Soccer?? Não, é FUTEBOL!!

We are currently in Rio de Janeiro’s winter season, which translates into rain instead of snow, but Oh what delightful days we’ve been given throughout our first two weeks here.  The warm Brazilian sun has shined kindly on our pasty (some of us anyway) skin. However, we were about due for a good rain and it happened to come this past Sunday, July 8^th … the day of our planned intercity rivalry soccer match: Fluminense X Flamengo … but it was so worth the soggy-bottom jeans and soaked shoes!! CORRECTION: It is not soccer; it’s futebol – “foot – chee – bowl.” Learn it, or else you’ll get mean mugged.

 We have witnessed so much inequality since being here in Rio, from colorful favela slums slung atop five-star hi-rise hotels/condos that line Ipanema beach, to the saddening disparity between educational opportunities amongst young Brazilians (especially post-secondary).  With all the chaotic and disheartening paradoxes, we find an equalizer in the simple game of futebol.  It’s everywhere; on TV in every Suco Bar (refer to the pic in Ozzie’s July 1^st entry), played and mastered within the community centers inside the favela communities, as well as on the tricked-out fine sandy beaches of Ipanema and Copacabana where futebol trainers are many and non-futebol enthusiasts are few.  This simple game of kicking anything that that carries a spherical shape has a way of ushering down the privileged from their pedestals and uplifting the impoverished out of their shantytowns.  It’s quite remarkable. 

Karina, Kelvin, Adrienne, and myself got a chance to become part of this traditional Brazilian reality on the Monday after the much-anticipated Fluminense /Flamengo match … at the pre-selected NGO where we will be carrying out our community involvement/service learning project.  Criança Esperança is a before and after school community learning center in a favela community called Morro do Cantagalo, which lies just a few blocks away from our hotel.  Now, one might be questioning: Stacked slums next to wealthy Ipanema district hotels? Well, pretty much.  However, you must take a 26-floor elevator ride to actually arrive at this favela community … what our group often refers to as Rio’s “nine and three quarters” (referencing Harry Potter and the labyrinth within the train station that transcends realities).  Just as Harry disappears from the muggle world and arrives in the land of witchcraft and wizardry, in a similar fashion we took off from expensive sidewalk shops and ascended to concentrated poverty in a mere one minute elevator ride.  Quite unbelievable. 

During this introductory day of service learning, we four opted to assist physical education Teacher, Francisco, in the gym with ~fifteen youngsters from about 9-12 years of age.  With the exception of native-speaker Kelvin, us girls’ Portuguese is more like “Portuñolish” (Portuguese + Spanish + English).  However, futebol is a language in and of itself and as a result, we non-native speakers found it refreshing to just play ball … futebol served as an equalizer just as it has/does amongst all racial and socioeconomic classes of Brazil; it levels the playing field so that most all are included.

I certainly will never forget the few short hours we spent with these young, die-hard, futebolistas from the Morro do Cantagalo community favela.  What I took for granted as a non-vital privilege in my childhood is actually a life necessity for these community kids.  It’s not only an escape from a perhaps rough home life, it’s an outlet for them to pretend and hone their skills so as to become the next Neymar/Messi/Ronaldo, as well as something through which these young people can develop strong, lifelong sportsmanship skills. It’s funny the way a ball can pluck us from the highest of highs and lowest of lows and place us on the same, leveled field; equals as it’s meant to be.  It truly is a beautiful game.