Fight for Peace Sports and Education Centre

2007 has been a challenging but highly rewarding year for Fight for Peace (Luta Pela Paz) so far.

As mentioned in our previous update, their founder, Luke Dowdney, won a prestigious Laureus award (often seen as the ‘oscars’ of the sporting world) in the category of ‘Sport for Good’. This was fantastic recognition for the amount of work that has gone into the project as well as the tremendous difference it is making every day to children’s lives.

2007 has also seen the successful launch of Fight for Peace in London as part of Luta Pela Paz’s wider mission to bring its concept to disadvantaged youths around the globe. And, whilst Luta Pela Paz’s Rio centre still urgently needs more funding (see below), their activities in the middle of the notorious Mare complex continue to grow from strength to strength.

Importantly, the just over two thousand dollars raised so far have been used to buy additional sports equipment meaning that the centre can reach more children and run more activities. And with this added focus has come further success for the athletes.

In 2007, Luta Pela Paz athletes performed well in 2 major boxing competitions: Jeferson Mendes reached the final in the Rio de Janeiro State Championships, whilst Roberto Custodio actually brought home the gold in another; the prestigious national Golden Gloves tournament. Two great achievements!

Luta Pela Paz also successfully organised a Sports & Citizenship public event in the Mare complex, where their boxers competed against visitors from Sao Paulo. This event helped to bring their message and activities to the wider local community, whilst allowing the youths to proudly demonstrate their skills.

In Luta Livre (wrestling), the project’s athletes recently won ‘best team’ at a tournament held in Rio’s Alemao complex – a shining example for the other children in the community.

In the area of Capoeira, Luta Pela Paz is also experiencing significant growth in 2007. This year’s Capoeira Batizado attracted 82 pupils – that’s twice the number of last year.

As always, Luta Pela Paz aims to bring wider education to its participants as well as sports coaching. Citizenship classes continue to be attended by the children involved in the project… perhaps surprisingly often getting even higher levels of interest from the students than the actual sport itself! So too theatre trips and cultural visits to Rio’s historical districts have given increasing numbers of children a taste of life outside of the favela.

The video – have you seen it yet?

This year has also seen the production of Fight for Peace’s new video. If you haven’t seen it yet – take a look and see firsthand what your money is enabling: http://www.myspace.com/fightforpeacefilms. The young people’s enthusiasm for the project is infectious, whilst their accounts of living in one of Rio’s most notorious favelas are genuine and eye-opening.

There’s still some way to go – we need your help

Luta Pela Paz is increasingly looking to sustain itself financially with various projects in the pipeline to raise funds on an ongoing basis. However, right now, Luta Pela Paz still needs to urgently raise a further $20,000 to complete the roof of their Rio centre and therefore create even more space for activities. Additionally, the remaining $1800 originally requested here will continue to fund much-needed equipment and supplies.

All individual donations are welcomed – these help Luta Pela Paz buy the essentials needed to keep their projects running. So too Luta Pela Paz are currently seeking grants for the next 3 years for seed-project replication costs.