{"id":51513,"date":"2019-02-22T10:47:50","date_gmt":"2019-02-22T13:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=51513"},"modified":"2019-02-25T11:30:56","modified_gmt":"2019-02-25T14:30:56","slug":"how-a-fies-scholarship-is-helping-joao-victor-teodoro-study-international-relations-and-make-the-world-a-better-place-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=51513","title":{"rendered":"How a Scholarship is Helping Me Study International Relations and Make the World Better [PROFILE]"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Por<\/strong>tugu\u00eas<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Jo\u00e3o Victor Teodoro, a resident of Pav\u00e3o-Pav\u00e3ozinho, has actively worked in his community to make the world a better place. Awarded a scholarship from the federal Student Financial Aid Fund (FIES), he studied International Relations at Est\u00e1cio University, broadening his horizons.<\/span>\u00a0Learn about Jo\u00e3o Victor\u2019s story in this profile, and c<\/span>heck out the profiles of other affirmative action beneficiaries in Rio de Janeiro published on RioOnWatch\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Jo\u00e3o Victor Teodoro, 26 years old, was born in Pav\u00e3o-Pav\u00e3ozinho<\/a>, in Rio de Janeiro\u2019s South Zone<\/a>. When he was two years old, his family moved to the middle-class neighborhood of Botafogo<\/a>. Jo\u00e3o decided to return to Pav\u00e3o-Pav\u00e3ozinho when he was twenty years old after conflicts within his family drove him away from home. By that time, Jo\u00e3o\u2019s father, a community leader, had passed away but was still loved by residents of Pav\u00e3o-Pav\u00e3ozinho and neighboring Cantagalo<\/a> for his efforts to unify the favelas during his years as the head of the Residents’ Association.<\/span><\/p>\n

Moving back to Pav\u00e3o-Pav\u00e3ozinho in 2012, Jo\u00e3o noticed many issues in the community: \u201cWhen I came to live here, I said, \u2018Wow, these people have been suffering for so long. Someone has to do something.\u2019\u201d So he took to Facebook, where he began to demand the fulfillment of residents’ rights, infrastructure improvements, and basic sanitation and to promote community meetings and cultural events in the favelas. According to Jo\u00e3o, his goal was also to bring people together from all across the city: \u201c<\/span>I’m very much from both the favela and the ‘asphalt\u2019<\/a> [formal city]\u00a0<\/span>because of my upbringing. So I always try to <\/span>link the two together\u00a0<\/span>and break down the clear-cut, invisible barriers that still exist between the two environments.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

But one\u00a0<\/span>social project wasn\u2019t enough for Jo\u00e3o. The following year, he decided to create a Facebook page to assist workers who lack fixed workplaces, to facilitate conversations about improper waste disposal, and to generate greater collective awareness. At the same time, he helped coordinate a project through the Favela Museum of Cantagalo and Pav\u00e3o-Pav\u00e3ozinho<\/a> (MUF). Later, in 2016, Jo\u00e3o began to work for the State Secretariat of Youth, Sport, and Recreation<\/a>, specifically with the Caminho Melhor Jovem<\/a> (“Better Youth Path\u201d) program, where he aided socially vulnerable youth. \u201cWe helped many of them leave trafficking and start their own businesses,\u201d noted Jo\u00e3o. \u201cSo it was really horrible when the government ended the program. Some of those kids went right back to trafficking and others went missing.\u201d They were not the only young people hurt by the closing of the program. Jo\u00e3o, too, now unemployed, delved into financial crisis and depression: \u201cPeople who we\u2019d been able to pull out of drug trafficking, I saw them fall right back into it. It felt as though our hard work had gone down the drain.\u201d Following the first semester of 2016, Jo\u00e3o spent two years without stable employment. It was during that time that he was invited to be a collaborator at community media outlet <\/span>Voz das Comunidades<\/a>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nWhile working informally and applying for other jobs, in July 2017, Jo\u00e3o started an International Relations program as a step towards achieving his dreams: \u201cI want to understand how conflicts happen in other parts of the world. I think that my mission in life is to help people.\u201d His matriculation at Est\u00e1cio<\/a>, a private college, was made possible by the Student Financial Aid Fund<\/a> (FIES), a federal scholarship program administered by Brazil’s Ministry of Education. The aid covers 80% of his monthly expenses, which he will need to pay back after graduation. Jo\u00e3o is grateful for the government support, which he views as essential: \u201cThe least they can do is offer financial aid because that\u2019s how we all grow\u2014both the people and the government.”<\/span><\/p>\n

