Local Expert
Lucy Bryson
I was born in rainy Manchester, UK, but made my escape to sunny Rio de Janeiro in 2006. Since then it's been hard to keep me away from the city, although I've also travelled elsewhere in Brazil and…
I was born in rainy Manchester, UK, but made my escape to sunny Rio de Janeiro in 2006. Since then it's been hard to keep me away from the city, although I've also travelled elsewhere in Brazil and South America. I'm a trained journalist and editor and have managed to fund my trips through combining my twin passions of travelling and writing - recent writing credits include updating chapters for Fodor's Brazil, Footprint Brazil and Footprint South American Handbook. I live high on a hillside in Santa Teresa - Rio's 'arty' district, and my one complaint is that I never seem to get time to visit the beach! Despite my lack of tanning time, I love Rio, and and have no intentions of returning to my wet and windy home city any time soon!
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Luta Pela Paz - Fight for Peace
Mention the words ‘fighting’ and ‘favelas’ in the same sentence, and images spring to mind of the endless violent shootouts that take place in Rio’s many slums. But for those involved in Luta Pela Paz (Fight for Peace), combat has been turned into a tool for addressing the issue of drugs, gangs, and violent crime among young people.
Founded by English amateur boxer Luke Dowdney in 2000, Luta Pela Paz began life as a small community project, working with 25 young people in the sprawling Complexo da Maré favela. Here, as in so many of the city’s slums, children and adolescents are recruited to work as armed footsolderis, lookouts and dealers for the various drug factions.
Since its establishment in 2000, Fight for Peace has developed a prevention and rehabilitation model to confront the problem of child and youth participation in crime, gangs and gun violence within disadvantaged communities. The proejct combines extensive training in boxing and martial arts with family support, education, job skills training and counselling for young people and their families. Today, the project offers sports and education opportunities to more than 500 people in Rio – and the project has been replicated in London, with the Fight for Peace academy in North Woolwich.
While the project cannot afford to offer paid placements, it does sometimes take on foreign volunteers, usually for one or two months – you can expect to pay a placement fee, plus accomodation, but will have a Rio experience that goes far beyond lounging on the beaches. For information on volunteering with Luta Pela Paz, visit www.fightforpeace.net, www.ikoporan.org, or www.vivario.org.br all have information in English, and the Iko Poran and Viva Rio sites can also provide information about other volunteer projects in the city.