Phoebe contacted me months before coming here to volunteer. I showed her a few projects where they could use her help and she made many friends in Rocinha. This is her story.
1.) What is your name? Where are you from? My name is Phoebe, I am from Cambridge in England
2.) How did you come about visiting Brazil?
I am currently a gap year student, I saved to come travelling this year. Brazil has been my dream destination since I was a child. Mostly for its multiculturalism and dance. Being from England, Brazil stands for all that is exotic and other.
3.) How did you find out about Rocinha? Why did you decide to stay in Rocinha?
I've stayed in ghettos in Africa. I prefer this grassroots living. Historically, these marginalised areas are the main generators of culture and community. I chose to come to a favela to stay close to the insinuating rhythms of real Brazil.
I did my research of favelas in Rio. Rocinha is the biggest; is fairly visited by tourists; and is where pacification has been fairly effective. So for me it was ‘accessible’. When I wanted to learn more I contacted Zezinho whom I discovered through his online blog and he offered to help me find voluntary projects and recommended me accommodation.
4.) What kinds of things are you doing in Rocinha?
I found volunteer work with the help of Zezinho who located the places I work and enabled me to meet and communicate with the organisers. I teach contemporary and ballet dance at a local dance studio called ‘Aberte da Espaco’ run by a lovely, talented former-dancer named Yolanda. And, I teach English with an Italian NGO called ‘il sorriso dei mei bimbi’. It's an open class hosted in a beautifully bohemian book cafe renovated from a garage.
I approach voluntary work as a cultural exchange of ideas and
experiences towards a greater dissemination of knowledge.
For example, at ‘Aberte da Espaco’, as well as give classes I
am also learning Afro-Brazilian and Samba dance which is so central to
Brazilian culture. I love being involved with dance because this training
stimulates students creatively and challenges them physically which balances
and fufills a person spiritually.
And the Garagem provides a space for the convergence of people
and ideas, a hub of activity, that puts motion into social development. My
English class has a nice diversity of students of all ages and abilities to
compose a picture of the community locally and outside of Rocinha.
The ‘give and take’ is the beauty of this interaction so I
would stress travellers need not feel obliged to pay to volunteer with
projects. I think that tarnishes the ethos.
5.) What do you like about Rocinha?
I would describe Rocinha as an intriguing amalgamation of
Alice's wonderland and Batman’s Gotham city. Real and surreal. For a traveller
searching for the fantastical Unknown but with a gritty down-to-earthness, lost
in major touristic attractions, Rocinha could not better epitomise this.
My experience here I have coined the
‘falling-down-the-rabbit-hole-syndrome’, that is to say, the novelty and
strangeness doesn't cease to impress itself upon me. Everyday I am the fresh-eyed
Alice, or even the young Miranda exclaiming “Oh brave new world; that has such
people in’t”.
The people are warm and abrasive which is my favourite kind.
The favela that never sleeps, it also lives and breathes. You don't need to
lodge in Copacabana to feel at the centre of it all.
6.) What don't you like about Rocinha?
There isn't enough of an intellectual culture here which I
think there could be with the introduction of more social projects. I'd like to
see some that promote arts and stage panel debates and host book clubs etc . A
friend of mine is establishing a touring exhibition of his graffiti work in the
area which I think is a great idea, though more targeted at tourists. There
could be more for locals to engage with.
7.) How has been your overall experience here?
My days in Rocinha flutter by in casual disorder in between
chilling on a stoop with neighbours eating acai; drinking in local bars where I
recognise faces and mine is too now familiar; liaising on Sao Conrado beach
which I prefer to Ipanema and Copacabana for its quiet tranquility; and cooking
up a churrasco on a veranda in the hood. That is just the backdrop to my
experiences here, yet it stages a very colourful scene. A scene which I feel
apart of.
I enjoy the soundscapes: moto engines, funky beats from sound
systems, samba whistles, and church bells, and a hum of chatter. The scenery
when I'm soaring down Estrada da Gavea on a moto taxi or clambering up the
alley of rua 1. All this is charged with a breath of Rocinha's spirit and it
invigorates me and it's what I’ll remember and take with me.
8.) What would you change about the favela?
Like many favelas after pacification, Rocinha must take strides for greater
infrastructure, particularly its sewage systems.
9.) We know that you are only here for 2 months, do you plan to
return to Rocinha someday?
I fully intend to come back. I have made many personal ties
here with people and the place and it would be a pleasure to return in the
future. I am very interested to conduct academic research here for my
anthropology degree and beyond.
10.) What is it that you would like the world to know about the
favela?
This may be a ghetto but there is no ghettoisation of the mind.
Rocinha does not follow a typical paradigm for poor, less educated communities
around the world. Its infrastructure may be underdeveloped but its progressive
ideals pertain to the first world.
Here, women will be at the beer as much as men. And work and
party equally to their counterpart. Amongst the hyper masculine Brazilian males
you will find a thriving LGBT community, transgender people are seamlessly
integrated into the community without need for subcultures and fabulous Drags
will stride with confidence, no heads turned. And the locals won't be gawking
at the new gringo on the block. Generally, there is a sense of exposure and an
air of open-mindedness.
Another thing, the entire time here I have felt comfortable
walking alone at absolutely any time of day and night. As a female expect a few
whistlers and depending on where you go out maybe an arm grabbing but nothing
enough to make me personally feel vulnerable or endangered.
To get the most of the favela experience be conscientious and a
little bold.
Befriending locals was the best way for me to educate myself
and better explore the place. There's no real point plainly stating you can't
go somewhere because it's dangerous. To rationalise this claim; a dangerous
situation will not arise without provocation. That is to say, a drug trafficker
isn't going to pay you much notice unless you really give them a reason to. So
just be sensible and respectful but mostly relax, we are all human.
To volunteer contact us at: visitrocinha@gmail.com
