A beautiful film of Rocinha.

 

Wallace

Wallace is 14 years old and is one of 4 boys. He lives alone in a small house with his brother William aged 11. His brothers Adrial aged 4 and baby Davi live close by with his mum. Wallace and his brothers caught my attention not only because they are my neighbours but also because I noticed a closeness in siblings. I would see Wallace and William walking back from the crèche with their baby brother and often sitting outside my house caring for their sleeping brother .

Wallace is a boy full of ambition he dreams of being an actor, professional dancer or singer. He is on the right track having been dancing hip hop for 2 years and is self-taught from watching videos on the internet. Wallace is also in a rap group with 5 other guys and a girl who were picked to do a show for Nike. He loves hip hop and rap music. Wallace has also learnt several martial arts, 8 different ones including jiu jitsu, capoeira, judo, and kung fu. He would like to learn English and other languages because there are people coming to Vidigal from different places and he would be able to make new friends

He has presented his skills a number of times at the Campinho show. A show hosted by Nos do Morro the theatre group in Vidigal of which Wallace is a member. The theatre group get together and present a showcase of talent, different types of skills of the community. The show is open to everybody and is a great opportunity for the community.

In a normal day Wallace goes to the theatre in the morning, school in the afternoon and the evening he spends with his brother. He takes care of his little brothers, collects one from school and as the older brother gives them good advice. His family is very important to him but like most teenagers he fights with his mum. Unfortunately she threw him out because he couldn’t clean up the house enough an so now he lives alone with his 11 year old brother. As much as it makes them closer it is a lot of time to spend together. Now Wallace also works long days working as a van operator to earn extra money.

Wallace is a positive and very active young man. His positivity comes from suffering a lot as a child and has already passéd nights without dinner. He has had to go to other people’s houses to ask for food but he says he has never stopped doing the things he loves and has never felt the need to use drugs.

Above is a man with his nephew from Macega. Macega is an area of Rocinha very high up close to the mountain. It is one of the poorest areas of the favela. The area has a lot of rubbish and is an area at risk to landslide. The residents are being told to leave their houses for government housing far away from where they have grown up, where they work, and their families live. Since the Pacification there has been talk of building a cable car in this area for tourists. The residents say their houses are not at risk and so maybe the government just want to move the poverty stricken out of the area in order to prepare for more tourism. If that is true then are just robbing the poor in this area of the only possesions they do have.

The residents in this area live a long walk from the entrance to the favela. The views from here are spectacular of the whole of Rocinha yet the standard of living is low. I am working with some friends to help these areas with food bags and hopefully some monthly barbeques and activities if you would like to donate money to help with these events please contact me by email before the 11th of January. My email is gillott.alex@gmail.com. If you are in Rio and would like to get involved there is more information at http://cariocafreeculturerj.wordpress.com/

 

Angelica

Angelica full of energy at 73 years old is one of Vidigal’s  liveliest characters. She loves to sing and dance and loves to spend her time with friends and family. Her deep tan is the result of spending as much time as she can on the beach in Copacabana where she has a reserved chair and meets more than 20 friends of which she is the second oldest.  As long as the sun is shining Angelica is on the beach and she is in great health. Her secret is sun and beer! She is always in good spirits starting the day at 9.30 am with a glass of Antartica and continues drinking until she goes to bed. At 25 years old I don’t think I have any chance of keeping up!

 Angelica was born in 1937 and has lived in Vidigal her whole life. Her parents were married in Vidigal over 60 years ago and were well respected members of the community. She is number one of 9 siblings and has 3 siblings still living in Vidigal. Angelica married Arnaldo who came from Portugal. Arnaldo bought the land of their house in 1969 after they had been travelling. It sits on a reserve of 19 000 litres of water and so they will never run out! Their large house is now split into three apartments Angelica and Arnaldo on the ground floor, their son and grandson on the second floor and  her daughter and her husband and 7 cats in the top apartment. Angelica’s immaculate house is home to countless ornaments all beautifully showcased each one representing a memory of a time passed by . At the top of the house the huge terrace offers spectacular views of Vidigal, and the beaches of Leblon and Ipanema and is host to plenty of family parties with plently of space for Angelica to dance!

It is hard to imagine now looking at the built up patchwork of houses and roads which make up Vidigal but when Angelica was a child Vidigal only had dirt roads and had very few houses.  She would wear old shoes down to the bottom of the jungle and carry clean shoes in a bag so she could change at the bottom. One of her first boyfriends was the first to have a television in Vidigal and now she prides herself in having 3!

Even if Angelica won the lottery she wouldn’t leave the favela. Vidigal is the home of her family and the memories of her life. Happy and sad memories. Her sister sadly was a victim of police crossfire. Angelica had spent the day on the phone to her sister laughing and joking before her tragic death she was 72 years old when she died.  Even during the violent times in Vidigal Angelica has always felt safe. She tells of times when she has left the house open and no one has ever come into the house. One day the keys for the house, the cars, and even the butchers where she worked were left in the garage door but no one touched them. That is a beauty of favela life that I know could not be said for all the other places I have lived

The Favela

Most people’s associate the word “favela” with a slum of drugs, arms, violence and poverty. If you ask people living close by to favelas they may use some of these words to describe the areas. Some people who may have lived within walking distance to a favela their whole lives may have never entered inside to see the reality with their own eyes. People listen to the news stories and watch films focussing on the violence and hardships in these areas left over by the government. It is in people’s nature to be interested in war and violence and so they are able to make judgements solely on these things. It is impossible to really understand the reality of life inside the favelas without ever entering inside to see life with your own eyes.

 Of course there is no getting away from the fact that most favelas in Brazil have been host to wars and violence affecting not only drug dealers but the entire community. Wars arise often with the police who invade and violently try to take control and also between rival dealers. Many lives have been lost and not only those of “traffickers”. These wars are not only the fault of the dealers in the favelas when you look at how the trouble started and see the bigger picture the Brazilian government and police have always hugely benefitted from the drugs trade and so you cannot blame the people of the favelas solely for these troubles .

There is of course another side to life in the favela and to the outside world largely undiscovered. A life of happiness filled with culture, and an enormous sense of community, host to thousands of friendly faces. My experience of favela life is mostly of Vidigal of which this blog represents. They are not facing violent times and everyone sees this as very much in the past. They do not wallow in self-pity or live in slum-like conditions. They are the most happy, ambitious, welcoming, respectful, loving people I have ever experienced. There is no talk of war and sadness only of new times and happy futures. The patchwork of houses and maze of alleyways which make up the favela are full of life and good vibes. A place where your children can play safely alone in the streets and your front door can be left unlocked. The culture is abundant. There is theatre, live music, baile funke parties, samba, forro and pagode beaming from every corner. 

There are not many places in the world where a foreigner can move in and be hugged by the community. In other places in the world a foreigner may be seen as an outsider or a new face to a community may take time to be accepted. The people of Vidigal will always make time for you. It is a place where strangers will often open their doors to you and invite you to spend time with their family. There is an energy here like no other place I have experienced. I have never felt safer.

And so in effect this is the reason for my blog. It is to represent the people of Vidigal, the community and to let them tell their own stories of life in the favela.