In college, Jo\u00e3o found exactly what he was looking for. \u201cMy favorite classes are African Regional Integration and Conflict Resolution,\u201d he noted. He applied and was selected by the\u00a0United Nations<\/a> to join the Brazilian delegation in Bonn, Germany for the Global Festival of Action, a forum for young people to debate issues related to sustainability and global development. Unfortunately, due to the cost of airfare, he was unable to attend.<\/span><\/p>\n

Financial concerns affect Jo\u00e3o\u2019s daily life as well. Despite the aid he receives from the government, he has struggled to pay his 20% of the monthly education fees in addition to his other living expenses. He reflected, \u201cIf it weren\u2019t for my family, I don\u2019t know what I would have done. I might have gone hungry.\u201d He recounts that there are other difficulties with gaining access to higher education, beyond financial concerns: \u201cI thought about dropping out of school because of the frequent shootings in Pav\u00e3o-Pav\u00e3ozinho<\/a>.\u201d Still, he stuck it out.<\/span><\/p>\n

In October 2018, Jo\u00e3o finally found a new job in Cantagalo at Favela Hub<\/a>, a project dedicated to developing social activities for young people both in the favela and on the “asphalt.” \u201cI had to knock on a lot of doors to get this job. I made friends with doormen, cleaning people, and receptionists. I came here every day until an interview opportunity opened up and I got the job,\u201d he said. He\u2019s now a \u201cnetworking guy,\u201d visiting a variety of sites to discuss the project and encourage favela residents to visit. Jo\u00e3o recounts that he was moved upon learning that his boss is black: \u201cI told him, \u201cYou\u2019re my first black boss. If you can do it, so can I.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, Jo\u00e3o has his eyes set on working with\u00a0Doctors Without Borders<\/a> following graduation. For those who know Jo\u00e3o, this does not seem impossible. As he says, \u201c\u2018No\u2019 doesn’t exist in my vocabulary.\u201d
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas Jo\u00e3o Victor Teodoro, a resident of Pav\u00e3o-Pav\u00e3ozinho, has actively worked in his community to make the world a better place. Awarded a scholarship from the federal Student Financial Aid Fund (FIES), […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":51514,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1288,1271,1284,1329],"tags":[399,400,67,112,397,2616,698,577,1507,1349,2598,155,1019,2634,2896,156,41,398,1843],"writer":[2852],"translator":[2900],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-51513","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-highlight","8":"category-favelaqualities","9":"category-interviews-profiles","10":"category-by-international-observers","11":"tag-access-to-higher-education","12":"tag-affirmative-action","13":"tag-botafogo","14":"tag-cantagalo","15":"tag-education","16":"tag-favela-vs-asphalt","17":"tag-federal-government","18":"tag-inclusion","19":"tag-lgbt","20":"tag-museu-de-favela","21":"tag-networks","22":"tag-pavao-pavaozinho","23":"tag-right-to-education","24":"tag-series","25":"tag-series-stories-of-affirmative-action","26":"tag-south-zone","27":"tag-un","28":"tag-university","29":"tag-voz-das-comunidades","30":"writer-mareen-butter","31":"translator-dylan-blau-edelstein"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/51514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51513"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=51513"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=51513"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=51513"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=51513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}