A Cuppla Steps Closer to His Dream

A Chance to Compete

Luciano, the young Jiu-Jitsu fighter from Japeri, Rio de Janeiro will get to fulfill a life’s dream: to come to the United States and compete.  JamminBJJ is thrilled to be a part of this endeavor, although it has been a bit of a bumpy ride.  Let me tell you how all of this started.

 

You met Luciano in a previous blog where I introduced him as an inspiration and symbol of resiliency. He is twenty-seven, a blue belt, a tenacious competitor (I rolled with him) and a double-arm amputee. Those are the characteristics you see. What you may not know is that Luciano is soft-spoken, kind, determined and generous. He is comfortable being a role model for the children at the Japeri gym whose lives may not be as physically challenging as his, but are no less challenged with the hardships of poverty.

My friend Jean, who has been reaching out to assist Luciano for quite some time, suggested that I try to find a way to help Luciano come to the United States. I mulled it over and eventually did what I always do when I need answers, I went web surfing. I felt confident that at the right time I would find a combination of key words that would take me where I needed to go. Sure enough, I found The Challenged Athlete Foundation (CAF).  

 

The mission of CAF is to provide opportunities and support to people with physical disabilities to pursue an active lifestyle through physical fitness and competitive athletics. The CAF believes that involvement in sports at any level increases self-esteem, encourages independence and enhances quality of life. (www.challengedathletes.org/) 

CAF makes grants available in three categories one of which is competition and travel.  I wrote to CAF to ask if I could write a grant on Luciano’s behalf.  For obvious reasons, he is not capable of writing it himself.  Add, limited internet and phone access and does not speak English and you can see why they agreed that this was a unique circumstance and allowed me to write the grant.

The writing process involved gathering information from Luciano about various aspects of his life; details of sport participation, financial situation, proof of disability (a picture was not enough, this required a doctor’s note), volunteer work, coach’s letter and his goals and dreams. I have to acknowledge the assistance of Jean here. Without his tireless efforts to find and communicate with Luciano – which included translating all the questions I needed answered, hounding Luciano to gather the necessary paperwork, scan the paperwork and send it to me - the grant would never have gotten completed. Jean also insisted that Luciano get a passport, just in case – good idea.

Last week I found out that Luciano received a grant of $1,500 to travel to the United States and compete at the BJJ World Championships.  (Celebrate here) The tournament starts May 28^th. Let the scrambling begin! The grant awards were to be announced in early April. I tried to not think about it, but as the middle of April arrived I was wondering why I hadn’t heard anything and thought that perhaps he would not receive a grant. As it turned out, the recipient letter and the check were mailed to Brazil. ** I must interject here that mailing anything to Brazil bears a 50% chance that it will (a) never arrive or (b) arrive months after it was sent.  That these papers made into a favela in Japeri can only mean that Carly is again guiding these efforts. (Thanks, babe.)

 

Thrilled that Luciano got the grant, I was now pressed to figure out how someone without a bank account was going to deposit a check and then buy an airline ticket without a bank card. After a few complex ideas were tossed back and forth with Brazil, I wrote CAF and asked if they would be able to cancel the check and then make it out to me. The people at CAF completely understood and agreed that the idea made sense. The drawback? Cancelling and reissuing a check involves the finance department, two signatures and two weeks to arrive. Yikes. Fortunately I had some funds from a JamminBJJ fundraiser (Thank you, FosterBJJ) to cover the costs until the check arrives.

Today I found out that Luciano got his visa so I am breathing easier. Next major step is deciding when to have him arrive and purchasing a ticket. Minor steps?  …. Stay tuned for the next blog