Embratur
Here we meet many people who live in Brazilians cities.
Most big Brazilian cities have extremes of wealth and poverty. There are people who are very wealthy
and have huge houses with a maid to cook and clean for them, and also very poor people who do not
have enough money for a healthy diet. In this section we are first going to meet two young people who
live in São Paulo. They are both 15 years old but they live very different lives. Later we will hear from
several other people who live in Brazilian cities.
Hello. What is your name?
Hi. My name is Lucas. I live in a favela. What
do you think I look like?
Where do you live, Lucas?
Erika Tambke
I live on the outskirts of São Paulo. My
neighbourhood is full of houses that people
have made themselves from any material they
can find or buy cheaply. Houses are usually built
with cheap bricks found on wasteland. People
try to build them using sturdy material so it’s
hard for the government to evict them and knock
the house down. My neighbourhood is a slum
area and is known as a favela.
Lucas lives in a favela
There are lots of favelas on the edge of large Brazilian
cities. Cities with fewer than 100,000 people don’t
have favelas, but São Paulo is the largest city in
Brazil. Around a quarter of the population of São
Paulo live in a favela like the one that I live in.
Chapter 6: Life in the city
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Tell us about your family
All of my family live together in our house. I
live with my mum, my dad and two sisters. I
have lots of family living in the favela, as my
mother came from a big family with 5 brothers
and sisters. My dad sells t-shirts at the local
market. He goes to work there six days a week.
My mother also works at the market. She has a
stand next to one of the roads and cuts people’s
hair. My dad earns about £5 a day and mum
about £4 a day. My sisters are older than me and
they go out to work. They are maids in houses.
I think they cook and clean for the people who
live there. They also help my mum with the
housework.
down the road we live on. That doesn’t bother us,
though, because nobody living here has a car.
The local council has improved some favelas,
including ours, by putting in water pipes and
electricity cables. Maybe one day they will
improve all the other favelas as well.
Thankfully our house has been improved so
we now have water from the mains supply
and our toilets are hygienic. We even have
electricity now so we can also use a TV.
But some people living nearby still have no
electricity and they have to get their water
from a nearby well. The differences between
houses in Brazilian cities is huge.
What's your house like in the favela?
My house is very small. There are only two
rooms in it. One of the rooms is where we
cook meals, eat and relax. The other room is
where we all sleep. It can get very crowded in
our house and I sometimes wish we had more
rooms. My dad built the house with the help of
some friends. They built it using some bricks
they bought and some corrugated sheets they
were sold by a friend who was upgrading his
own house. Our home has got better over the
last year because my dad has made some
improvements. This usually involves his friends
coming round and helping to build something.
My dad also goes back to his friend’s houses to
make the same improvements at their home. It’s
a kind of DIY club.
What is your school like?
What is your neighbourhood like?
I don’t get much spare time. In the afternoon,
when I have finished school, I have to go to
work in the market. I have a job on a food stall
where I sell snacks to people. I work there every
afternoon and at the weekend as well. My dad
says I might have to stop going to school soon
so I can work on the stall full time. We need
all the money we can get, you see. But if I do
leave school early or skive off my lessons there
is a chance our family would lose some of our
benefits. If I do get any spare time I see my
friends on the street near my house. When I
have finished work I am usually very tired so I
just go to bed.
It can get very smelly. Some toilets are not
connected to any drains so there can be sewage
flowing in ditches next to the streets. It’s very
unpleasant to have to look at this and smell it
every day. Sometimes the sewage comes close
to our house. Diseases can spread because
of the sewage and last year one of my school
friends and his sister died from diarrhoea.
There are no proper roads like there are in the
city centre. We only have dirt tracks. The streets
between the houses are very narrow and often
there are stray dogs roaming around looking for
something to eat. There is no room to get a car
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Schools’ Pack – Brazil 2009
It is very busy because there are lots of students.
We split the school day up into two sessions. I go
in the morning with my friends and then another
set of children go to the school in the afternoon.
There are not many books and pens at school. I
nearly always have to share. I am lucky because
my school has internet access, which I can use
sometimes. My mate’s school does not have
any. I like going to school, though. It means I
can have a good meal that is provided by the
government. Also, if I attend most of my lessons
my parents get £20 a month. That can make a
big difference for us.
