Mae Luiza is a borough at the edge of the city of Natal in the northeast of Brazil with approximately 15,000 inhabitants - a favela with all the typical grievances. In the 1980s Padre Sabino Gentili came to Natal from Italy, and settled in Mae Luiza. He built the fi rst Catholic church in the poor community and in 1984 founded the Centro Socio with German, Swiss and Brazilian support. In a participatory process in which the community was able to voice its needs and priorities, the Centro initiated communal social infrastructure for education and medical care, and later for sports, culture and...