At some point you may have heard that “education transforms lives”. This week the iFood News it presents one of those stories which prove that study has this power because it allows us to dream big. This is how it has been with delivery man Tiago Francelino da Silva since the moment he returned to school, ten years ago.
A native of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, he is 37 years old and is the father of a 15-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl. “I’m full of things to do, full of dreams to achieve and that I hope will come true,” he says.
His routine is intense: early in the morning, Tiago works in a printing shop and only sleeps in the morning, when he returns home. Afterwards, she takes her youngest daughter to school (the oldest went with her mother earlier) and in the afternoon takes a Nursing Technician course. Before returning to work, there is time to rest and see and talk to family. On weekends, he makes deliveries via iFood to supplement his income. “My whole life is in this rush. It’s a hard routine, but our dream is bigger and the effort will be worth it”, he says.
Tiago's dream is to have his own house. Today, his family lives in a house on his parents' land, in a space shared with relatives of his other four siblings. Thanks to his studies, he has already taken the first (big) step towards this and bought a piece of land.
Back to school
To carry out his plans, Tiago wants to improve his earnings and to do so, he will continue to rely on the extra income from iFood. In 2024, when he finishes his technical nursing course, he hopes to work in a hospital and make deliveries during his time off.
“The company where I work laid off a lot of people. Then I thought: 'I need to find a way to study, go to a better profession'. That’s why I’m taking the course now,” he says. “Now” is not a force of expression. On the day of the interview with the iFood News, Tiago was completing a week since the start of the course. “It wasn't exactly the area I wanted, but taking care of people is something I like. And the market is in need of nursing technicians, so I thought it was an opportunity.”
Tiago says he served in the Army, worked in a construction material store, in a parking lot and has been working since he was in his first year of high school. He had to leave school because he and his brothers needed to help support the house. “My father worked as a bricklayer and my mother took care of us. They never missed anything, but we were in trouble”, he recalls.
10 years ago, he went back to school. To improve his salary at the printing company, Tiago was advised by the company to complete high school. Unlike the vast majority who return to studies after school, he did not take the Encceja (National Examination for the Certification of Skills of Young People and Adults) to complete this stage, but rather the conventional course, having much younger students as classmates. new than him.
“There is a school next to the house. When I tried to enroll, they said I was too old and I replied that I had to go back to school”, he recalls. The insistence worked. “He was the only one married and with a child. My mind was already different and I was focused on studying.”
The closest dream
With studies, the salary increased, time passed and then the Covid-19 pandemic came. It was at this time that Tiago registered as a delivery partner on the app. “That was the best decision I ever made, because the iFood changed my life In a way…"
It changed because, in addition to the extra income, he had the chance to study more for iFood Takes Off, the teaching platform on which the company offers free courses for delivery men, restaurant owners or employees and others partners. “I don’t even know how many courses I took, like motorcycle maintenance and financial management”, he lists.
In the latter, the fact that he was studying and luck contributed to yet another transformation in Tiago's life. iFood Decola maintains a partnership with insurance company MetLife. Each month, two courses are selected to draw cash prizes for delivery partners who study on the platform. Tiago won the top prize of R$ 20 thousand.
“At the time I didn’t believe it, I thought it was a scam. I only believed it when the person on the phone told me my details and said the money was in the account. I am very grateful to iFood, not only for the award, but for accepting my registration during the pandemic. That helped a lot.”
With the money, Tiago made a deposit on the land, which is the first step towards his big dream. The second step (changing careers) is a move he has also been making thanks to his deliveries. The course is not on Decola's schedule, but Tiago says he can pay the monthly fee for his studies with the deliveries that now take place on Saturdays and Sundays.
“The study opens many doors. What I couldn't do back then, I'm trying to recover now. Today I see this as a priority because I try to give my children the support I didn't have. Not because of my parents, but because there were no conditions. Without studies everything becomes more difficult. And if I like the area, I think about going to college later on.”
