Daniel Hoffman and the Photography project

 

 

I have known Daniel Hoffman for about three years. He contacted me about meeting and wanting to visit Rocinha, not for a tour, but just to meet me as we had been writing to each other online. We often write about issues in the news to each other regarding favelas and the future for us here in Rocinha. I knew he enjoyed photography and I thought of this idea of disposable cameras and kids. The idea is to have the kids take fotos of their lives. Rocinha and other favelas are very misunderstood places. Through Photography, these kids get to show through fotos, what their lives are like here. So, the idea was set.

 

We had explained the idea but how to do it? I told Daniel that he could use a fundraiser site like KICKSTARTER to raise money to buy the equipment needed so he would not have to spend all of his own money. So, he made a site and many donated. My challenge was finding the location. First, I contacted the library but they old us no. I contacted FABRICA VERDE and they welcomed the idea. We set two days to do this project. One day to distribute the cameras and the second day to have the cameras returned. After the cameras were returned, Daniel's plan is to develop the film, put it online and create a site where the world can see Rocinha through the eyes of residents! The majority were kids but 5 adults, including me took part.

 

I wanted you to hear from Daniel about this project, so I interviewed him. But first I want to thank Ana Paula, Cintia Porto and FABRICA VERDE for helping to facilitate this project!

 

Explain a little about who you are where you live? I am a husband, father and professor who lives in New Jersey. I am married to a wonderful woman who is as funny as she is smart and we have two boys who are already well traveled, very social and full of energy. My profession is to conduct research and teach at Rutgers University. I am a faculty member in the Department of Nutritional Sciences where my focus is on the long-term effects of poor growth on health in children living in developing countries.

 

How did you find Rocinha? Why do you keep returning to Rocinha? I first heard about Rocinha while conducting research in the shantytowns of Sao Paulo. About ten years later I was going from Rio to Barra. Upon exiting the Zuzu Angel Tunnel, I looked to my right and was awestruck as Rocinha seemed to explode before me. I felt an enormous wave of emotion as I wanted to stop and explore the maze of streets and houses and sensed the energy of the people who were walking around, but my taxi driver said I wouldn’t survive five minutes and wouldn’t stop. A few years later I made contact with Zezinho and I took the opportunity to visit Rocinha with my wife. We had a wonderful evening walking around and talking with Zezinho and I started to build a relationship with the community. It’s an addictive energy that I have been able to experience without any of the sensationalistic aspects that we read about in the news.

 

Why Rocinha (also explain a little about the motoboy project)? Before graduate school I worked as a professional phototographer with a stock agency in Washington, DC, but left that life for academics. However, I have never given up photography and have completed projects documenting the life of marginalized populations. Thus, I have a deep interest in documenting life as it is in Rocinha. Rocinha is a balanced community in that it is not poor, it is not full of crime, it’s a community that comes together in a very difficult setting. Yet, the people who are Rocinha are fantastic, you see it in the streets, homes, attitudes, and so on. During my first visit we took a motoboy uphill to Zezinho’s home and I gasped a bit as I saw my wife zoom off into the dark on the back of motorcycle driven by a guy I didn’t even know and I asked myself, “Am I, or both of us, insane and not thinking about our children?”. Still, I had complete trust and faith that the driver was not a scoundrel who would do something bad to her or us. As we drove off I became interested in the dynamics of the motoboys, both as a visual issue as well as the informal economy. It was a few years before I made it back to Rocinha as most of my work is in Sao Paulo. Alas, with some planning I returned to photograph the life of a motoboy and spent a few hours riding with a motoboy as he made he way around Rocinha. It quickly turned from a project on the dynamics of motion as you ride through the streets to one of an opportunity to see snippets of life in the street of Rocinha.

