Reva J. California

The Favelas are Affecting Everyone.

The Favelas are Shanty towns located in Brazil.

Dear Future President,

The Favelas in Brazil have a humongous impact on the people who call Brazil home because of how the government resents the Favelas, and how it lowers tourists since the Favelas can be a dangerous place.

The Government of Brazil ignores the problems of the Favelas because of the issues that occur there. But that definitely does not solve the problems in the Favelas. Ignoring the issues does not resolve the problems. “When we found out that they were going to hold the Olympics in Rio, we knew that our problems were going to get worse” says a local Favela resident of Rio. The government did not want to expose the reality of the Favelas to the athletes and tourists that came for the Olympics, because of the drugs and how they look. Already, Rio had to make 10,000 families homeless due to constructing the stadiums for the Olympics. Some residents protested and made petitions, nothing changed. Brazilians had no choice but to build Favelas because of slaves. The slaves could not afford to live anywhere else, so they decided to make a house with recycled material and create a community. Same with the labor workers,they also could not afford housing, so they created their own. With all this said twenty five percent of Rio’s population lives in Favelas.

The thing is with all the problems that occur in the Favelas daily, such as drugs and no government, causes the economy to go on a downfall. “Things are less regulated her...and we’ve basically been forgotten about” says Mauricio. Since the Favelas have no government and no rules no one can stop what happens, which can be a huge negative impact. But the neglect from the government creates a creative survival. Mauricio, himself in his Favela has created a room dedicated to photography of the Favelas where people come and get inspired and a little shocked.But there is a dark side to this situation, some favela communities are mainly run by drug gangs which creates bad impacts for the children growing up there.

Still with all of this happening, people in Rio might be some of the most creative people alive. Such as Fiero. Fiero is just one out of many people has created a humongous garden, which used to be a pile of trash made out of recycled materials like tires, mason jars, bicycle wheels and other household items. Fiero is one of the many people create magnificent things to inspire others or to create change in their surroundings. The government should really reward these people by giving them a voice which everyone deserves These people should have a say in what goes on and what should not be happening in their own society. What is happening right now in the Favelas is unacceptable and something has to be done.

All in all, the residents of the Favelas need to be a given a voice, that’s really it. Just someone who will hear all of their problems and come up with a solution right away.

Thanks for reading,

Reva

"Inside Rio's Favelas." YouTube. Vox, 1 Aug. 2016. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.

"What Rio Doesn't Want the World to See." YouTube. Vox, 11 June 2016. Web. 07 Nov. 2016.