Alexander “Leco” Carlos, Another Amazing Success Story

               “My parents held the vision that their children
                would have a better life than they did.”

I came from a very humble background. I was raised in Morro Mos Macacos, a favela in Rio. My family was very poor and no one in my family had more than a secondary education until my generation. My father has an eighth grade education. For most of my life he worked collecting and recycling waste, now he has a small grocery store. My mother always worked as domestic. Even though they come from humble backgrounds they always stressed the importance of education. Vision and values were always very important to my parents. My parents held the vision that their children would have a better life than they did. They wanted us to have a formal education and professional jobs. They not only taught us to value education, they also taught us to respect and treat others well and to always value family. 

I lived in the most violent community in Rio. The media was always reporting the violence in my community. There was only one social responsibility organization in the entire community of 35 to 40 thousand people, working to improve peoples’ lives – The Center for Education and Social Action for Children and Adolescents (CEACA). The first time I came into CEACA was when I was a young child. I was at the daycare Center there. CEACA has always been there for people in our community. They are very holistic. They work with people from daycare to programs for senior citizens. 

The first time I came in contact with CDI was 15 years ago. I was looking for work. I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life. I saw my friends getting into drugs and gangs and I wanted to avoid that, so I considered going into the army. I was 17 when I discovered CDI. This was a crucial moment because at that time the drug-dealing gangs in my favela would not let you join until you were 18 and I was quickly approaching 18. So I signed up for the Army but I was never called. I was running out of options; if I could not get a job or be called into the military, the only option would be joining a gang. I finally found a job as an office boy running errands, making copies. I ended up working at the CDI center there for 8 years. First I was a student, and then a monitor, then I became a teacher and later a coordinator. 

Now after 13 years, I am the technology coordinator for all 83 of the CDI centers in the state of Rio de Janeiro. When I started as a coordinator in the CDI center at CEACA, I had 2 rooms and a team of two people where we trained the youth in our community. In 5 years I grew the Center to 10 rooms and a team of 20 people. I had the opportunity to help build the center. With the innovative partnership with CDI/CEACA and the needs in the community – the center began to grow. We created 2 rooms that targeted young kids in school. Next, we created 2 rooms for youth entering the formal economy. The focus of that work was to prepare them for their first jobs. Then we created a room for senior citizens on the other end of the work cycle.  

The next challenge was the financial sustainability for the entire organization. We decided to create two microenterprises - two cyber cafés and a service bureau that provided: website design, graphic design, printing, scanning – anything to do with computers and technology, you could come to CEACA/CDI.  So I had the opportunity to help created the new model for all the CDI centers.  We evolved from classrooms teaching people how to use computers to community centers with services.

Over 18 thousand people have been trained at this CDI community center and 5 thousand community people have used our services. In a community where almost no one has a high school diploma, 5 of the 20 people that work at CEACA are studying in university and 3 went on to work for multinational companies. 

“The most important work of CDI is not the technology skills, it is awaking the critical understanding, the critical consciousness that you can transform your life.”

We are teaching people how to question and change their realities. This experience has taught me to follow my dreams. Not only am I really enjoying my work as a CDI coordinator of 83 Community centers, I am also in university getting my degree. I am studying technology at university and I just bought a car. – I am making my dreams come true.

Vision - My Vision for CDI is to take all we learned at CEACA and evolve the other CDI schools – expand the model. We are a third of the way through. My vision for myself is to finish university.

Values - Family comes first; Family is my anchor. Respect and love for the person right next to you is important to me. This allows me to be authentic with other people. Willpower - It is with willpower, that force, that we create our dreams. With that force we can face our challenges and no matter how big they are we are able to overcome them. I believe willpower is my special gift. It has enabled me to overcome many obstacles and make my dreams come true.

My message to cynics, the hopeless and young people

          “When any part of our community is sinking;

            the entire society sinks. The only thing that makes 

            people in poverty different, is the lack of opportunity. 

           People do, can and want to change their lives.”

                                                                    Leco

The next vignettes I will share will introduce you to a few people amazing people who helped Rodrigo realize his vision. CDI’s magnetic vision attracted highly competent, committed people. They came from different states in Brazil and different countries around the world. They traveled from Mexico, India, Uruguay and New York City. They all left successful careers and opportunities to make a lot of money. Instead, they chose to pursue living a purposeful life by helping to transform lives through digital inclusion. 

After the CDI story I plan to continue to share stories and ideas from people (including my own ideas); people committed to make the world a better place. If you have an idea or you know of a story please contact me at michelemariehunt@gmail.com 

May all your beautiful hopes and dreams come true!

Michele

Transformation Catalyst

www.dreammakers.org