19/07/2019
Last week, we completed a donation at the Instituto Reação, a nonprofit dedicated to the development of values and socioeconomic integration of children through sports. Flávio Canto, Olympic Gold Medalist in judo, founded and runs the organization with a mission to “promote human development through sport and education to transform the concept of social responsibility to action in the largest number of people possible, integrating different classes through sport.”
Their eight locations throughout Rio de Janeiro provide programming to 1,600 youth. Students are given an hour of supplementary education and one of judo training every day. Over time, they reach milestones in the form of value badges learned in the classroom and on the mat where judo is practiced.
Project Aquarelle had the privilege of attending a values graduation ceremony on the day of our donation at Instituto Reação Rocinha.
Now, the Rocinha location of Instituto Reação significant because it sits next to the largest favela in Brazil. It is also one of the largest in Latin America. While these neighborhoods often make headlines for drug trafficking and other crimes, they are filled with hardworking people who cannot afford housing in Rio de Janeiro’s expensive city center. Like any other neighborhood in Rio, there are botecos that serve warm cheese bread and the iconic Guaraná soda made from the Amazonian fruit of its name. The same joyful cheers can be heard when a seleção brasileira scores a goal and tears when we are eliminated from a tournament. Notwithstanding the immense gaps between the rich and poor, the people who inhabit the Rocinha have the same desire for a good time that is characteristic of Cariocas and Brazilians alike.
On the day of the donation, the students were ecstatic to have classes suspended for a greater cause: The ceremony of the courage badge. After six months of working to understand the meaning of courage, both academically and physically, the students were ready for their challenge to earn the badge. This involved completing an obstacle course in teams paired off by age (where a team of three involved a student from the four to eight year old group, a student between nine and 12 and a student above 12) and were required to accomplish the task together. Watching as the older warriors helped the youngest over the mats, through tires and up the rope was not only admirable, but a courageous display of their abilities to parents and community members.
At Instituto Reação, students are taught their own self worth, something seldom found elsewhere. They are reminded to be kind to one another as engaged citizens. From them, we can all learn something about courage.
