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The Rocinha Favela
The favela looking down from near the top After a few days of contemplating whether I wanted and needed to go on a tour to see a favela in Rio, I decided to go. The Favelas are basically slums where people are living in housing that has been built randomly and without any permits, and there are quite a few in Rio. The favela that I visited was called Rocinha and is the largest favela in South America housing approximately 250,000 people. It is situated in the middle of Rio and flows up the hill and more houses just keep getting built. The favelas are not segregated from the rest of the Rio and right next door to the favela you will find very rich suburbs. The government turns a blind eye to the favelas and just allows the people to live there without paying for the land and a lot of people are also getting free electricity as they just hook up their own wires to the mains as well as water. The government at anytime can reclaim the land and everyone living there would have to move, approximately 40% of Rio´s population lives in a favela and they do pay rent but it is very cheap
The Rocinha Favela
Power line in the favela where people just add their own line and pay nothing for electricity compared to other parts of the city. The favela is run by gangs who are involved in the drug trade which is quite a lucrative business and involves mainly cocaine. Throughout the favela there are gang members/drug dealers that keep watch for any suspicious people who might be members of other gangs wanting to take over the favela. So to protect their favela they carry guns, big guns, as well as other weapons like granades etc. If we were to walk into the favela without our guide then we would be approached by a gang member because they are not sure if we are reporters, gang members or what we are doing there and then possibly be relieved of all our valuables and told to leave. With our guide though we were completely safe and not hassled at all, but we were told when we were not allowed to take photos because these gang members were around. The big boss stays at the top of the favela and is rarely seen as he is a targeted man. They move from house to house so not many people know where he is and they are not likely to live past 40
The Rocinha Favela
Graffiti on the walls years of age due to gang violence. This favela has been run by a gang for 2 years now when it took it over from another gang with forceful entry. The people that live in th favela are safe and we were told that the crime rate is very low because the last thing that the boss wants is a reason for the police to come into the favela. Everything would get dealt with from within and they avoid ever having anything to do with the police. Once they are out of the favela they can do as they please and are probably responsibly for the majority of the muggings and thefts that occur regularly in Rio. So we arrived in all our western glory and I still felt a little uncomfortable going into the favela for the reason of feeling like I was looking at someone else's poverty like being at a zoo. Felt like it was a typical western thing for us to do and only after speaking with a few people who had been already I decided I was semi comfortable with it. Part of our cost in going goes towards a child care centre in the
The Rocinha Favela
The favela looking down from near the top favela which provides not only care for the kids but support for the parents, so that eased my uncomfortableness. To get to the top of the favela we take a motorbike taxi and I'm trying to be cool here as we hoon up the hill in between buses, taxis and cars but we make it safely with all bits in place. The top of the favela is the best place to live because as you get lower the sewage starts to mount up and as the system is an open system and not developed it gets minging. The houses are pretty much built on top of one another or very close together without any kind of building permits so whatever they feel like goes. I was suprised that in the favela it's exactly the same as in any other suburb as far as all the shops go...bakery, phone shop, etc and it operates the same as anywhere else except it's governed by the gangs. The top was quite clean and looked like anywhere else in a crowded suburb. We started to walk down the hill and would stop at a few places along the way... we were told to get
The Rocinha Favela
Kids selling their artwork and jewellery out our cameras as the paths are tight and it would avoid holding up other people. So to add to my uncomfortableness I am now carrying my cameras around my neck and flashing off my western wealth even more, as I am trying to convince myself it was OK because apparantly people wanted tourists to come to the favela as it was helping with development. So off we head and we walk down these paths and past people´s homes that were small but quite alright at the top, the reception from the people was mainly positive or nothing at all...they had seen our type before. We called into an art gallery which has been developed to encourage the guys who were doing graffiti around the favela to start painting their works. I was hugely impressed with the art work there and we got to meet some of the painters who are now making money off their talent rather than having no work or turning to crime. We decend further down the hill and as we do the quality of the housing starts to diminish and the sewage and rubbish gets worse. People are still smiling at us but it was
The Rocinha Favela
A friendly couple at the door of their house mainly the women, children and the older men that were giving them to us, the other men in general were quite harsh and pretty much ignored us. We were passed a few times by men covered in weapons which I was quite happy to give a wide berth. The gangs make quite a lot of money off the drug trade and from that money every month they pay off the police and buy weapons to help them protect their area and for that reason they are able to do what they do. There apparantly is no drug problem in the favelas, the gang members/drug dealers smoke a little weed, but there is no real problem with use of cocaine or any harder drugs. You can get a gram of cocaine in the favela for $20 realis (about AUD$15) but it is worth a lot more out of the favela which is where most of the deals happen. It´s very rare that even a local person from Rio would come to the favela for a deal, they get someone from the favela to do it for them. Majority of people living in the favela work and are not on any kind
The Rocinha Favela
Typical of the houses in the lower part of the favela of government assistance (if there is any?), apparantly a lot of people choose to live here because it´s cheap rent, safe, they get free electricity and it's prime real estate. From the people I saw they did appear to be happy and looked like any normal person walking in the street. There is also no real problem with disease, which I thought might be an issue due to open sewage and lack of hygiene in other places. They have health people come in and assist mothers with new borns etc and this is also what part of our money goes to. We met some young kids who were attending the care centre and had been painting and making jewellery. They were selling it to tourists and this was giving them something to work at rather than turning to crime which a lot of people living in the favelas do (out in the other parts of Rio). As we came closer to the bottom of the hill the level of hygiene and living standards did lower quite a lot and people were living in conditions that would be classed as ´third world´. Our guide was constantly telling us that people are
The Rocinha Favela
Young boys from the favela....they love to have their photos taken happy living there and that they choose to live there, I wasn´t convinced that if you had other choices that you would live there. Their options are no doubt limited and the favela gives them somewhere safe to live where they are able to have their own house. I did enjoy the experience, I still was not 100% on it, and to have this Kiwi guy walking in front of me and being loud and obnoxious about it all made me feel even more intrusive. He was blown away by it, as was I, but he seemed to look at it like a tourist attraction and forget that this is actually people´s lives. I am glad that I went and if even for the reason that it did quash some of my misconceptions about the favela and what it is. There is a lot of talk about huge amounts of violence, women being raped etc, guns everywhere, people high on drugs with no employment, people living in squalor and a whole lot of bad stuff. From what I saw it seemed to be just like any other suburb or area and people seemed to live together as everyone else does,
The Rocinha Favela
Favela from the lower parts looking up with just a few differences. Whether this is the part they show the tourists and the real side is just underneath who knows, but it did leave me feeling even more appreciation for what I have at home and made me realise again that I am so lucky to have what I do.
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Zezinho
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Rocinha
You write a nice story explaning what favela is reality. Thank you. www.brasilbest.com/djzezinho_julho2008.php