Culture shock in Favela Rocinha

I've been into the favela, Rocinha (pronounced hoh-see-nya) twice now.  I'll be assisting primary school aged kids who need a bit of one on one with their English classes, to help them hopefully catch up.  In between classes I'll be doing a bit of work with the graffiti art team and perhaps helping out with the agriculture project in one of the other favelas.  One of the young men volunteering is from the first established sustainable almond farm in California and he and I got talking about permaculture (he'd never heard of it).  He's interested in adapting sustainability to small scale projects and I suggested permaculture would be something to look into.  
 
  
It's difficult to describe the ramshackle nature of the constructions.  There have been collapses in the upper favela, after which the government drew a line (real or imaginary I'm not sure) and moved everyone above the line into some purpose built apartment blocks.  You cannot gaze around as you walk due to the presence of dogs, cats and chickens roaming around (especially dogs and cats).  If you're not paying attention you may step in something very unpleasant, even of the human variety occasionally, although this is not common.
 
  

The residents of the favela love to have their walls painted and it breaks up the ugly grey concrete and bricks stacked and slapped all over the place.  They also very much appreciate their children having the opportunity to learn English because this greatly increases their employability and likelihood of earning more money.  Well, after a few hot hours in the favela, I was looking forward to a dip down at Copacabana Beach.  Agradavel! (Lovely!). I was blessed to find 2 of my hostel room mates at the beach so they minded my towel etc. while I got wet.  So nice!
Signing off for now.  Thanks for reading. Linda
 
 

Comments

  1. UnknownApril 26, 2017 at 4:32 PM

    Very good Linda!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Heidi KinderApril 26, 2017 at 11:05 PM

    Looks like you are having an amazing time. Am enjoying your blog. Looking forward to the next post. :-D

    ReplyDelete

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