Cork restaurant boss answers SOS to aid Brazil flood victims

WHEN he saw the images of the devastating floods that had struck his homeland of Brazil last month, Cork city restaurant boss Leo Lemos knew he had to do something.

“The scenes hit my heart, the disaster happened extremely quickly. I wanted to help,” said Leo, the owner of Sabor Braziil in Washington Street.

Even though he is from Sao Paulo, a long way from the flood-stricken region, Brazilians are a caring and patriotic lot. Like the Irish in other lands, they have a great community ethos and stick together.

Around 540,000 people in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul were forced from their homes in the disaster in early May, and more than 160 people died.

Leo, like all the Brazilians who have made Ireland their home, initially felt helpless, but this is a man of action.

He got on to the Brazilian Embassy and, as an Honorary Consul, decided to start his own clothes collection for the flood victims.

His initial appeal to his local community quickly extended to Irish and other nationalities in Cork, and then became a national crusade. Companies and other organisations got on board too.

The result?

“We received around 25-30 tons of clothes,” says Leo proudly.

The first shipment, paid for by a company called Jenkinson Logistics in Dublin, has been sent, and we are fund-raising to get the money for a second shipment of clothes.

Leo laughs at his naivety at the outset.

“I thought it would be easy! I didn’t think it would go nationwide in Ireland. I took the lead and people from Sligo, Kerry, Clare, and Dublin got on board, as did companies like TikTok.”

It soon emerged that this wasn’t just an initiative among the Brazilian diaspora here.

“Absolutely everyone got involved - the Irish, Spanish, Italians, they know Brazilian people and wanted to help them in their hour of need.”

For Leo, 36, who also owns a Brazilian restaurant in Dublin, it became a crusade that took over his life.

He managed to source space to store the clothes, then trucks to transport them to Dublin for shipping to Brazil. He was on the road to all corners of Ireland for days on end.

“One day, I went on my motorbike from Cork to Dublin,” recalls Leo. 

Then I came back with the truck to Cork, went on to Limerick to collect more clothes there, on to Dublin, back to Kildare, and back to Dublin.

How on earth did he manage to run two businesses as well?!

“What you start, you must finish,” he replies. “Those people in Brazil lost everything. And it is still raining there.

“We Brazilians are well connected in Ireland and we like to help each other.”

When the first clothes arrive at a port in southern Brazil later this month, they will be dispersed to some of the communities that have been ravaged by the disaster.

The difference between the floods that have struck Rio Grande do Sul and the ones we have in Ireland, is that ours recede in hours, or a few days at most.

Even a month on, towns, cities, and communities in Brazil are still underwater, and people are still homeless. The agricultural industry has been decimated. Hundreds of thousands of people have got no home or shelter, no food, clothes or possessions.

The catastrophe started when the region suffered four months’ worth of rain in just three days, and rivers were overwhelmed. Climate change has been blamed.

Video from the stricken area shows the horrific impact of the flooding, with families being rescued by a flotilla of vessels and tearfully leaving their homes behind.

The disaster prompted acclaimed Brazilian writer Jeferson Tenorio to say: “The state we knew will no longer exist. 

Practically everyone has been affected in some way: physically, materially, or psychologically.

“Rio Grande do Sul can no longer return to what it was before.”

To put that statement into context, the population of Rio Grande do Sul is more than three times that of Ireland.

When the second shipment of clothes is despatched, Leo will not stop his efforts. He will turn his attention to raising funds to send over to those in need.

Although many of the victims of the floods lost the clothes on their backs, they also have no food, home, electricity or job.

Leo has lived in Ireland for 11 years, having moved here initially to learn English. He opened Sabor Braziil in Cork city three years ago, which specialises in barbecued food.

“Business is going very well,” he says. 

The Brazilian community in Cork is getting bigger all the time, but we have lots of Irish and other cultures coming in too.

Oh, and you know I said Leo is an action man? Well, he also enjoys being a triathlete in his spare time, and is set to represent Ireland in the sport this summer!

A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances.

“I became the first Brazilian to run an Ironman in 2022, and last year I took part in the Killarney Hardman run,” says Leo.

Now he is competing for Ireland in the 2024 World Triathlon Multisport Championships in North Queensland, Australia, in August.

“I will be so proud,” he says.