 

Can you explain the idea behind your project? The motoboy project developed into a self-published book and motivated me to bring photography to the children of Rocinha. Zezinho and I worked together to form a program where children would get a disposal camera for one day to take pictures of whatever they felt represented life in Rocinha. We are in the early stages of this program and hope to build the program into a community event. The basic idea of the project is to simply introduce children to the joys of photography as a means of bringing them to a new arena of communication as well as showing them how they can communicate with a larger audience through their photoblog. From this we hope to build community pride and maybe even have random photo shows of the children’s work. The possibilities are vast and we are just beginning this program, so there is a lot of work and planning ahead. We hope to continue the project for a long period and develop a book and showing of the photos taken by the children to build self-confidence and pride in Rocinha.

 

What does the world need to know about places like Rocinha? Having worked in number of these communities, I have heard from many people in Brazil and other countries about how people perceive “slums” or “favelas”. Many people believe that poverty isn’t the issue and point to the number of homes with cable television or cellphones and say that people in favelas are simply taking utilities for free and taking advantage of their situation to have material goods without doing anything for them. However, the reality is much more complicated, it isn’t an issue of poverty or education or corruption, it’s a matter of social justice. I think it is important for people who have never visited a place like Rocinha, to think first about who lives there, try to understand who they are and what their life is like. From what I have seen, between Sao Paulo and Rio, people are people and they are living their lives as many others do, worrying first about their families, second about their income, and third about their community. After this I think it is necessary for people to consider the origins of favelas and the reasons they still exist. Understanding favelas is complicated and it takes time and energy, but considering that a good proportion of people in Sao Paulo and Rio live in favelas, it’s absolutely essential if you wish to fully understand Brazil, especially if you are a citizen of Brazil.

 

What do you want to do in the future in regards to Rocinha? My main hope for the future of Rocinha is that it becomes safer for people who live there and that this can be done without the heavy armed influence of the police. Also, I hope that Rocinha continues to be a place where foreigner as well as Brazilians can learn about favelas, but not turn it into a gentrified tourist destination where people come to simply say that visited a favela. It’s about the people and the energy and there should not be a sacrifice of the humanity of Rocinha for improved conditions or global awareness.

 

To learn more about Daniel Hoffman's work check out his sites below: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7600851@N02/sets/72157638810334154/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/7600851@N02/sets/72157638209636926/ http://djhoffman101.zenfolio.com http://djhoffmanphotography.wordpress.com

Accidently deleted email

Somebody named CHARLOTTE sent me a email and I didn't get to open it..it was deleted by accident...please email me again..thank you..

I Love Rocinha!

 

I have always liked being involved in community projects. We just finished a camera project with 26 youth here in Rocinha that I will write about in more detail later. I remember almost 1 year ago a girl came from the UK and brought these bracelets that said "ROCINHA" on them. She gave me about 150 to pass out to people here in the favela. People loved them so much that I thought of this idea to have some made up to give to people here.

 

Life in a favela is a challenge for many people here. I am not rich but wanted to give something small and with meaning especially to adults here. I do mostly participate in projects for kids and youth but rarely involve adults. I wanted this bracelet project to connect and be a self esteem builder for a portion of the community that many dismiss. We have many NGO' but 95% of them are for youth and children. So this idea by me was to approach adults and ask "Voce ama a Rocinha?"(Do you love Rocinha?), and if they said yes, I would give them a bracelet.

 

I contacted a good friend of mine Rita Michel from New York who was a big help in ordering the bracelets and bringing them here. In the United States the bracelets cost about 60 cents each. I looked around here in Brazil and companies wanted equal to 2 or 3 times that price, so Rita and I got to work. She ordered the bracelets and arrived here in Rocinha a week ago. I now have 900 bracelets to give out as I walk through the streets.

 

When I am not working, this is a good way to get to know people better, let them know about our work, the dj school and various projects we becoming involved in. I think I have given out about 80 so far. The bracelets are adult size so they would not really work for children. This is also a chance for people to stand up and be proud of living in this wonderful favela of Rocinha!

