Does anyone know where i can find out how they live in favelas in Brazil?

Question

for my hw

Answer 1

The first favela, or hillside shantytown, appeared on the outskirts of Rio De Janeiro 100 years ago. Despite numerous official attempts to eradicate these hand built renegade suburbs, housing the poorest of the poor, they have multiplied over the past century. Today there are more than 600 favelas, where one in five Rio residents lives. São Paulo also has a large number of favelas.

The favelas are units of irregular self-constructed housing that are occupied illegally. They are usually on lands belonging to third parties, and most often located around the edge of the cities, often crowded onto hillsides. Residences are built without permission or a license and are often disorganised, without numbered streets, sanitation networks, electricity, a telephone service or plumbing. In recent years favelas have been troubled by drug-related crime and gang warfare.

In the past the authorities have taken a number of steps to reduce problems in favelas. They have set up self-help schemes, with the local authority providing local residents with the materials, such as breeze blocks and cement, needed to construct permanent accommodation. The local residents provide the labour, the money saved can be spent on providing basic amenities such as electricity and water.

However a recent campaign is threatening the existence of the favelas, which are home to 1.1 million of Brazils poor. The favelas are close to some wealthy areas of cities and these residents are keen to evict the poor from their homes. Officials are citing a variety of reasons including environmental protection, land ownership disputes and concerns over the safety of those living in the hilltop favelas. However Jose Nerson de Oliveira vice president of the favelas in Rio de janeiro has said, 'It isn't about land or trees or anything like that. The simple fact is they don't want the poor close to them'.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

go to Brazil and live in a favela... seriously, its just like any other slum elsewhere in the world... crowded, lack of water and electricity, crime, sex, drugs , gangs... and football... everywhere in Brazil...

Answer 4

watch the City of God - true story, that should give you an idea...x

Answer 5

We were in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, holding a pastors’ conference, when I asked a bishop to lead us to the infamous ghettos known as the favelas. The area is notorious for poverty and mindless violence, particularly among its very young people. Thousands of street kids in the favelas have been gunned down by rival gangs or killed by secret “security squads.”

As you near the favelas, the streets become too narrow for cars, so we had to stop and walk. We were led up a hill, past machine gun-toting gangs and drug look-out teenagers, hungry children on the streets, a vast humanity of broken souls — all wounded by a life spent in Satan’s stronghold. Finally, we were led into a one-room dwelling, where Mary, the elderly woman I described, lay in bed.
http://www.worldchallenge.org/missions/brazil.htm


also
http://www.brazzil.com/content/view/9373/79/
Reginaldo - A Brief History

The favela of Reginaldo lies in a valley, which runs for around 15 km through the city of Maceió. The land is very steep in many places and a drainage canal runs through the center, so the area was never developed for residential use by the city.

Instead, since around 1930, it has been a refuge of sorts for the thousands of people who have been forced from their homes in the countryside surrounding Maceió. Some headed for the city in the face of desperate poverty; others were expelled from their lands to make way for the sugar cane farms.

Upon arrival in the city the newcomers had to find somewhere to stay until they could afford a house of their own. Having little or no money, the only option aside from sleeping on the streets, was to build makeshift dwellings on unoccupied land such as was to be found in Reginaldo valley.

Unfortunately, for many, the income necessary to obtain a proper house never became available and so the shanty towns continued to grow in size as more people came to Maceió in search of a better life.

The families of the earliest settlers are perhaps best off, having settled at the edge of Reginaldo which now almost blends in with the adjacent neighborhood; there are even a few shops and bars.

Perhaps the main differences to other areas are the huge piles of rubbish and the awful sight and smell of the drainage canal running so close to people's homes. The dirt road that passes through crosses a bridge over the canal and passes a church and a school before continuing further into the community where the standard of the housing deteriorates until much of it is no more than shacks.

This is where more recent arrivals live, the most recent being worst off as much of the useable land is taken and so they are forced to live on what little remains.

The area under a road bridge that passes over Reginaldo is particularly bad, with tiny buildings made from anything that can be put together, without running water or any toilet facilities.

The children here sit and play in the alleys between the houses, next to streams choked with plastic bags of faeces.

It is apparent now where the homes of the original settlers are. Even now, people who have more recently come from the countryside will say that, although life is grim in the favela, the very fact of it being in a city means there is at least some prospect of a little work and a little money, where as in the country the prospects are often even bleaker.

