January 26, 2006

The slums in Rio de Janerio are situated on hills, and hence are one of the most visible features of the city.Violence, crime and drug trafficking are rampant in the area side by side with community development

I came to Brazil with the intention of studying its planned city — Brasilia — and how it has dealt with housing problems and its successes and failures. The other incentive was to look at the problems related to low-income housing in other cities in Brazil. The latter has become a lot more interesting for me, particularly in Rio de Janeiro, where the problem of the favelas (essentially the same concept as our katchi abadis) is not only vast, but is combined with the unique topography of the city, which is full of lush hills and beautiful coastlines.

So here, unlike in other Brazilian cities such as Sao Paulo, the favelas aren’t pushed out of sight but up on the hills, hence one of the most visible features of the city! A number of initiatives have been taken, both by the government and by private enterprises to deal with different aspects of the favela problems: violence, basic infrastructure and community development.

In Rio, I met a number of interesting and fascinating people, who have been able to help me with different aspects of my project. Due to the very real danger of violence and crime, I could not visit these areas without the help of people familiar with the area.

I joined a group of professors and students from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro to go to Jacarezinho, a favela in the north of the city.

It is a single street and unlike the traditional favelas of Rio, this one is on flat ground, not a morro (hill). The professors blocked of the street and rolled out huge sheets of white paper onto the ground. A number of children who had gathered there were asked to paint their homes and their families, and it was amazing to watch this huge sheet of white suddenly become one big painting. Done with the paper they commenced painting themselves, and then each other. Paint was flying all over, and soon they turned on the music and we had a party.

Exploring the few houses I was allowed to enter, they were for the most part, empty shells that housed families of five to eight persons. Outside, the children were running around on the streets; adorable, unkempt, dirty, and worse, with open sores and wounds.

I later pestered a friend to take me to Vidigal, one of the largest favelas in Zona Sul –– the southern part of Rio, which lies along the shoreline, and has the richest houses and condos and hence, a huge favela population which maintains them. Vidigal and Rocinha (claimed to be the largest slums of Latin America) have had an ongoing rivalry related to drugs and illegal arms trading and just a week earlier, they had a huge battle over arms. Spending the entire day walking up and around Vidigal’s steep stairways and curving streets, my guide remarked, “Funny, I only saw three trafficantes (drug traffickers).” He pointed out bullet riddled walls…but for the most part we had a peaceful walk through Vidigal. We went into houses, schools, the atelier of an artist, and also to the rich areas, which incredibly are still part of the favela having huge, lavish houses. Crossing the police stations and the commercial areas, we entered the radio station, where the host was so excited by my visit that I was made to talk on air to all of Vidigal. It’s a complete city in itself, with so much more to offer than drugs and violence.

The first ‘squatter settlements’ of Rio de Janeiro developed in 1897 with the sudden influx of over 10,000 ex-soldiers from the War of Canudos. The government’s promise of housing and work was the attraction that drew them from all over Brazil to the then-capital city. Predictably, however, the promise was lost within the intricacies of bureaucracy and they were forced to resort to alternative methods within their means, setting behind the central train station of Rio Rose, which came to be known as Morro da Favela. Favela is the name of a shrub that originated in the northeast of Brazil.

The soldiers were not the only newcomers to Rio de Janeiro; with the recent abolition of slavery a large number of former slaves moved there, as well as migrants from other parts of Brazil who were simply looking for better paid jobs and improved living standards promised by urban life. Taking the Morro da Favela as a role model, barracos or huts, sprung up on other morros that dot Rio’s landscape. By the 1940s, there were almost 60 different favelas throughout the city; now there are over 600. Of Rio de Janeiro’s population of roughly six million, almost 30 per cent live in favelas or other forms of clandestine housing.

Being the hub of culture, political and social life, Rio attracted a wide variety of people from different backgrounds in Brazil, similar to what Karachi has gone through for people from all over Pakistan. In Rio, the most popular and expensive areas developed in Zona Sul (the South Zone) along the beautiful coastline, with luxurious condominiums and hotels facing the beaches.

Due to certain building regulations, the hills that stood just behind these tall buildings remained empty. This situation, however, did not remain so for long, since those very hotels and apartments required a maintenance staff, workers, drivers, cooks, cleaners, etc., who realized that instead of commuting into the city that took up to four hours each day, they might have an option of living a lot closer to their work. Inspired by the makeshift shelters built on the Morro da Favela, the hills of the South Zone saw huts of discarded building materials springing up.

Practically in the backyard of the most expensive real estate in the country, these new favelas began increasing, while remaining invisible to those who chose to ignore them; the glitz and glamour of Rio’s lifestyle made unwanted sights such as the expanding favelas easy to overlook.

During the 1960s, the favela residents became more and more organized and articulate in their desire for their rights. They lived in the city yet they were not citizens, their homes were not considered part of the city, and the favelas were not considered to be actual neighbourhoods or bairros. Hence, the favelas were not provided with any of the infrastructure which was available to residents of other neighbourhoods of Rio.

With a dictatorial government in the late 1960s and 70s, these demands were not met. The most blatant manifestation of this were the slum-removal programmes implemented with full force during the years 1968-1975.

Within the favelas that remained, however, there developed a greater community consciousness as the dwellers of each individual slum began to work together to construct roads and drainage systems, and to obtain electricity, gas and water lines. Unlike the dwellers of the bairros, the people of the favelas had direct control over their immediate environment — their urban structure and their public spaces — because they were left to fend for themselves.

With time, their houses became sturdier, permanent, made of bricks and mortar. If a family could afford to build a concrete roof rather than wooden planks or a sheet of corrugated zinc covering their heads, that was seen as an investment for the future; the roof was then potentially the floor for an upper storey which could be rented for additional income.

Building on steep slopes makes some of the houses rather precarious, as often one side of a house is propped up on anything from a tree to a tower of crates piled on top of each other.

The people of the favela, the majority of whom are not involved in drugs or violence of any sort, are otherwise, forgotten. Yet, it is these very people who keep the city functioning, providing the labour and manpower, and the culture for which Rio is so famous. It is also ironic that higher up within the favelas, you have the most beautiful locations with the most gorgeous views.

Just after sunset, the first lights that come on in the city are on the hills, and then the rest of the city slowly lights up. But the favela lights remain the crown jewels, not regimented and regulated city lights but scattered sparkles on the hills, flowing downwards to meet in the darkness of the Bay of Guanabara, little rivulets of light that lead to the sea.n

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