Judo offers Brazil’s youth an escape from the slums
Thirty-four young people, ages 16 to 21, sit in a large circle on the mat where they train each week. Timid at first, they begin to open up, little by little, about life before Força Jovem Judo.
Lucas Ferreira, who lives in Morro da Mangueira, a slum in Rio de Janeiro, speaks first.
“Before I began practicing judo, I was an eight-year-old roaming the streets and keeping bad company,” says Ferreira, who is now 20 and married.
Renan Alves, a 19-year-old living in Morro da Mangueira, an impoverished area of Rio de Janeiro, credits the Força Jovem Judo team with turning his life around. He now teaches at a day care sponsored by the Rotary Club of Rio de Janeiro-Mercado São Sebastião.
Vitor Vogel
With a half-smile, 19-year-old Renan Alves, who has been taking judo since he was 10, begins speaking rapidly: “I was a kid who had terrible thoughts like I’ll be a bad guy, a drug dealer.
“Finding Força Jovem Judo opened doors for me. It showed me I could be a good citizen and compete for my country,” says Alves, who teaches at a day care center in the favela where he and Ferreira live.
To read more visit: https://www.rotary.org/en/judo-helps-brazil-youth-escape-slums