It was late at night when the young boy heard what seemed to be an urgent cry for help. His grandparents were still at church and his aunt was working late to pay the bills. Watching TV in the subsidized house in the shantytown community where he had been raised since his father died of a cocaine overdose, the nine-year-old ran down the stairs with the hope he could be of help. He wondered if it was his addicted mother, who, although absent, he still loved and missed profoundly. As he opened the door, he witnessed something no child his age should ever see: a triple homicide, the result of an endless gang brawl in his area. Quick-witted, the boy managed to close the door and run as fast as he could to the farthest room in the house. It was there hiding in the dark and swallowed by a blockhole of emotions that he realized how frustrated he had become about having to live in a constant state of fear. Growing up in a favela in Rio, he had heard about death on multiple occasions; this was the first time it knocked directly on his door. Later, sitting on the sidewalk where the tragedy unfolded, he found himself going through an epiphanic moment. Upon reflecting on his life and future, he realized that the antidote for the fear he long felt was deeply rooted in hope, faith, and action. Education seemed to be the way out, but would he be all right if he ran away from the battle? Would that change anything? I was that boy and that was the night that I was reborn. The desire to serve others and to bring about change to the violence and injustices I experienced as a young child has pushed me forward since that time. I joined an international NGO and served as a youth and community worker developing projects that addressed drug prevention, violence reduction, and youth empowerment in my community. I had the immense privilege to learn from elders, work with children, and listen to a multitude of stories that helped me better understand the reality of Brazil. Still young and innocent, I became a respected leader in my community. I helped save children from the hands of drug lords by giving them a future. ​​But it was in the middle of another catastrophe that I realized my true calling. It was 2011. I was 15 and living in the heart of the biggest natural disaster in the history of Brazil. The summer rains that year left 904 dead, 305 missing, dozens of communities destroyed, and nearly $2 billion worth of property damage. After months of working in the middle of the rubble helping to save lives, organizing shelters, delivering supplements to the needy, and holding discussions with community leaders, I felt great outrage when corruption scandals revealed that our political leaders had abandoned us. For the next three years, I helped establish an NGO that would work alongside national and international institutions contributing to a regional disaster reduction plan that impacted thousands of lives in our region. Before I realized it, I was in D.C. discussing youth leadership and international cooperation inside the State Department, working as a youth fellow for a non-profit in the United Kingdom, pursuing my BA with a full-ride scholarship at one of the best colleges in the U.S., serving in educational and humanitarian projects in Guatemala and Senegal. I am no longer a boy hiding in the dark, but now a man working, taking action, and moving into the light.

I had a clear purpose when I moved from Brazil to pursue a bachelor’s degree in international studies and political science at Centre College in the United States four years ago. I wanted to help people and their communities create a path towards what I always firmly believed to be possible: changing the complicated consequences of global development through either diplomatic, social, or business work – and by doing so, affect genuine change. I grew up experiencing extreme poverty firsthand – I was born into a poor family in a favela in Rio de Janeiro. I have also seen multifaceted levels of exploitation – young children dying at the hands of the drug trade while trying to earn their next meal. But I also witnessed an enormous amount of progress, as Brazil moved towards a more inclusive society and lifted millions of people off the poverty line. Along with other emerging economies, such as China, Russia, and India, we helped to set up a new perspective for global political and economic development. Still, as I performed humanitarian work in other parts of the world, I continued to encounter people living in unacceptable human conditions: from infrastructure issues – such as the lack of access to running water, electricity, and basic sanitary facilities – to extreme violation of human rights – modern slavery, arbitrary killings, and human trafficking. These problems, which became empirically evident to me, and my studies on social inequality, economic dependency, and climate crisis, alarmed me. The fragility and inefficiency of our current international cooperative system are frightening. Since then, I have been curious about the approaches countries have taken in order to address such a complex situation. As a Graduate Scholar, I will focus my scholarly, professional, and empirical investigation on the successful approaches that China has taken in re-strategizing its efforts in international development cooperation. More precisely, I want to understand the mission of the newly created China International Development Cooperation Agency and its approaches towards Latin American, African, Caribbean, and South Pacific countries, and how this aid and diplomatic policy has contributed to discussions and efforts about development across the world. Moreover, I want to work on issues in which China and Brazil could better cooperate together – especially as it relates to social and environmental sustainability, a challenge that both countries have faced during their diplomatic and economic relationship, and one that has substantial global implications. Conclusively, I strongly believe that to successfully tackle 21st-century challenges – such as pandemics, climate change, territorial conflicts, financial instability, disruptive technologies, and government distrust – we need to reimagine our current approaches toward multilateralism. There is no better way to do that than gathering principled leadership and intelligence from around the world. That is why I am applying for this scholarship. If given the chance, I will work tirelessly on these issues while learning from each scholar, instructor, and mentor about their passions, experiences, and interests, thus contributing to the betterment of our global society.

