Before heading back to Europe, Brazil was a very unique stop for A World of Football ! Football is everywhere. From the first day till the last, we could feel this passion for the beautiful game. Football has become a part of the country’s cultural heritage. All over the world people know legendary players such as Pele or Ronaldo, many have seen pictures of football fields on Copacabana beach…
But there is another side of Brazil in the shadow of this common knowledge. Indeed, while the economical growth of the country is booming, the poverty rate among some part of the population remains critical. In the favelas, neighborhoods located on the side of big cities, this reality is especially marked. Those communities do not perceive the benefits from the country’s boom. On the contrary, they mostly suffer this lack of redistribution while the cost of life rose significantly the last years. In this context, the criminality remains a valuable escape for many youngsters in the favelas. This is why, many of them get invested into the drug traffic at a very young age.
This traffic is controlled by various gangs who rule over the different neighborhoods. They are organized as firms and employ thousands of people at different levels. In those organization, kids from 12 years old might find jobs and remuneration. They are called “drug soldiers”. But from the moment they get involved, their whole life changes and is now conditioned by the traffic. Their liberty is limited as they are purchased by the police, enemies of other gangs and under the full control of their drug lord. Besides, their life is under very high and permanent threat… Indeed, about 80% of youngsters involved in the traffic die before they reach 21 years old. This is a choking detail. Unfortunately, they are very few incentives to convince those boys to leave this lifestyle and to help them to reintegrate society.
The IBISS foundation and the initiative Favela Street decided to tackle this reality. IBISS foundation has long been helping those boys to leave the traffic through negociations with the drug lords and the creation of reinsertion programs. Favela Street is on of those programs using football as a social tool. Indeed, it teaches ex-drug soldiers how to become football educators and how to organize street football tournaments inside the favelas. Those are essential skills in order to make them more confident about their own abilities to do good things. It is also a very useful way for them to reintegrate the community in a peaceful manner as football is a passion shared by everyone over there. On the other hand, with this program, Favela Street also tackles another crucial aspect to cut down the traffic: it occupies the kids during their free time. Therefore, while many spend their days in the streets, the kids from Favela Street’s program are busy playing football and are getting informed with the dangers and temptations of the street. Because nowadays, those ex drug soldiers that became football educators are seen as model for the kids, in a positive way.
Today, Favela Street remains a pilot project located in one favela of Rio de Janeiro. Its founder, Philip Veldhuis, hopes that in the future they will be able to expand the impact in other favelas from other gangs. There is indeed still a lot to be done to assure serenity and good future to the youth of the favelas. But just as Philip, we really think that in this context football as an essential role to play, especially in Brazil. People eat, people breath and people talk all about football, so to reach certain social goals there might be no better method than using the beautiful game…
Get more information about the goals and challenges of Favela Street by watching our documentary in the roadbook section !
More information about the initiative: www.ibiss.info www.youngharmony.nl/favelastreet
