The kid of boxing class

by Alberto Benitez (Spain)

Making a local connection Brazil

I stayed in Rio de Janeiro for two weeks. It wasn’t the first time I’d visit South America. Previously, I’ve visited Santiago de Chile, but I stayed there just five days. Nothing compared with the carioca city. It was spectacular. Not just the well-known Cristo Corcovado and Copacabana beach. The favelas has a thousand of stories about crimes and death, but also about friendship and solidarity. One of those stories I’ve heard from it related to a ten-year old child. It was told by the host of the hostel. He was also a boxing trainer. In fact, the boxing class was one block down of their hostel. The first week, he invited me to see how he train those kids. My first impression shocked me. In the good sense, of course. Because they were committed with boxing. It seemed they like that sport more than anything else. The host (his name is Fabio, I almost forget it) told me that there weren’t too much opportunities for those boys. Most of them would never go to college or get a qualified job. Despite of that, those kids were full of joy. They were enjoying the boxing class. I couldn’t stay more time for seeing them, but I was sure they were going not for learning to punch, but learning how to defense. I left Fabio and I returned to my room. The next day, I saw one of those children playing football with other. They were playing in a small football camp, in the favela. It could sound like a brazilian topic, but once you’ve seen it, you understand the love that the brazilian have for sport. When I saw them playing, the children, who I’ve never ask for their name, he invited me to play a bit of time. I’m not a football fanatic, but as the most of the children, I played it when a I was a kid. I think I’ve played less than a hour. But it’s a good memory that I keep in my mind. Obviously, I lived another great moments, like taking a bath in Ipanema beach with other guests (that I would call them friends), getting pictures in Cristo Corcovado, etc. But this always remember this moment in first place. Because it’s different, maybe because I contact with local people despite I didn’t understand Portuguese… Maybe all those reasons are valid Everyone has to need a connection with the people in other parts of the world. This was mine of Rio.