The Present Day

From the very beginning, the inhabitants of Reginaldo have always lived in poverty. Even now, the conditions are often reminiscent of a previous century or a third world country, the only concessions being the power and telephone lines that connect parts of the community to modern day Brazil. Aside from this, there has been little development and the people still face the same problems, some of which are discussed below.

At this moment, Ângelo is struggling to raise the money to finish off a block of toilets.

Health

With no proper sanitation, the drainage canal that once contained fish has become little more than an open sewer. The only life it now supports is the larvae of the mosquitoes that spread diseases such as dengue fever and, perhaps one of the most dangerous, the deadly and disfiguring filariasis.

This terrible disease and the resulting elephantiasis (irreversible swelling of the limbs and testicles) is caused by a parasitic worm that can be harbored in sewage. It is very difficult to contract, as a person needs to be bitten thousands of times by the carrier mosquitoes in order to be infected.

In Reginaldo however, because of the lack of sanitation, there were many of these mosquitoes and infection rates were high causing shame and misery for many people. In recent years, this problem has been controlled thanks to the unceasing work of Doctor Gilberto, his wife and his students, with the help of the World Health Organization.

Their large-scale program of education, testing and subsequent medication has halted the spread of filariasis and the development of elephantiasis in the area. Were this program to stop, however, the disease would quickly return, with the infected people's condition worsening and new victims contracting the sickness.

Disease will always be a problem in underdeveloped areas of such high population density, especially when access to health care is so limited. So much could be achieved, however, with the provision of adequate sanitation.

It would eliminate the majority of the parasitic worms; of both the filariasis and other, often just as dangerous types; and would also cut down the numbers of the mosquitoes.

This is a task that in theory is relatively easy and cheap, when you consider how many people's lives it is affecting, but yet no politician seems interested in helping.

Some of the inhabitants are reduced to defecating into plastic bags and attempt to stay clean by pouring water over themselves; often while still fully clothed as they have no privacy in which to bathe properly.

As well as depriving people of their good health, something most of us take for granted, lack of sanitation and clean water is also depriving people of their dignity.

Social Problems

Aside from health, poor access to education and unemployment continue to trap the community of Reginaldo in poverty. Lack of money for uniforms and materials mean that most children cannot attend public school and the pressure to contribute to their family's income means that those that do make it through school rarely have the chance to attend university.

This lack of education combined with the stigma of living in Reginaldo means that is very difficult for many people to get a decent job and so to earn enough money to escape the favela.

This social and material deprivation inevitably leads some to criminal activity. Petty thieves and pickpockets go out into the city while gangs of drug dealers sell to the addicts within the community.

Since police involvement in crimes inside the favela is usually minimal, anyone found to be stealing faces a violent death and still others die in gang disputes.

Days before my arrival, a 16-year-old boy was found dead with a 44 Magnum. Police response to crimes committed outside the community is often brutal, as I witnessed on my first day in the favela.

Teaching in Reginaldo

My first visit to Reginaldo was a very intense experience. It started with a phone call to Ângelo from one of the community leaders who explained that we should wait at the edge of the favela until we heard from him again.

The reason was soon to become apparent. Heavily armed police had invaded to arrest a suspect and, until he was apprehended, it was not safe to be wandering around. We entered the edge of the favela and waited, receiving further calls to confirm that we should remain where we were, until eventually, the news came that the suspect had been apprehended and we could continue to the classroom.

As we walked, we passed the police who were marching the suspect along, indulging in unnecessary violence as they went. One of the students asked me if the police behaved this way in England to which I explained that it does happen occasionally but is not as common or as blatant as it appears to be in Brazil. I was relieved when the police, with their guns and body-armor, disappeared out of sight.

The students were a lot more friendly, although many were very shy. Perhaps more so than in Pontal and certainly than in England. They all had questions to ask though, about where I was from, if I liked Maceió, and if I was married or single.

I answered and asked a few questions and then Ângelo demonstrated his unique teaching style, to which I paid close attention, having no experience myself. With little resources, Ângelo compensates with energy and engages with each and every student to make sure they all get involved.

Teaching resources are definitely a problem. Not everyone has books and the number of photocopied activities is sometimes limited. Also, the books are not ideally suited to the student's background.

Discussing visits to other countries or how often you eat in a restaurant is not very relevant in a favela. Even having a place to teach is not guaranteed. The classroom in which I initially taught was closed due to a lack of money to pay the rent and we were forced to use a smaller room which was uncomfortably hot making it very difficult for all to concentrate.

Luckily, one of the local churches agreed that we could use their rooms, which are much better but the uncertainty will still be there until the project can have its own building and make it more like a proper school.