 

In February, I hope to receive more bracelets! This is going to be fun!

 

How do events like World Cup and the Olympics affect the favelas?

 

foto by Zac Fabiano

 

I often receive students who are writing papers for university. This is a email I just received. I think its easier if I put it here.

 

Dear lifeinrocinha,.... I just found your blog on Rocinha and I must say I was very impressed. It is nicely done and very informative. I am very thankful to you for writing it in English, because I can't speak Portuguese. (I read your blog entry on this topic and thought I'll tell you how helpful that was!) At my school we have to write an essay of about 2500-4000 words and I chose the favelas as my topic. My research question is "How do major sports events such as the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics affect the favelas?". But I lack first hand information: I can't fly over to Brazil from where I live to personally interview the favelados. So I was wondering if you could answer a few of my questions, if you don't mind. I am sure you are very busy, but I would really be grateful if you could find the time to answer the following questions:

 

1. What are the current emotions in Rocinha (how do the people/you feel about the Olympics and the World Cup being hosted in Brazil)? -I think the general idea is most people here in Rocinha really don't care about the mega events (World Cup and Olympic Games). Most people here in the favela earn between 600-1000 reais a month, and with ticket prices averaging about 60 reais, there's really no way a person from here can afford to go. Its not just the ticket prices but also transport to get to and from the game and then if you want to buy drinks or food, there is more cost. So for one person it can cost including the ticket about 90 reais. I know I wont be going to any games as I like most favelados, will be working. We will watch the games here in our favela and cheer our team on but life continues and we need to work to survive. These games are for tourists, middle class and rich people. They are not for us! Our contribution to these mega events is that many of the construction workers building the stadiums are from favelas.

 

2. How do the preparations for the World Cup/Olympics affect your daily life? Do they harm the favelas? And if so: how? -The mega events on their own really doesn't affect my life. I know that in my favela there are some new projects being build. They are trying to improve some situations here. In Rocinha they plan to build this overhead cable car thing called a "teleferico" but most people here don't want it. We want basic sanitation and to have the many open sewers covered in the community. We also want better education and health services for our residents. Another thing that has affected every part of the city including the favela is increase in prices for things like rent and housing prices. There is a lot of speculation now. My old house where I used to rent, now the present owner wants to sell it for 100,000 reais, yet he bought the house for 40,000. Food is still very reasonably priced here but we have new stores from the outside moving in. Subway Sandwiches just arrived two months ago. Just waiting on when Domino's Pizza will arrive. I am not sure if this is good or bad?

 

I think everybody can agree that Rio de Janeiro doesn't have a great reputation when it comes to crime statistics. Because of this reputation the government of Rio has really had to take a close look at how to improve their reputation to attract foreign and local investment and attract tourists to come to these events. The favelas have always been in the media eye but for the wrong reason. When people say the word "favela", images of violence, murder and drug trafficking comes to mind. The media rarely talks about the 98% honest hard working people who live here who just earn little money. They focus on the negative.

 

With that, the government decided to create these special police units called UPP's (Pacifying Police Units) and install them in certain favelas. The purpose of these police is to take control over the area and flush out the drug dealers from the area. These UPP's would only be present in favelas close to tourist areas or locations holding the mega events. Right now approximately 38 favelas have been "pacified". To the outside world, this idea is refreshing as it presents the city as being safer. But to me, its all window dressing and the reality is quite different. The drug dealers still exist and are selling their drugs with corrupt police still getting their bribes to turn the other way. In Rocinha we have had more shootings and conflicts since the UPP's have been here. There have been 42 shootings inside the favela since the police have been here. Most of these police are young recruits who have probably never been inside a favela. These young police always have their hands on their guns "ready" for anything, while we walk by wondering what the big deal is. We in favelas support the laws and policing. What we don't support is corrupt police that say one thing and do another. The police say they want to get rid of drugs, yet business goes on a usual and they allow it. We don't like verbal threats, physical abuse and killings of residents (Amarildo de Souza case) because we may get in a argument or two over how police don't know how to treat us. Do you know that in the last 10 years over 200 residents in Rocinha have gone missing? Just up and disappeared? I just ignore the police and don't make eye contact with them. What OUR favela (and other favelas) need is LESS guns (police) and more education. Our young adults need trade schools if they cant enter university. We in favelas, make up approximately 1.9-2 million of the population of Rio, almost 30%. We are the service workers in the city. With out us, the city would not operate. We deserve better!

