News
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
"Jornal NH" (Novo Hamburgo, RS,Brazil), November 5, 2005
Cristiano: a role model
The student Cristiano Pinheiro Fedrigo, 17, who lives in the village of Morro
da Pedra, in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, will fly this Monday to
the United States, to receive a US$15,000 award granted by the American
organization World of Children to people who fight to improve the lives of
children anywhere in the world. The award ceremony will take place at the
Unicef headquarters in New York, on Wednesday. Cristiano is the only youngster
to have received the prize: the other six winners, from Taiwan, the United
States, Kenya, Nepal and Malawi, are all physicians, teachers or founders of
child-support organizations.
He was selected because he finds creative solutions for day-to-day problems
besetting his community. Two years ago, he started a bike-sharing cooperative
to allow all the children nearby to go to school; the nearest school is three
miles away and there are no buses. Whoever did not own a bicycle (as was the
case with Cristiano) could borrow one from another resident. Whoever could
afford it donated a bicycle. And so children don't have to miss classes
anymore. Cristiano studies at the Monteiro Lobato Technical High School, in the
town of Taquara,some eight miles away.
He also started a soccer "school" and a swimming club with lessons, so that
kids would have sports options after their school day. [Translator's note: In
Brazil most grade schools teach only academic disciplines and the school day is
four or five hours long, either morning or afternoon.]
Another initiative that worked out was that he persuaded dentists from the area
to charge less from children, so that more of them could have access to dental
care. Thanks to Cristiano, children can also be treated by Everett Langhan, an
American physician who lives in the town of Novo Hamburgo, about 15 miles away.
It was Dr. Langhan who nominated Cristiano for the World of Children prize.
Help from other American citizens was important in allowing this young man's
initiatives to take off. There are several foreigners living nearby at Colina
do Sol, a naturist center that attracts visitors from the whole world. People
started helping Cristiano when they learned about his efforts: the soccer
school, for example, got a donation of uniforms for use by the children.
SOLIDARITY
Where do all of Cristiano's ideas come from? He doesn't know for sure. "I look
at the children and sense their sadness. Then I try to think up something that
will cheer them up, he said in a phone interview to the Estado news agency. One
of his concerns is that so many children in the area work in quarries. Their
health is compromised by the rock dust they inhale. It was this dust that
killed Cristiano's father, who worked all his life in a quarry, and who died
last year from respiratory problems. Cristiano lives with his mother Nedy and
his brother Roberto.
For Fritz Louderback, a consultant from San Diego who now lives at Colina do
Sol and will go with Cristiano to New York, what sets him apart is that he is
eager to hear what people have to say. "He is one of these people who want to
know and help others. He's amazing."
The boy already knows what he will do with his award: it will go toward
fulfilling his dream of studying medicine. He wants to become a physician and
continue to help whoever he can.
