Project report: Esportes para Vida (Sports for Life) – Support for Instituto Sementinha

published on 19 September 2024

Shortly before Christmas 2023, at our office in São Paulo, we handed over a donation cheque to the well-known footballer Claudemir Barreto Cacau, known to everyone as "Cacau". He originally comes from Mogi das Cruzes, a city with around 450,000 inhabitants around 70 kilometres east of São Paulo. Mogi das Cruzes is plagued by a number of serious social problems, such as high levels of poverty, teenage pregnancies, and family violence; the victims of these problems are usually children, who are deprived of the opportunity to build a good life. This is why Cacau has personally supported special social initiatives for many years.

The most important local partner for Cacau in Mogi das Cruzes and one of the main project sponsors is "Instituto Sementinha", which organises numerous initiatives such as nurseries and kindergartens, schools, youth homes, and many more. We now had the opportunity to personally visit the facility in Mogi das Cruzes in Brazil. We were impressed with the great commitment of the Instituto Sementinha team and how much the children and young people benefit from this. We could feel the energy and joy of these young people directly and up close.

During our visit to Instituto Sementinha on Thursday 8 August 2024, we, Phil Klose and Martin Wambach, were very impressed with the great work being done there. The former national player Claudemir Barreto Cacau has created a facility there that offers children and young people valuable opportunities through sporting and educational projects.

This initiative is a great testament to what can be achieved with sports. The children and young people live in the extremely deprived neighbourhoods of Mogi das Cruzes, where there are very few social projects. The targeted educational and sporting activities organised by Instituto Sementinha are therefore a great opportunity that offers these young people better prospects for the future.

The Institute's projects provide educational opportunities, ensure the safety of children and young people, promote well-being, and help develop healthy social behaviour and raise environmental awareness.

We could get to know the children personally and exchange ideas with them. The energy and joy of these young people was truly contagious. We also witnessed the dedication of the Institute’s team working to improve the social and economic conditions of the children.

What a heartening project!