Brazil is the fifth-largest country in the world – both geographically and in terms of population. It is truly massive, sharing borders with every other country in South America except for Ecuador and Chile.  The Amazon rain forest – recognized for having the greatest biological diversity on the planet – sprawls over the country’s northern half, with rugged mountains to the south.  Despite its wealth of natural resources and beauty, Brazil suffers from staggering poverty, rising inflation, unemployment, and lack of social development. These issues are especially pronounced in Fazenda Rio Grande, a town on the outskirts of Curitiba in southern Brazil. Here, many families struggle to afford even the most basic of needs, let alone education-related expenses for their children.

What began in 1994 as a soccer school to motivate and assist the children of these low-income families has now become CADI (Centro de Assistência e Desenvolvimento Integral) – a national nonprofit that maintains a center of holistic development in Fazenda Rio Grande.  The CADI center’s mission is to motivate and equip these deserving children to rise above the difficult socioeconomic circumstances from which they come, thus breaking the cycle of poverty.