I had a clear purpose when I moved from Brazil to pursue a bachelor’s degree in international studies and political science at Centre College in the United States four years ago. I wanted to help people and their communities create a path towards what I always firmly believed to be possible: changing the complicated consequences of global development through either diplomatic, social, or business work – and by doing so, affect genuine change. I grew up experiencing extreme poverty firsthand – I was born into a poor family in a favela in Rio de Janeiro. I have also seen multifaceted levels of exploitation – young children dying at the hands of the drug trade while trying to earn their next meal. But I also witnessed an enormous amount of progress, as Brazil moved towards a more inclusive society and lifted millions of people off the poverty line. Along with other emerging economies, such as China, Russia, and India, we helped to set up a new perspective for global political and economic development. Still, as I performed humanitarian work in other parts of the world, I continued to encounter people living in unacceptable human conditions: from infrastructure issues – such as the lack of access to running water, electricity, and basic sanitary facilities – to extreme violation of human rights – modern slavery, arbitrary killings, and human trafficking. These problems, which became empirically evident to me, and my studies on social inequality, economic dependency, and climate crisis, alarmed me. The fragility and inefficiency of our current international cooperative system are frightening. Since then, I have been curious about the approaches countries have taken in order to address such a complex situation. As a Masters of Global Thought Scholar at Columbia, I will focus my scholarly, professional, and empirical investigation on the successful approaches that China has taken in re-strategizing its efforts in international development cooperation. More precisely, I want to understand the mission of the newly created China International Development Cooperation Agency and its approaches towards Latin American, African, Caribbean, and South Pacific countries, and how this aid and diplomatic policy has contributed to discussions and efforts about development across the world. Moreover, I want to work on issues in which China and Brazil could better cooperate together – especially as it relates to social and environmental sustainability, a challenge that both countries have faced during their diplomatic and economic relationship, and one that has substantial global implications. Conclusively, I strongly believe that to successfully tackle 21st-century challenges – such as pandemics, climate change, territorial conflicts, financial instability, disruptive technologies, and government distrust – we need to reimagine our current approaches toward multilateralism. There is no better way to do that than gathering principled leadership and intelligence from around the world. That is why I am applying for your prestigious program. If given the chance, I will work tirelessly on these issues while learning from each scholar, instructor, and mentor about their passions, experiences, and interests, thus contributing to the betterment of our global society.

“Does it hurt if you get shot?” I remember asking my aunt this question, following the shooting massacre that I witnessed in my street when I was eight years old. Three people were shot because of their involvement with drugs and crime. This was to be only the first of many killings that I would see during my life as a resident of a slum area. I was scared and pensive. Even though I was young and innocent, I began to think then about the type of life that I wanted for myself. I did not want to have the same destiny that many young lads in my neighborhood had. I did not want to die without having the chance of being someone different. I decided that I would not let anybody pull the trigger of hopelessness with me in its sight, and kill my dreams; dreams that were barely formed. I decided I would do something to change the reality of life where I lived. I would be a soldier fighting for hope in the midst of a war of sorrow. I grew up in one of the most marginalized slums in my city where my father, a young man, was a drug dealer and died when he was only twenty seven years old due to a cocaine overdose. I was only one year old. My mother was also very young and immature. My maternal grandparents therefore raised me, both already in their old-age and retired from a long working life. They taught me I could live a life that mattered but it would depend on the decisions I made as a young man. Inspired by my teachers in the elementary school, I realized that education was the only way out of my circumstances. Education was a way of making my dreams reality. The desire to bring about change for myself and for others has always pushed me forward. I knew that it would be a major challenge, as no one in my family has been to the university or even has finished high school. In order to get into a university and be competitive enough, I studied more than eight hours a day after school. Since my family did not have the financial means to pay for my education, I studied using second-hand textbooks that I obtained for free from the donated books box at my school. C.S. Lewis once said that “hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny”. With an unrelenting devotion to the things I want to see happen, I have dedicated myself to my beliefs and I have worked hard to live my dreams. There need not be a limit to the size of our dreams. I have achieved wonderful things by pursuing an education and I have been to places I have never imagined I would go to – for example, representing Brazil as a Youth Ambassador to the United States in 2014. I was recently accepted for one of the most prestigious universities in the world, Columbia – an achievement that makes tears run down my eyes when I think of the struggles I faced to get to this point. My biggest dream right now is to use my education to contribute to the life of others. There is a broken world outside that needs changing and only courageous people are able to help it become a better place. Education is the key to transforming lives. It has transformed mine and I strongly believe it will transform others.