Palhoça, Brazil—UPF-Brazil held its third meeting for Ambassadors for Peace on April 20, 2017, at the Municipal Faculty of Palhoça (Faculdade Municipal de Palhoca), a university located in Palhoça, a city in Santa Catarina state in southern Brazil. The event, which was organized by Ambassadors for Peace, was attended by 570 people.
Among the government and civil society leaders who participated in the one-day program were:
- Dr. Carlos Civinski, a judge of the Santa Catarina state court;
- Mr. Caslido Maldamer, former senator of Santa Catarina state;
- congressman Mario Marcondes;
- state legislator Dirce Heiderscheidt;
- Mr. Carlos Alberto Araujo Gomes, colonel of the Military Police of Santa Catarina;
- Mr. Paulo Sergio de Souza, lieutenant colonel of the Military Police of Palhoça;
- priest José Manuel dos Santos, president of the NGO Orionópolis Catarinense;
- Mr. Adriano Matos, secretary of tourism, who was representing the mayor of Palhoça;
- Mr. João Carlos Amandio Primer, Palhoça city legislator, who is an Ambassador for Peace;
- Mr. Mario Mota Filho, a journalist of RBS TV, a Brazilian television network affiliated with Rede Globo; and
- Mrs. Luciane Negreiros, a representative of the rector of the Municipal Faculty of Palhoça, who is an Ambassador for Peace.
Sixty-five new Ambassadors for Peace were appointed at the event, which was aired on the TV station Bandeirantes de Santa Catarina.
On April 21, 2017, the 9th Peace March took place in the Guarda do Cubatão ward of Palhoça. Four hundred people, including students and teachers of the Antonieta Silveira de Souza Basic School; the secretary of education of Palhoça, Mrs. Shirley Nobre Scharf; and three newly-appointed Ambassadors for Peace, participated in the event.
At the end of the march, students of the school who won first place in a writing contest the school had organized, on the theme, "Peace, Harmony and Human Development," were given awards.
Two days later, on April 23, 2017, UPF-Brazil held its first Peace Cup soccer (football) tournament at the Atlantic Club in the Palhoça suburb of Barra do Aririu.
Four soccer teams participated in the tournament: two teams were formed by Haitian immigrants; one team came from São Tomé district, which includes the Barra do Aririu neighborhood; and a team from the Brazil chapter of the Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (CARP).
The Haitian teams won first and second place with the team from São Tomé winning third place.
Also in April, Destaques SC TV program interviewed UPF-Brazil President Dr. Neudr Simao Ferabolli about UPF’s Ambassadors for Peace program. To watch the interview, visit: www.facebook.com/programadestaques/videos/1535397299812063.