story

Community Score: NETHERLANDS X PATTA  WITH @FAVELASTREET

Hi, my name is Rocky Hehakaija, I'm from Amsterdam and I'm the founder of Favela Street. You might know me as a street baller. My name is Diyen, I'm 24 years old and I am a trainer at Favela Street.

Favela Street was founded in 2014, started in Rio, in Brazil and after that we traveled around.

So we also organize our 'Time for Shine' street football tournaments, not only us but together with the participants. That's how we try to create safe spaces for girls to play in public spaces, and to show the the rest of the world that girls need a stage on the streets, and that they can play ball.

I think Favela Street really taught me to be proud of my story. We have a lot of different cultures and we come all together. It's such a safe place. I think it's about family, it's about community, and it's about culture. 

Together with Patta, the world famous streetwear brand from Amsterdam, Nike, and then of course the Netherlands, we were featuring on the warming up jersey. And I saw that photo from Virgil van Dijk with the Favela Street logo on the back. And for us, that was like, what? 

So the vision within Favela Street: we always say 'Be a Drop, Start a Ripple'. We believe that every individual can make a positive change.  With Favela Street, we really are open-minded, so everyone is welcome. It doesn't matter where you are from. I want to reach as many young people as I can, help them, give them the right tools to make the best out of their lives. 

You might have the feeling that you are in a system that's not working for you, but we believe that if you can make a positive change for yourself, you can create that ripple effect for the people around you. It starts within your family, gets into your streets, works into your community, and it can spread all the way through the country.

And that's how we believe that we can make change from one individual to the other. 