A Day in the Life of a High School Administrator: Where is the Love-The Black Eyed Peas

One of the things I really wanted to do in Brazil was visit a favela. Favelas are basically shantytowns that are built on hillsides throughout Latin America. Rio's favelas are infamous for being run by drug lords, violence, and high murder rates. However, I think it is fascinating that these poor areas are intermixed all throughout the wealthy areas of the city and I really wanted to learn more about them. Since Rio is the site of the World Cup and the Olympics in coming years, a concerted effort has been made to "pacify" the favelas meaning the police have gone through and tried to re-claim some of the areas. This policy has been met with mixed reviews, but some people in the favelas seem to appreciate the higher presence and safer streets.

You can see how the favelas go up the hillsides

water pours down this mountain in the rainy season

I began researching favela tours and found that there are some programs that exploit the cities, some that work with the drug lords and pay them off, and some that actually do some good for the communities by providing some schools or other community service programs. We booked with one of the latter programs, Exotic Travel. This organization supports a samba school in the favela, supports a community art center, and also teaches English and tourism to members of the favela that hope to work in Rio's thriving tourism industry. Our guide was Luiza who grew up in the favela and went through the tourism program to speak English and give tours.

Recycled materials used at the art school

We toured Rocinha favela which is the largest of Rio's 1,025 favelas with 300,000 people. Rocinha is on the outskirts of Rio, just past the fancy beach neighborhoods of Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon. It was originally a rural area and Rocinha means "little farm." Our first stop was a samba school with 2,800 students. The school is sponsored by local and national businesses and students there can learn dancing, drums, music, and more. Luiza told us that some of the funding comes from the government when politicians are trying to get elected. Since 50% of the residents of Rocinha cannot read or write, they are easily manipulated by politicians (voting is required in Brazil.) A politician promises all kinds of things to voters in exchange for their vote, but the samba school is one thing that has received some funding.

We then began our tour by entering the business sector of the favela. Luiza was eager to point out that there are thriving businesses in the favela and therefore people can find jobs, as well as shop 24 hours a day. There are banks, shops, restaurants, you can even find sushi. The favelas are built up the mountains and there are six levels total in the favela. We passed through levels 0-4 during our tour. Favelas have been around Rio for decades. They started when property values started to rise, and poor and working class families could not afford houses near where they were working. They built houses into the sides of hills and when people would ask them what was around where they were living, they would reply, "favelas," which are a type of plant.

the favela plant

Canal Street, water levels rise past the road during rainy season

However, right away we also witnessed many of the problems of the favelas. We started out on Canal Street where we learned one of the most pressing issues in Rocinha is water. There is not really running water in the favela and the sewers are open. During the rainy season, the bottom level of buildings can flood up to 4-5 feet. Because favelas are built up, with people adding levels as they can afford it, a strong foundation is really important to withstand the flooding. It is much better to have a stone or concrete foundation, although some only have wood. There is not really running water either because the water supply is unreliable. There are some pipes, but everyone siphons water from the pipes. Because of this "theft" the water company turns the water off randomly. When the water is on, people pump as much as they can into huge storage basins so they have a water supply once the water is turned off.

improvised pipes siphoning water

Luiza showing us the mailbox she shares with hundreds of others

Another major problem is power. There is not really any kind of power infrastructure. There are meters but they often don't work and people only use them for the address associated with each meter. The addresses are necessary for the paperwork to get a job outside of the favela. Because many people don't have proper addresses, there are random shelves and boxes for mail. Typically the mailing address will be to one of these shelves near a store or other landmark and people just check periodically to see if there is anything for them. I can't really express how crazy the power situation is, there are powerlines all over the place, just hanging at shoulder height in the middle of walkways and alleys. Also, because of the water situation often the power lines are hanging just above huge puddles of water. People tie in a wire and direct it up to their house wherever is convenient for them. Tami asked about fires and Luiza said, surprisingly, there aren't a lot of fires or electrocutions. Due to the poor building conditions, there is very little ventilation and light (we were lucky to visit during Rio's winter so it wasn't too hot.) As a result, diseases spread quickly and there are a lot of health problems including tuberculosis, dysentery, typhoid, and in the summer the fevers.

These signs were everywhere

Additionally, the favelas are very noisy as you have many people living in very close circumstances. I cannot express how dark it was in the inner layers of the buildings. Down every nook, cranny and walkway there was darkness even though it was broad daylight. At one point it was raining but we didn't really know because the buildings don't open up to the sky, they are just built all together. Because people are in such close proximity, often it is easier just to yell out the window than to track someone down. We were told there is very little privacy because everyone is always yelling their business out the window (intentionally, or unintentionally.) Despite this fact, there is a very community minded attitude, people don't even lock their houses. Luiza said that if someone needs something and can't afford it, the neighbors will contribute and help as much as they can.

Despite these problems, Luiza mentioned some benefits to living in a favela. In addition to the community atmosphere, she said that people are poor but they are honest. One other benefit that she mentioned several times was the fact that people in the favelas don't pay taxes like normal citizens. The houses are built up on public land so there isn't any property tax and the business and shops don't charge as high of prices as I have seen elsewhere because they avoid taxes. One powerful moment for me was when Luiza thanked us for coming to learn about the favelas. The more people know what the conditions are really like, the more they can tell others and change the ideas people have about favelas.

We visited several areas where the houses were painted bright colors. One such area was where the government has sponsored a project to widen a street and build a small amphitheater (this idea originated during an election year.) Here the houses were painted all kinds of bright colors in order to look more peaceful and welcoming. Although they look pretty, Luiza was disappointed with the program as the citizens of Rocinha don't really need an amphitheater for a concert, but rather an enclosed sewer system, or power. However, after walking through the neighborhood, I have no idea how you would actually go about installing these kinds of things. There is also a newly built hospital (also the benefit of a government election promise) that currently has no doctors, nurses or medicines. Luiza said that some of the religious groups in the area help out with volunteers and medical supplies, but it is nowhere near sufficient for the large population. The idea of government corruption is on many Brazilian's minds lately and Luiza seemed to be particularly bothered by these campaign promises that were never met. Another included schools which had been built but didn't have any teachers. Although we did see kids going to school while we were there.

Expanded street project

These kids were so friendly and cute!

Despite some of the negative conditions, the people in the favelas were some of the friendliest people of my entire trip, and especially the friendliest we've encountered in Rio. Around every corner we were greeted with smiles and good mornings and anyone we talked to was willing to talk. For some reason the Brazilian men were very handsome in Rocinha, Liza and I wanted to extend the tour to meet a few of the locals! :)

Overall I was really happy that we decided to do the tour; however, I do think Luiza put a much more positive spin on things than actually exists. She made it sound like everyone chooses to live there because it's close to their jobs and they don't have to pay taxes. Yet when I asked her whether or not most people choose to live there, she said about half choose to and about half have to because of limited opportunities. One thing we noticed was she kept saying how one of the benefits was that they don't pay any taxes, yet she felt the government should come in and provide better service infrastructure for power, water, transportation, etc. She said that the people who live there aren't bad, but that there are a lot of problems. In leaving our impression was that she felt the problems were more the fault of the government rather than the people living in the favelas.