How do you spend your spare time and
holidays?
Hello, what is your name?
My name is Gabriela, it’s nice to meet you. Try to
image what I look like.
Where do you live, Gabriela?
I live in São Paulo as well, but it’s not in the
same area as Lucas. I live closer to the city
centre, away from the favelas on the edge
of the city. I never go out to the favelas
because everything we need is either in our
neighbourhood or in the city centre. I love São
Paulo, there is so much to do. I never get bored!
Tell us about your family
I live with my mum and dad. I have no brothers
or sisters, so it’s just the three of us in our home.
We have a pet dog that we call Tuti. I like him
a lot. My dad works as a senior manager of a
factory that makes handbags. It’s a very big
factory and there are a lot of people working
there. It’s a good job, but it means he has to
work long hours during the day and sometimes
he also works at the weekends. My mum also
has a job. She works in a solicitors’ office in the
city centre.
Oh, we also have a maid. She is called Fátima
and I think of her as part of the family. She lives
with us and during the day she cleans the house
and makes our dinner. Sometimes she looks
after me until my mum comes home from work.
What is your house like?
Our flat is very new and modern. I like it a lot.
There are three bedrooms, including mine. I
like my bedroom 7 — it is big and I can I keep
all my things there. It has a bathroom attached
to it just for me. The flat also has a big kitchen,
a dining room, a living area and a big balcony.
Downstairs there is a garage for our two cars
and a swimming pool for all the people who
live in the building. It is a nice place to be with
my neighbours and friends on sunny days.
We feel safe there because there is a fence
and a doorman who controls the electronically
operated gate. The other buildings in the same
street are very similar to ours, but we don’t see a
lot of the neighbours.
View from Grabriela’s bedroom window
My school is great, I really like going there. I like
some of the classes and have lots of fun with my
schoolmates. I have a different book for each
of the subjects that I study and a cool outfit for
playing games on the field. Like all schools we
either go in the morning or in the afternoon. I go
in the morning, but one afternoon a week I have
private guitar lessons and on two afternoons
I have extra English lessons. I get lots of
homework every week and I sit at the desk in my
bedroom to finish it. I have a computer there and
sometimes go on the internet to help me with
the tasks because sometimes the computers in
the school all get busy. When I finish at school
I would like to go to university. I need to study
hard because I want to be a doctor and the
university entry exams are very hard — there are
lots of candidates for each University place.
What do you do in your spare time and
holidays?
From time to time I go the cinema in the
shopping mall with my friends. Sometimes I go
to the mall with my mum at the weekend and we
buy new clothes. We both like to keep up with
the fashions! I used to go to the school disco last
year, but now that I’m 15 my parents let me go
out clubbing later with my friends. When I am
at home in the evenings I like to watch TV and
surf on the internet. This is a good way for me
to keep in touch with my friends. I’m always on
messenger or chatrooms with them!
Two or three times a year I go on holiday with my
parents. We often go to stay in a house by the
beach on the Atlantic rainforest coast of São Paulo
state, towards Rio de Janeiro, but we have also
been abroad to the United States and Argentina.
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Other voices from Brazil
Mariana with Artur
Nelson Lafraia
“In my job as a psychologist for the local
government of the state of São Paulo I am
a team member in one of the day clinics
dealing with mental health. Our job is to give
psychological assistance to children, teenagers
and adults with difficulties. We can refer the
most serious cases for hospitalisation, but
fortunately this is a last resort that we hardly
ever use nowadays. My time is divided between
work and being with my son, Artur (age 7). I
am divorced, so sometimes Artur spends the
weekend at my ex-husband’s flat. I am glad
Artur likes being there with his father, although
I miss him when he’s not with me. On the
other hand, that gives me more time to do my
house chores and see my friends. Recently
my car was stolen — that was a shock! As a
professional woman without a partner at the
moment, I chose to live in São Paulo for the
work, educational and cultural opportunities. It
is stressful living here but I can cope with it.
Nelson Lafraia
Mariana is 34 and lives in a flat in São Paulo.
