Richard Hale School has had links with Rio de Janeiro based charity, Onda Solidária, since donating football shirts for underprivileged young people in a Rio favela back in 2013. Since then, students at Richard Hale have benefited from several visits and inspirational talks from Ricardo Calçado, founder of Onda Solidária, and the school has raised over £7000 for the charity through non uniform days and sponsored events, helping to support several buildings within the charity’s Eco School and training centre, which was created in 2015 near a small rural town 2 hours outside Rio. Facilities at the Eco School include dormitories, kitchens, classrooms and sports facilities to support the young people of the local town.

One of the young people, Marcos Vinicios, who first heard of Richard Hale when he was 10 years old, was supported to learn English at the Eco School and is now a law student, working part time at the Supreme Court in the capital, Brazilia, as well as being a director of Onda Solidária. In October of last year, our Head girl, Ella Richardson, was lucky enough to visit Brazil and spend some time at the Supreme Court. At only 20 years of age, Marcos made his first visit to Europe over the Christmas period, and on 19^th January, Ricardo and Marcos spent the day at Richard Hale delivering assemblies to Year 7 and Year 8 students. The boys were able to see the result of over 10 years of support from Richard Hale, both in the form of the Eco School, that is now fully completed, and in Marcos himself.

July 2024 will see the first Richard Hale trip to Rio take place. A number of our sixth formers and three former RHS students, who are now in their first year at university, will visit the Eco School and volunteer some of their time to support local young people.

If you are interested in supporting the charity or finding out more about their work, please visit en.ondasolidaria.org.