 

3. Are there any protests, because the favelados are being forced to move out of their houses? Is this also happening in Rocinha? -In Rocinha there have been no removals and I hope it stays that way. But other favelas that are close to where mega events are taking place are at risk for being removed. The protests in Rocinha have been more about Amarildo de Souza who has been missing since July 14th. There are police that have been charged with his torture and murder. He was a construction worker, family man, father of 6 children, and not involved in any illegal activity even though the police and media tried to say he was involved in selling drugs.

 

4. What is being done to help the favelados? Do they get relocated somewhere or are they just thrown out of their homes? -I'm not exactly sure, but apparently the government if they remove people, they offer them housing in another area of the city. People from favelas at risk of this have also protested and involve Amnesty International and other organization to help fight any removals.

 

5. Anything else you want to add? -I just want to see the stigma of favelas go away and see the city as together supporting each other. I love my favela very much and I don't plan on moving. Unfortunately, we have a long way to go..

 

Update: just now I found this article about two shootings that took place today. One was at 10:30am this morning the top of the hill in a area called Rua 1 (First street), the other around 3pm not far from my house in Cachopa. Further in the article they talk about gunfire in the favela last Wednesday after the Flamengo football win. Here is the link. Cut and paste the link and put it in your browser. Its in Portugues but if you cut and paste google translate, you can get the idea! So much for "Pacification"

 

http://extra.globo.com/casos-de-policia/rocinha-volta-viver-dia-de-confrontos-nesta-segunda-feira-10948425.html

 

Donations and Transparency

 

Joy decided to inspect the CDJ covers!

 

 

The last foto is the Dj table and now all 6 CDJ's have plastic covers. My cat Joy decided to step in for a foto!

 

I have always felt a little uncomfortable with receiving money donations because I know that many non profit organizations have a history of not being honest where donation money goes. I have always preferred receiving equipment or materials to help our Dj school Spin Rocinha. I think its very important for people to know where there donations are going.

 

Last month a visitor made a tour with us and donated 50 reais and this month we received another donation of 50 reais. I had already made a plan to by compact disk player (CDJ) covers for our equipment. With electronics being so expensive, its important to protect them. Living in the favela complicates things more because of dust and dirt everywhere. I try to keep windows closed in the Dj school to limit any problems. We use a blue tarp to cover the full table but the individual plastic covers work very well on each piece of Dj equipment. Also my cats tend to like to lie or sleep on the equipment so the hard plastic covers will be a more comfortable surface for them.

 

Today, I went to Copacabana to a Dj store called SYGNO MUSIC and bought two CDJ covers which cost 510.00 reais. So, that total of 100 reais in donations helped me to buy these. I need to thank Tom Gingell and John Amos for helping us at Spin Rocinha. We hope that they can return to our project!

 

Our next big plan is to buy a building here so we can expand the Dj school and also have a separate room for a recording studio. We have much talent here in Rocinha and want to open up Spin Rocinha to singers and MC's here in the favela! We will keep you posted!

Volunteering in Rocinha

 

A foto of some of the people who work with Favela Adventures, from left to right: Jody King (Dj, Tour guide and hostel manager), Dembore da Silva (Dj and instructor at our NGO Spin Rocinha, Tour guide), Andre (local football coach), Freddy Gomes (Dj, volunteer at Spin Rocinha, Tour guide, football player, NGO director of Sonvela), Zezinho (Director Favela Adventures, Founder of Spin Rocinha, Dj and Tour guide), and Erik Martins (English teacher and Tour guide).

 

I often get emails about people wanting to volunteer or help out in some way. I have access to many projects here that need or would welcome help from anybody. I have had the opportunity to meet some amazing people that have come here and help out. I usually post about their work here.

 

We welcome people to come bring their talents to share. If you are a juggler, can teach magic, teach dance, anything will do. I have access to a large space that can accommodate you and your "art" or project.

 

To volunteer through us, all I ask is if you are going to be working with a specific project to bring materials. For example if you are going to teach English bring notebooks, or English books. If you can't afford that, make worksheets for the students. People in favelas don't have money to spend on this but they desperately want to learn.

 

I had a wonderful woman Lucy from the US come and visit and she brought art materials for the small school. She brought crayons, paintbrushes, colored pencils and paints. She said she went to a "99 cent" store in the US and spent about 50 US dollars on the materials. After her doing this, I thought this is a great way to directly put back into the project. Many non profits receive money but often very little of the money gets to the project. Or if money does get the project, it doesn't get spent on what is needed.

 

As you see from my previous post, Beccy McCray only spent one week here yet contributed so much to Rocinha! She brought her own supplies to aid in the completion of her 3 art projects!

 

I have always been against travelers volunteering and having to pay some organization astronomical fees. I see value in volunteers. You spend your hard earned money to travel to some far off place to give freely your time and energy. You should not have to on top of that pay money to some organization that pockets most of the money. Please do your research if looking to volunteer especially in some developing nation.

 

What I recommend for people coming to Rocinha, who want to volunteer and who do not want to pay a service charge to an organization is to contact me directly. I will do the best I can to find you a project that suits your needs. All I ask, is to bring donations of materials for the project you want to work with. I also receive many donations that we distribute throughout the favela to different projects. In past blog posts you can read about our distributions here in the favela.

 

Some projects we have lined up are a photography class and a solar energy project that is in the beginning stages. We hope to expand to more diverse projects that can improve the lives of people living here.

 

We also have access to housing or staying in the favela as well. If you want to stay short term or long term, we have places for you to stay that will fit your needs. Anything from a homestay with a family to a two bedroom house.

 

For more information contact me at: visitrocinha@gmail.com

A Special Visitor

 

All photography by Beccy McCray and Rachel Tanugi Ribas

 

I love the work I do. I can meet awesome people from all over the world. I received a email a couple of months ago about a woman who wanted to make an art project here. She also wanted to stay in the favela which was even better. Her name is Beccy from the UK. She wanted to do three different art projects and was able to hook up with two NGO's here to work with residents to complete her ideas. The first of her projects was teaching residents how to weave or make friendship bracelets with colored string. The second project was making a huge art board of a favela but made with items used from garbage or recycling. The third was these kites with messages written on them that would be exchanged with people in the UK. I had a chane to interview Beccy about her visit work here in Rocinha!

 

1. Whats your name? Where are you from? Beccy McCray; I'm an artist from the UK, based between Hackney and Hastings.

 

2. Talk a bit about your background with art (mention your website, blog) I explore playful, socially engaged art and design using a multi-disciplinary approach in whatever realm necessary to create imaginative acts of resistance and more human moments in the world. Elevating the everyday and the things that really matter, I aim to break down boundaries between art, activism and everyday life. Her practice ultimately aims to spread a little joy and inspire positive change at a grass roots level, using creativity to communicate environmental and social ideals that go hand in hand: www.beccymccray.com I also work under the name of Crafternoon Tea Club, a project with collaborator Hannah Elbourne, which explores participatory and community art, combined with DIY craft-based tradition which can take any form; from games and installation, to collage, baking, parties and painting. The project acts as both curator and collaborator; creating artistic frameworks within which unexpected situations can occur. It aims to blur lines between artist and audience, bringing people together through the sharing of materials and ideas, and use collective powers for the greater good. To find out more about Crafternoon Tea Club and further Crafternoon projects click here: http://www.crafternoonteaclub.com Recent projects and latest artworks have been commissioned by the Turner Contemporary, The Olympic Park Legacy Company, The Barbican, The National Theatre, Secret Garden Party, Home Live Art, Hastings Council, Coastal Currents arts festival, Create London, and the Women's Institute.

 

3. How did you find Rocinha? When I started looking into Rio's favela's Rocinha's name cropped up many times. I guess primarily due it being Latin America's largest favela, and because at the time I was researching the project there were some big news stories happening around Rocinha (e.g. the Amarildo de Souza case).

 

4. Why Rocinha and not some other place? I wanted to explore favela life to get a better understanding of how other communities and social systems operate. I knew that community spirit is very strong there and wanted to experience this first hand. I also wanted to use this knowledge to challenge misconceptions that most people have of life in favelas and the people who live in them. Rocinha felt like the most accessible favela for a first time visitor and the community centres I connected with were both based there.

 

5. Explain a little about the projects you were doing here. (mention two brothers and fabrica verde) I believe that art can be a catalyst for change, altering the way people see themselves and the world around them. Many people associate favelas with violence and drug trafficking; yet the vast majority of people here wish to live in peace. I wanted to challenge these misconceptions by using art to tell truths about favela life and its people. So during November I was based in Rocinha working with the local community at 2Brothers and Fabrica Verde community centres. Art can offer a different identity for people living in deprived areas like Rocinha and open up options that they may not have otherwise considered. Art can teach people of all all ages new skills and new concepts, such as recycling, making them realise that they can make a difference to their own lives and those of others. I have hopefully developed an on-going relationship with the people of Rocinha and have brought an opportunity to reach outside the favela, and even their country, to demonstrate the community spirit and creativity which is intrinsic to life here. If we can show the outside world these qualities it will not only help breed understanding, but also inspire hope and generate a feeling of empowerment for those living in the favela. Using art we have made connections with the UK and taken positive messages to the wider world we can generate media awareness and therefore make our own contribution towards combating social inequality and poverty in the area. You can see more about the project outcomes and final artworks here: http://beccymccray.com/Favela-Project-Nov-2013

 

6. What did you like about staying in the favela? The people. Everyone I met has been so hospitable, friendly, warm and kind. The street food is great too - people warn you off but I had churrasco every day for my dinner with no problems! Being in the heart of the favela; the alley ways, the hand painted signage, the tiny cafes, the live street samba, the amazing view of Rocinha on the hill from Dembore's window, the friendly faces - intriguing, beautiful, atmospheric and inspiring.

 

7. What didn't you like about staying in the favela? I was shocked at the amount of waste and rubbish everywhere. Also the dog poo! The constant noise and the density of the area became quite intense and opressive after a while too - it's really true that Rocinha never sleeps.

 

8. Would you recommend others to come stay in the favela and make projects here? Absolutely! The people of Rocinha are so uninhibited and creative.

 

9.What kinds of projects do you think are needed here? Projects which have educational benefit to the community and inspire hope. Also any project which raises awareness to the outside world of how life here really is and all the positive things about the community in Rocinha.

 

10. Overall how was your experience here in Rocinha? Incredible. It's impossible to fully prepare yourself for what its like here.

 

11. Anything else to add or advice to visitors/volunteers coming here? Bring earplugs to help sleep at night! If you want to look like less of a gringo, slow your walking pace down and get a pair of Havianas! Talk to people, don't be afraid, get to know the people you meet.

 

Its people like Beccy McCray who bring her art that helps to make the favela a better place to live. Thank you Beccy! If you have interest to make a project or volunteer here in Rocinha, please contact me at: visitrocinha@gmail.com