BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE
The Favelas are a pretty amazing site when you see them in Rio. I saw them on the mountains from a distance, during the day and lit up at night. I drove through them, I even partially was able to walk into one (not very far or into the neighborhood, just one of the smaller markets there). The only thing I could think of is how different that is from “the projects” in the United States. In the US these neighborhoods, to my understanding are built by private sectors or a type of government housing for those with lower income. In Rio, these large communities were built brick by brick, by the people that live in them, since a lot of the population in these areas are those that work in construction or fabrication.
I found that incredibly astounding on a human and communal level. They may not have everything that people with higher incomes have, there may be drugs and murders occurring too often that results from poverty, but the fundamental thing I saw was that the individual people that make up these homes, built them all themselves. They didn’t go out looking for handouts from outside sources, they came together to build their own lives and homes for each other. I didn’t get to meet anyone from there, but I can’t imagine everyone that lives there causes harm to themselves or others. I know there is a huge beacon of culture living and breathing through these areas. And I can’t get over the fact that “by the people for the people” is the high level take away I saw while driving and walking around those areas. For me it was one of the most inspiring things about the human condition and creating life where most feel pessimism. There was definitely a rose that grew from the concrete in these communities and shouldn’t be looked as poverty or pity, but definitely inspiration of what groups of people can accomplish when banded together.