Artur
Carlos Eduardo
Nelson Lafraia
“I was born here, a not very big town just across
the bay from Rio. I like living here with my
family and friends. It has everything a smallish
town should have, and besides I can always
take the ferry or the bridge across the bay for
a night out in the big Rio clubs. It is quieter
here than Rio, but I would not change it for the
madness of living in a very big city. I got a job
as an information officer at MAC, the Museum
of Contemporary Art. It does not pay me
enough to afford my own flat yet, something I
really want, but the museum is a beautiful place
to work, surrounded by the sea I love, with a
view of Rio and just a short bus ride away from
home. On my days off I go surfing with my
girlfriend in Itacoatiara, a dream beach just a
few kilometres north of Niterói. Why should I
live anywhere else?
Ana Brito
Carlos Eduardo is 22 and lives at his parents
house in Niterói.
Carlos Eduardo’s Desk at MAC
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Schools’ Pack – Brazil 2009
Luisa Ribeiro
Nelson Lafraia
Daniela jogs in Copacabana
Rio is just across the bay from the museum
Daniela is 30 years old and lives in an old flat in Rio de Janeiro.
Daniela can see the favela on the hill behind her flat
Erika Tambke
Luisa Ribeiro
“My university degree is in Social Sciences. I have worked in many social projects that help
different deprived sectors of society, but at the moment I work as a careers counsellor in a private
school for middle-class pupils. My job is very far from home but I prefer to live in Copacabana, in
an old flat close to the beach, although I have a long tube and bus journey to work every day (one
hour each way). Because I’m single I like to be where my friends are, to be able to walk to meet
them, avoiding traffic jams and long journeys by public transport, so that we can do stuff like go to
the movies, jog on the pavement behind the beach early in the morning and go to concerts. I like to
work with young people and feel I am doing my bit to improve the society where I live. In an ideal
world. I would like to work for a state school with teenagers from poorer backgrounds, like those
in the favela I can see from my kitchen window, so that I could help those who have less than the
teenagers in my school, but I need to make a living, and I get a better wage in a private school. But
I try to raise the awareness of my students about the problems of the world we live in, and I hope
they will try to make it better when they start their professional careers later. … and sometimes cycles near the sugar loaf mountain.
Marcos is 33 years old and lives in an apartment in a nice neighbourhood of São Paulo.
“People tell me I am a very lucky man as I have a comfortable life with a great family. But both my
wife Beatriz and I have worked very hard to get what we have. We studied hard in good schools,
went to university and completed our master’s degrees. We chose to live near my parents’ house
Chapter 6: Life in the city
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Nelson Lafraia
Beatriz, Caio, Luciana and Marcos
for the sake of the children. I walk to my office,
where I work as a civil engineer. Beatriz takes
the car as she works as a business manager
for a pharmaceutical company on the outskirts
of the city. I get home about 7pm, but Beatriz
sometimes only arrives around 9pm. Our
children, Luciana, age 6, and Caio, 3, go to
infant schools, and we have a maid, Dora, to
help us look after them. She has every weekend
off and also gets holidays of course. We count
on both grannies give us a helping hand. At
weekends we spend quality time as a family at
home or go to the swimming pool of our local
club. The children love visiting their cousins too.”
Nelson Lafraia
Francisca is 42 and lives in a favela in Rio.
Nelson Lafraia
Marcos and Caio
Luciana with Dora
“The good thing about living here is that we
have been able to improve our house. After we
had our second daughter we decided to add
a second level the house. People are having
extensions all around here. Our rooftop is a
lovely place to be and I love sitting there looking
at the view. You can see the sea and the
beaches that we often walk on when we want to
be quiet. I like my neighbours and there is a lot
going on here in the community. My daughter
Cristina joined a group that creates theatre
plays about the problems of the young people
who live here. But I cannot go out all the time.
Sometimes you can hear gunshots ringing out
because of all the gangs.
I used to be afraid my son Joel could join one
of these gangs, but he studied hard and when
he was 18 he left the favela to join the military
academy. He is a cadet now. He comes back
here when he is on leave and says that he
wants to see me, but I know that what he really
wants is to meet his friends at the funk balls!”
