Until his tenth year Osvaldo himself lived in Cape Verde. After a stay of thirteen years in Portugal he ultimately moved to the Netherlands. He regularly returns to Cape Verde. Osvaldo: "I remember little of my youth in Cape Verde. Nevertheless it was an advantage in this project that I have a Cape-Verdean background. I know the culture. I was raised there myself and can therefore empathize well.’"
Osvaldo gave the employees of the youth organization training courses that were specifically aimed at rewarding and punishing. "In Cape-Verdean culture it is very normal to punish a child. Rewards, however, are seldom given. Adults and children really live in separate worlds and children are expected simply to do what their parents say. At later ages that is still noticeable. People are for instance not accustomed to giving each other compliments."
Via role playing Osvaldo tries to make the participants in his workshops aware of the power of positive attention. "That was really an eye-opener for them. Participants told each other with pride that they had given a child a compliment again today. They noted that it was effective. It was also very pleasant for me. In this way I have been able to contribute something in Cape Verde in my way. I did not regard it so much as work but rather as a mission."
