Through word of mouth, Baggio soon had more clients than he could handle. I bought an apartment, a car, a boat, cell phones. Eventually, through sheer persistence, Baggio found a Catholic Church in the Santa Marta favela that agreed to give him space to start the school. Possibly because of Baggio s earlier exploits, local and national media mobbed the school on its opening day, giving the project much-needed publicity. The courses cover basic software applications like word processing and spreadsheets, plus more advanced subjects including computer maintenance.
Tuition covers costs.
Baggio's idea has spread like a computer virus. Since 1994, CDI has helped open a total of 107 computing schools in poor neighborhoods in 13 Brazilian states. Some 32,000 youths have already taken the courses. Most recently, groups in Japan, the Philippines and Colombia have invited Baggio to come and tell them how they can replicate his program. But in three months, we expect half of our schools to be online.