During a visit to Rio de Janeiro this month, IWC brand ambassador Adriana Lima took time to meet with local children from the Laureus-supported “Fight for Peace” project in a local boxing gym. Featuring a braided hairstyle, black sweatpants and boxing gloves in red for one session, silver for the other, the Brazilian supermodel sparred with adolescents and their trainer as the younger children watched in awe.
“Fight for Peace” combines boxing and martial arts with education and personal development to help disadvantaged young people realize their potential. The children and teenagers participating in the sparring session come from extremely poor backgrounds. Many of them live in favelas which are affected by a decade of territorial drug wars and where armed adolescents patrol the streets. Roberto Custodio, a “Fight for Peace” participant, has benefited from the work of the project in helping provide direction in his life. “Sport transforms, teaches us many things that only sport can teach to make our life more complete, like determination, resilience, companionship, care and humility”.
The success has already become palpable: recent results show that children who participate in the project are 68% less likely to commit a crime or carry a weapon.
IWC has been a Global Partner of Laureus Sport for Good since 2005. Earlier this year, IWC Schaffhausen introduced the Portofino Automatic Moon Phase 37 Edition “Laureus Sport for Good Foundation” (Ref. IW459006). The timepiece is limited to 1,500 pieces worldwide and is the tenth specialedition IWC created to support Laureus. The engraving on the case back features a drawing by Eleni Partakki from Cyprus showing girls and boys playing with a ball. The 16-year-old is a participant of a Laureus project that actively encourages Greek-Cypriot and Turkish-Cypriot boys and girls to play basketball together.
