Brazil’s social inclusion programs in the area of sports – Gaining (“Painting”) Freedom and the Second Half – will be transplanted to other countries by the United Nations (UN).
This information was given by special UN adviser Adolph Ogi, who was received January 31 by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. According to the adviser, Brazil is a benchmark for the promotion of sports on behalf of development and peace.
Ogi praised the Brazilian government’s initiative in sponsoring the Peace Match in Haiti last year, when the Brazilian and Haitian national soccer teams played an exhibition match in Port-au-Prince, the capital. And he said he believes that Brazil can play an important role in propagating the values of sports.
The UN adviser will visit the Papuda Prison Nucleus in Brasília, where inmates are employed in the production of balls and uniforms distributed free of charge to public schools.
Papuda is home to one of the units of the Painting Freedom program, which comprises a total of 67 units. In all, 900 thousand balls were manufactured in 2004, benefitting 18 million children.
Translation: David Silberstein
Agência Brasil