What Are Our Partners Up To

November 21, 2003 | Carola Mittrany with the collaboration of Julia Porto | Photos by Kita Pedroza

Girls fire it up at a Rio boxing academy RIO DE JANEIRO ‐ The girls arrive in gym clothes and begin to get ready for the start of training. Excitement builds as they gather in groups to chat, although once training starts they fall quiet. They respectfully await the trainers signal that practice has begun. The moment they are waiting for is when they get to don their red boxing gloves and step into the ring. The scene repeats itself three times a week at the Fight For Peace project, which offers at-risk youth alternatives to joining the drug trade in Rio’s poor Complexo da Maré community. Started by anthropologist Luke Dowdney, the boxing academy has been running since 2000. In March of 2003, project co-ordinators heeded the call of neighbourhood girls eager for a KO and allowed them to take part.

According to Dowdney’s book "Children of the Drug Trade: a Case Study of Children in Organised Armed Violence in Rio de Janeiro," male youths in Rio de Janeiro kill and are killed 24 times more than females. That was the reason for the project’s initial focus on boys. However, when local girls expressed their interest and were backed by the boys, project co-ordinators realised that it made sense to invite girls into the ring. "A lot of girls that have nothing to do end up doing what they shouldn’t, such as joining the drug trade, becoming a mother too early or selling themselves. That is why they are giving us this chance, so that we can also be a part of the project," said academy member Ticiany. "They brought a new focus," said Dowdney. "Now we don’t just talk about violence. In the citizenship classes ‐ which complement the sports ‐ we talk about adolescent pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases."

Delicate subjects such as family violence are also discussed in the citizenship classes. The girls say that prostitution is a common problem in the community. "Luke wants to get the boys off the street, and he is doing the same thing with the girls, some of whom sell themselves for as little as R$1 (less than 50 cents)," said Manuela. Both girls and boys suffer from the lack of recreational and cultural programmes in the Complexo da Maré. "Fight For Peace is important to us. It gives us some incentive and keeps us off the streets since it takes up our time. I like it a lot because it includes citizenship classes and the field trips are a lot of fun," said Rafaela, an academy member for the past eight months.

A success story The motto is to create champions both in and out of the ring. To do so, project youth train, take part in the citizenship classes, and learn about conflict resolution, health and ecology. Visits to the city’s many tourist sites and discussions with artists, athletes, researchers are also a part of Fight For Peace. The main goal of is to prevent youth and child involvement in the drug trade. Children as young as 12 may even carry weapons. For Dowdney, girls are a part of the dynamic: "They like to go out with boys that are armed as they like the respect and the power that they have in the community. It is necessary to show them that a boy can have another kind of respect and power. Sports does that." The girls involved in the project don’t deny that going out with a drug trafficker earns a certain prestige in the community. "When a woman fights with another woman who is involved in the trade, even when she is right, she ends up losing. If they (the traffickers) find out, they shave her head. They shaved mine," said one of the group members. But they are unanimous when referring to those boys and young men that are armed and in the drug trade: "Being a bandits woman is not worth it. They call the girls that like to go out with them mercenaries. The women think that this makes them respected, but in general they are married and have kids, and they end up being mistreated by the men," said Ana Carolina. When the girls went into the ring, Dowdney perceived that they also needed a positive outlet for their aggression and rebelliousness. "Many of the girls fight for real." Like the boys, they say that the sport helps to release tension. "I don’t get in fights anymore since I use my energy up on the punching bag," said Manuela.

Friends and relationships As important as using up adrenaline is the feeling that comes with being part of a group and of sharing a collective identity. Fight For Peace has become a meeting place and a recreational alternative for local youth, many who have formed friendships and relationships thanks to the academy. Some couples that met there now have children, who are the projects "mascots." When asked about relationships and love interests, the girls exchange knowing looks, smile and whisper amongst themselves until one of them speaks up: "What you see the most of are boys and girls checking each other out. But there is a rule that couples have to keep it outside the academy, otherwise they wouldn’t leave each other alone," reveals Ticiany. Marcos, a project veteran, is totally in favour of girls taking part: "It is as if they lightened things up. Even on the field trips, we have more fun than if it was just a group of guys. It’s possible to talk with the girls," he said. But he has no illusions. "When it comes to boxing, they are the toughest. When there’s a championship, they fire things up."

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