photo by me.I considered getting a favela tour while I was in Rio, but decided against it for ideological reasons: I felt that the tours may be making more a spectacle of the people and their realities, and though I know there are dangers, I think that the tours may also promote the notion that Rio is simply "too dangerous" for outsiders--which I disagree with.
I think the most dangerous thing about Rio is that I didn't want to leave. I love the landscape, the people, the language, the food, and the culture. I understand that I am seeing the city with rose colored and relatively privileged lenses. Still, there is a tremendous amount of beauty in the city's graffiti, the arts, and in the social initiatives.
This post will deal with the social geography, which promotes the arts.
Back to Rochina. Pictured above is Maria Teresa Leal, who founded Coopa-Roca, a sewing cooperative located in Rocinha, in 1981."When Leal visited the favela with her housekeeper, who lived there, she saw that many poor women in the favela were skilled seamstresses — yet they had no opportunity to use their skills to generate income. So she got the idea to start a co-operative, which would recycle fabric remnants to produce attractive quilts and pillows. Gradually, as the women gained experience and developed skills in manufacturing and marketing, the work grew more professional." (PBS)
This project combines social justice, environment, and urban geography i a brilliant, tangible, and inspirational way.
