AfroDai

One of the forerunners of Afro techniques -in the beauty category- in Rio, in the 70s, hairdresser Dai Bastos (photo) sold everything she owned -car, apartment plus beauty salon- to pass on the learning process. Exchanging Copacabana for an old mansion in Lapa, she created the Afrodai Aesthetics and Culture Space, an NGO where young people between 14 and 21 years old -generally poor and many already with children- take courses in makeup, waxing, manicure and hairstyling along with lectures about citizenship and health. The story worked out so well that the project was classified by the UN as one of the 40 best practices in the world to improve the way of life - and the 40 students receive food and transportation vouchers from Comunidade Solidária. Based on the idea that it is no use providing food baskets so that people have work and self-esteem - most of the students are already employed -, the girl struggles to go further: to accommodate the 80 candidates in the waiting list and invest in the third age.