A Visit to A Favela - an economist's perspective

Martha already described what it was like to walk in the favela so I thought I would write about some of the economic and social development programs that the Brazilian government is implementing to transform the shanty towns.

The favela Chapeau Mangueira was the first favela built in 1897 in Rio. Soldiers that came back from the war of 1895 were not paid a salary by the government. Many of them were former slaves (slavery had recently been abolished by the government at that time). Since they couldn't afford to buy a house and would have gotten arrested if they had slept in the street they started building in the hills. The War had happened near a mountain where flowers called favelas grew so they named their new development 'favela'.

The favelas grew as people started migrating to this area from the North of Brazil in search of employment. Currently 25% of RJ (Rio de Janeiro) state lives in favelas. That means 1 out of every 4 of Rio's residents, or about 3 million people.

As we started our tour of the favela our guide Edson, a charming young man who made his living doing this, stopped at a junction between two streets. This separated two favelas, the one we visited and a neighboring one. Edson said at one point it was impossible to cross over to visit any one from the neighboring favela due to the fact that the two were bitter soccer rivals , or futbol as it is known in Latin America.

At that intersection we also saw a
Community exercise center that had been built for the use of the whole community. This was followed by a brand new concrete structure which looked out of place in the surroundings. This was a housing complex built to provide 16 families with new housing. Right across from it was the Unit police peacekeeper (UPP) building and a sign which signified that the favela had been 'pacified'. The police announces that it is going to move in to pacify a favela beforehand. This allows the drug gangs to leave and possibly go to a different favela that has not been pacified or move elsewhere. As you can imagine it does not solve the problem of drugs or gangs but simply moves it to a different location. Edson said as long as one gang 'rules' the favela there is very little violence and in fact he mentioned a number of things that the gang had provided for the residents of the favelas when the mayor and the city ignored them such as plumbing and the reservoirs for water which were built in the 1980s. Students in our class had watched the film City of God (Ciudad de Dios) and written a paper about it before we arrived in Brazil, so they were very familiar with the drug culture and life in favelas as they used to be and as many of them still are. Edson lost 16 friends due to drugs either because they were using or due to violence between police and gangs. He said there are still dealers but not as many and they don't sell in the community any more. If they get arrested they get arrested as users not dealers and only have to do community service.

As we continued our tour we saw the Community health center which the residents can use for free. It focuses on preventative health, vaccinations for children and pre- and post-natal health for mothers. Edson said that it is also cost- effective as it avoids visits to the hospital and clinics when people get sick.

Next we saw the Community school for kids. This was more of an extra opportunity for kids to get tutoring in subjects outside of the regular school that they attended. The school also offered classes in music, chess, dance.

We learned that the money from the favela tour goes to the favela to support all the community projects which made us all feel like the whole experience was even more worthwhile. In 2011 UN Sec General Ban Ki Moon visited this favela and we saw photographs of his visit in the community school. We also saw several
Green projects that the residents were initiating such as planting herbs, trees.
The idea was that children would tend to the gardens and learn about horticulture as well.

Next we visited an Arts and crafts workshop where the women sewed purses, wallet and made paintings and other crafts. The Paintings represent favelas and favela life and were extremely colorful (I bought one at an open air market last night). The women who do this work are called Babylon warrior women, since the mountain on which the favela was built is called Babylonia.

Somewhere along the way we acquired a canine guide. A friendly collie decided to join us and basically herded us for the rest of the tour. Perhaps he was partial to all the petting and attention he received from many of us!

Edson told us that around 35% of people in the favela are unemployed . However this is a mis-leading statistic because it Includes people with informal sector jobs such as the women who do the crafts for sale. Others have formal jobs and work in shops or even banks.

Edson himself was considered unemployed because he's self-employed. Last year that classification changed and the government now allows him to pay a fixed income tax every year so he can earn benefits .

The population of this favela was 80500. Edson admitted to a considerable
problem with 12-17 year olds who had a high truancy rate and crime is getting them arrested. Previously kids under 18 just had to do community service and did not face jail time.

The government also employs former prisoners who can now earn salaries by working on constructing the new apartments we saw.

Part of the tour included a strenuous hike through a forest that was planted in 1992. From 1992 until now they planted over 65 soccer fields worth of trees. 20 people did all the planting. As we started the hike we saw the first house built in 1902 in the favela and were surrounded by jackfruit, avocado , lime, banana, papaya, and guava trees reflecting the natural bounty available to the residents. Drug dealers used to hide out at the top of forest so Edson's parents used to scare him off by telling him stories of a werewolf that lived there.

Finally we talked about some of the changes occurring and what they meant for the residents. The minimum salary is about 650 Reis. With pacification residents are now paying property taxes
of around 300 Reis. Most families earn about the equivalent of two salaries.
Property values have gone up with pacification. Property taxes are around 8% so one big downside is that taxes will go up along with property values and some people won't be able to live here anymore. Edson said in 5-10 years there may be no favela at all. In fact he said the Mayor already informally refers to the area as Leme Heights. Once again the problem of poverty doesn't necessarily get addressed at its roots but instead gets shifted to a different realm.

All in all this was one of the most educational and interesting mornings we spent and one that hopefully will be memorable to many of the students. Several of them are planning to do their projects on different aspects of the favela so there will be more if this to look forward to!!