Blind Angolan to play for Brazil in Paralympics

Angola-born and a Brazilian on paper and at heart, Maurício Dumbo Tchope made his debut with the Brazilian jersey in the Paralympics in Brazil's third five-a-side match. To wear the shirt of the Brazilian team was just another victory for this athlete, who became blind during a childhood afflicted by war and came to Brazil as a child, where he studied law and stood out as a sportsman.

Born in 1989, Tchope lived his first years under the horrors of the civil war that devastated the country from 1975 and 2002. His father was a soldier in one of the factions that fought to seize control of the country in a conflict that left Angola mired in misery.

At the age o five, Tchope felt the first outcome of the war after being infected with measles and having to cope with the lack of doctors to treat his illness. “The treatment was carried out at home and I ended up blind,” he recounts. Visually impaired and living with raging war all around, he was an easy target. Knowing that, his mother did not hesitate to send him to Brazil in 2001 through an exchange program whereby blind children from the African country came to Brazil to learn Braille and computer science.

Tchope, then eight years old, had not yet learned to read and write, but did not want to leave his family. “When the proposal came up, I didn't want to go. But then my mother told me I would meet [soccer players] Ronaldo [known as] Fenômeno and Adriano. It was only afterwards I realized I had been sent to learn to read and write, and learn Braille,” he told TV Brazil.

Tchope moved to Curitiba, where he became an avid student and did not just learn to read and write but also graduated in Law. During his school years, he discovered football. In 2014, his involvement with sports played a significant role in securing his stay in Brazil, as the Angolan government put an end to the scholarship program after 13 years providing Tchope with financial aid.

To make ends meet, he resorted to the help of friends, his salary as a trainee, and even a prize he won by scoring goals blindfolded on television. It was about this time he started standing out as a sportsman. In 2015, playing for the Rio Grande do Sul Futsal Association for the Blind, Tchope became a champion and was hailed as the best playing in the Five-a-side Football Championship. His performance drew the eyes of Brazil's national team.

One obstacle remained to be surmounted, however: Tchope was a Brazilian only at heart. He was not naturalized.

In the process of receiving Brazilian citizenship, being a player eyed by the national team came in handy. On September 2, less than a week before the beginning of the Paralympic Games, Tchope got a call from the team's coach, who invited him to join the squad.

“My name didn't appear on the first list with the ten players who were called in. I had lost all hopes. It was only later I believed it, and phoned my family to tell the story. I know Brazil has always had the best players and that being among the ten in the Paralympics is a huge privilege,” he said.

Now, Tchope has two wishes: to bag the Paralympic medal for Brazil and to make money to help bring over her mother, who still lives in Angola.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira