favela life

this week we have been working in two of the favelas (slums) in rio. the first was called 'dupla brunei' and the second 'complexo'. life in the favelas for the large part is not as we expected. life seems to be really relaxed and the people are generally friendly, even tho the living conditions are extremely bad.

the complexo favela is based on two large hills that face each other. each hill is run by rival drug baron gangs (called the 3rd commandent and the commando verhmallo -or the red command). it is expected that no-one from opposing hills should try to sell drugs on the other ones patch. if someone does then there is generally violence, but this only occurs once every 3-4 months, leaving the hills peaceful the rest of the time! during the short time we were there, i did see one person with a huge AK-47 but for some reason you dont feel scared.

at complexo we helped a family with 22 members! 12 children and 6 grand children lived in two very small houses combined together. both houses had one bedroom, 'sitting room', kitchen and broken toilet. their house had been made very poorly and we joined in to help repair some of the walls, roof and doors. around the house there was a horrible smell from the kids urinating in the street, and sewage flowing on walkways that made working very difficult. after we finished with the building for the day, our leader said a prayer with the family as they were looking to save some money for a waterbox for the roof. however with no male figures around, and only two sisters working it is very hard for them to save any money at all. it was a very depressing day for us, but also a very good insight into favela life.

on a brighter note, we did have the best burger ever in the favela. probably about 50p and it tasted so amazing. from the top of either hill you could see for miles across rio de janeiro. a beautiful site, hopefully a photo can be uploaded later.

the work done by ywam here is a slow process, but it definitely is helping. we visited a house that had already been improved and the difference was huge. hopefully we will return to the complexo favela in the future and help continue the work there. a great experience all round.

family we helped

legends at the favela base

A little bit of culture...

Just thought that you may want a small sample of brasilian life, so i´ve decided to give my perceptions of life out here.
> People out here love coffee. This can be seen cos they drink it a lot. Although i don´t think they enjoy the taste. Cos they absolutely bury any flavour with about 6 table spoons of sugar. Ridic.
> Bus drivers out here think that they are Colin McCrae.
> Locals like it when you attempt to speak the language. Whether this is cos they think your accent is ridiculous or they are glad that you are trying i´m not sure. We were at a bus station askin for directions once and the woman we were talking too almost cried with laughter. Quite embarrasing...
> Weather here is always warm. Every 3 or 4 days there is a huge thunder storm with terrential rain. That day usually falls on the day that we do our washing so our clothes won´t dry.
> Rio is a lot safer than péople try to make out
> There are three things that i have never seen so many of in my life before coming to brazil: Beans, rice and ants. (they don´t eat the ants by the way)
> There is an abundance of different fruits to eat. Some taste like soap but others are really nice. (sam Acai is so overrated).
> Kevo is addicted to guarana, which is like a natural red bull fruit and gives him three pairs of wings (apparently)
> Although a lot of people like football, i´ve met a surprising number of people who don´t. If they don´t they usually like volleyball.
> Chrisianity is strange. everyone in the country is religious to some degree. Often you will go past evangelical churches and there is some screaming coming out from there. Yesterday went past one and you could only see the hands of the preacher coming over the altar. Not sure what i think bout all that.
> Buildings. All (or most) of the residential areas are made of rubbish buildings with holes in the walls. Brick laying appears to be a lost art out here. The people carry on regardless though.
> Favela life seems very laid back. Probably cos the people don´t have jobs! Streets are small and very southern european in feel. Free flowing sewage over your sandal is not recomendable.

Pictores

Excuse the randomness, but felt that the blog was lacking in description of the pictoral kind. Here´s a couple of pics of our viajars so far:


Copacabana beach. The guy is called Celso - aka legend



This was taken last week in the state above rio de janeiro. Absolutely quality
bloke from south africa. Siyabonga.


These are a load of people from the base. We´re much browner now tho!! I would
write all their names but don´t know them all. Its no talkin, just kissin over here.


In Hong Kong. We went up some mountain thing that overlooks the city. Pretty impressive view.



This one is in the liwa dessert (when we were in dubai). Biggest sand dessert in the world. Setting up camp for the night. The other guy is huw who we stayed with in dubai.

Maracana

rio has such a buzz, the people are constantly happy and seem to be giving us foreigners loads of encouragement, even tho are portugese is a little on the dodgy side.

on wednesday night, we went to the best footy game that ive seen in my life..well maybe not the standard of footy but the crowd atomsphere and support was electric. we went to the maracana (which was the biggest stadium in the world at one point) to watch flamengo play guarani. yes samuel, we have seen your team play at their home ground before you!

we drove in a mini bus up to the stadium where there was thousands of people all in the street, kinda like any premiership game really, all waiting to get inside the ground. once we got inside the ground we were able to stand anywhere within our section that we liked. people seemed to bunch together across half of the stadium, creating packed out stands in one half of the ground. soon after kick off flamengo scored their first goal and the crowd went crazy. all jumping and singing together. after that moment for the whole of the next 86 mins the crowd were never quiet. i have never seen anything like it at a footy game before. at one point 15,000 fans in one quarter all took off their shirts and spun them around their heads at the same time. it looked amazing, and i came away a flamengo supporter. the game finshed 5-1 to flamengo, which left our brazilans friends who went with us, with very sore throats! even after the game as we walked out onto the street, the fans were constantly chanting and singing as loud as they could.

no premiership game (well apart from liverpool beating spurs 6-3 when rushy scored his 300th goal) could compare to it. u will have to ask the other guys if they feel the same way, but i loved it. i cant imagine what it would be like if they had lost 5-1 tho??

Brasileiro

Been a while since the last update, also sorry for the lack of pics but no-can-do at the moment.

Since the last post, we have arrived in Brasil...via 40 hours of flying and some pig intestine. Yummy.
Anyways, have arrived to a tranquil place just outside rio de janeiro. Inside the base is very peaceful, surrounded by quite high walls. Outside is a very poor area, kev keeps on goin on about the hustle and bustle nature of the country. Apparently, according to him, "It is kicking off".
Everyone here is friendly, they all wear smiles constantly. People who can, try to speak in english for the dumb foreigners that we are. We are trying with our portuguese and having to learn fast.
Today was the first day of work here. We did some maintenance work in the morning before heading out to a local school in the afternoon. The classes are mad. Theres like 100 kids in these open-walled rooms all screaming and shouting, sounds like a swimming pool on a bank holiday. Not sure how they are kept under control.
We went there with a team from the base who did some dancing stuff for the kids for Easter, and we were like the zoo animals that come along to be pointed at. Well wierd. After the talk all the kids came up and were crowding round me kev and nick for autographs. I have to admit my ego is ridic big right now.
Anyways we get up at like 6 every mornin, and its a long hot day so gonna hit the hay.
Hope your all doing well
Al.

Welcome To Dubai : The City Of Gold

That sign should actually read....

Welcome To Dubai : The Worlds Largest Building Site





Status

Arrival : Safely and on time
Weather: Rain (it only rains twice a year!)
Accomodation: Top notch, Huw, Kate and their family are class.
Potential Earnings Lost: 1238 pounds
Tan Level: Zero
Tomorrows Activities: 4 x 4 trek into the desert and stay under the stars