Favelas

We had the opportunity to visit a couple of favelas here in Curitiba. For those of you who do not know, a favela is the term for the shantytowns, slums or "informal settlements" formed illegally by squatters in the outskirts of the city. They are prevalent in all major cities in developing countries. Although some of the houses are made out of material as flimsy as cardboard, many have developed a vibrant, supportive, community network. A lot of cities, including Curitiba, are moving to "regularize" these communities by providing infrastructure such as roads and sewage treatment to the settlements, thus improving their quality of life. It is very difficult and expensive, however. Also, a lot of times these settlements are located in environmentally sensitive areas so the governments have to relocate families and then put something else in place, such as a park, so as to prevent "an invasion" again. 

A common profession of those living in the favelas is one of being a catadore, or waste-picker. These people go through the city picking up recycled material and then take it to a processor for payment. This topic is what I am doing my research on while in Brazil.  It has been a constant struggle for the catadores to gain recognition for the work they do. Curitiba has been relatively good at supporting their 3000 or so waste-pickers by implementing specific social programs to assist them, but there is still so much more to be done. 

The pictures show the stream that serves as the sewage dump as well as images of trash collection activity within the favela. Notice the one house is almost inside the creek. There are also pics of how children entertain themselves... although the boy on the one-wheeled bike (double-click on image to expand it) was entertaining to us. The field in the background is located adjacent to a creek where former homesites once were. It is an example of a new use created to prevent people from settling along the creek again. Also, after telling someone about the boy flying the kite, I was informed that he was not just having fun but was alerting drug dealers that strangers were in the area.  I hope that's not true.