Dunga to Canto, stars step up to help Brazil fight Covid
SAO PAULO: As coronavirus infections rise steadily in Brazil and threaten to cause chaos in its densely populated favelas, some of the country’s leading athletes are stepping up to help the most vulnerable.
Olympic judo medallist Flavio Canto is among those giving both his time and money to battle the Covid-19 outbreak in Brazil, which has a confirmed 13,717 infections and 667 deaths as of Tuesday. “When all this is over, those that have a lot are going to have a lot less but they’ll still have more than most, and they have an obligation to help those who have nothing,” Canto said, who won bronze (men’s -81kg) in Athens 2004.
Canto is famous for his work with Instituto Reacao, a charity that uses martial arts to help transform young lives. He is raising funds for a project that will give a monthly stipend to thousands in Rio and Cuiaba who are under quarantine or suffering financially due to unemployment or self-isolation.
The monthly stipend of around 100 reais ($19.15) comes in the form of a pre-paid cash card that can be used in supermarkets.
Canto added that athletes were the ideal group to spearhead relief efforts because they are trusted by the people.
One such athlete is Dunga, who captained Brazil’s football team to their 1994 World Cup win. Dunga is working with business contacts and former players— including ex-Brazil internationals Jorginho and Edmilson and Paulo Cesar Tinga—to help disadvantaged communities in his home state of Rio Grande do Sul.
Like Canto, Dunga has run a charitable foundation for many years, helping orphanages, old folks’ homes and social projects.
In the last few days he has persuaded supermarket owners, food producers and transport companies to donate and distribute more than 10 tons of food to local charities. “We saw that there are a lot of people in the favelas who aren’t working and they don’t have food so I called the friends I still play football with and said let’s do something,” Dunga said.