted Lionsraw logo. The popularity has surprised us because initially they were just for us to use on Brazil Days, in meetings and when we leave for Curitiba.

If you have ever wondered what the school thought of a Brazil Day well now you can see thanks to this interview with Holystone Primary School's headteacher!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruMQ0OcePP4

For those of you in Brazil:

Brazilian friends we have news for you. If you have TV Bandeirantes our interview will feature on these days at these times:

- "Jornal da Band" next Tuesday 6th August. At 7:30pm (Brazil time/horario Brasileiro).
- "Jornal da Noite" on Thursday 8th August. At 12:30am.
- "Band Esporte Clube" on Sunday 11th August. At 2pm.
- "Jogo Aberto" on Wednesday 14th August. At 11:15am.

Thanks for all the support so far!

Road to Brazil 2013

I'm currently recovering after catching a little bit too much sun in Newcastle yesterday.

I will start with the StreetGames awards in Manchester. Huge congratulations to Tom Harley who picked up three awards including National Young Volunteer of the Year. A big well done to all nominated and the Sport North Tyneside team for winning team of the year.

Since our first Brazil Day things have got a little crazy so you will have to bear with me. Firstly we hosted a 5 a side tournament 'Road to Brazil 2013' which was brilliant. We managed to raise £585 for the project with 80 participants and 12 teams taking part. The weather was super and our eventual winners Ivory Toast got a lovely trophy they could show off at work.

The city hall of Curitiba have been in touch and we featured on their official World Cup website. The mayor Gustavo Fruet is following us on Twitter. Maluco! Big time! Hopefully this is the start of a great time in Brazil developing some amazing projects.

We have an interview planned with a newspaper in Curitiba so those in the city please keep an eye out. I think it is called the daily sport newspaper.

We released our main video which  you can watch on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONArrGPLwQI

This is our home city of Newcastle upon Tyne and what the project is about.

We have two more Brazil Days next week so it is going to be busy. Our fundraising has reached around £3000 so we are doing well.

Promo Video

We released a promo video yesterday which has footage of the Brazil Day at Holystone. The main video which explains Project Curitiba will be out next week.

We have also featured in the News Guardian today. You can read that here:

http://www.newsguardian.co.uk/community/carnival-comes-to-town-for-brazil-1-5724262