Erika Tambke
Monica is 75 years old and lives in a block
of flats near the city centre.
Francisca lives in a favela
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Schools’ Pack – Brazil 2009
“Things are very different now to when I was
growing up. In many ways it is a lot better. My
grandchildren have more money than I ever
did. They have a nice house with electricity and
lots of wonderful gadgets that weren’t invented
Álvaro Camilo
Daniela Silva
when I was their age. There are more ways to
be entertained these days, like cinemas and
bowling alleys. And there are lots more shops in
the city centre. At the same time there is also a
lot more poverty in the city. I haven’t been into
the favelas and I don’t want to go there. I know
most people living there are good people but
favelas are crowded and there is crime there
too. And they’re not just at the edge of the city
— some favelas have sprung up on disused
land near the city centre. I have seen a lot of
changes in my lifetime, some of them good and
some of them bad.”
Joel
Nelson Lafraia
Francisca at home
Mônica
See for yourself...
Get a feel for what a favela is like by watching these videos. Maybe you could write a poem after
you have watched them to describe what life is like there. And if you have speakers, check out
the Brazilian music!
http://www.roadjunky.com/article/1465/brazil-video-clips
More information about Brazilian favelas and children who grow up in them
can be found by following this link:
http://www.globaleye.org.uk/secondary_summer2002/eyeon/people.html
To read about a couple who are just buying their first own home, see:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2457bc5e-66a0-11de-a034-00144feabdc0.html
Chapter 6: Life in the city
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How can the favelas be improved?
There are two main ways of making improvements to these housing areas. The first is through selfhelp schemes where the residents are encouraged to help themselves, the second is through the
government assistance. We’ll take a look at both now.
Self-help schemes
The money comes from charities and aims to improve services such as access to water.
The government also provides financial backing for personal projects in the form of loans from
the state bank.
Experts are employed to oversee the work and they discuss all the improvements with
residents and listen to their views.
Building materials are provided so that locals can carry out the work by themselves.
The Superblock Scheme
This is funded by the government and sees houses cleared in the favela to be replaced by
tower blocks.
Hundreds of apartments can be created in each tower block.
Some people living in the favela will be given access to the new apartments
The new apartments will have better services such as running water and electricity.
Not everybody living in the favela will benefit.
Video links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hEq2hExzy4
(The view from a favela)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJDb2lnkJkY
(A tour around a favela)
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Schools’ Pack – Brazil 2009
Pupil tasks
Task 1
Fill in the boxes in the photograph of a favela in Rio de Janeiro using the questions below:
Describe what the inside of these houses might be like.
What will the local community be like?
What can be done to improve conditions?
Eliana Oikawa
Is there anything that surprises you about this picture?
Chapter 6: Life in the city
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Task 2
In pairs, one person should write a diary entry to describe a day in the life of Lucas and one person
write about a day in Gabriela’s life. Include the following information in your diary entry:
How you feel about your home.
What your parents have done today.
What your day at school has been like.
What you do in the evening.
When you have finished, swap your entry with your partner. See if you can highlight the main
differences between the two days you have written about.
Task 3
Make a copy of the diagram below. Then copy the statements about Brazil’s cities into the correct
section. Remember to put the statement in the middle if it applies to both headings.
Houses are of a good quality
Unemployment is high
Houses are constantly being improved
Children work from a young age
Homes have security systems
Young people have access to education
Crime is a major problem
Computer ownership is high
Many people have jobs
Rich Suburb
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Schools’ Pack – Brazil 2009
Some homes are made from recycled
materials
Poor Favela
Task 4
If you were in charge of improving the favelas of Brazil, what would you do? Take a look at the
following 12 improvements that you could make and then place your top 9 in order of importance
in the table. Put the improvement you think most important right at the top and the less important
ones below it.
A clean water supply
Regular supply of food
Electricity
Separate dining room
An extra bedroom
Modern shops
A garden
Flushing toilet
Waste collection
Football pitch
Drainage pipes
New school and college
Television
Wide streets
Access to healthcare
A car for each family
How would YOU improve the favelas?
Most Important
Chapter 6: Life in the city
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