By David, on April 10th, 2010 Yesterday we went into the Favelas right at the top of Santa Tereza to carry out my first truly worth-while, highly rewarding yet backbreaking piece of charity work.
Marju and I helped clear the mud which had fallen into the community hall of a centre in Santa Tereza, along with around 15 others. The mud was thick and gloopy and everywhere. We had only 2 wheel barrows – both (as is standard for Brazil) made from Aluminium (everything is here) – one of which broke half way through the day. We scooped the mud up and removed it from the hall, before hosing down and sweeping the floor of the concrete football pitch with these pooly made wooden water-pushers. The guys were chucking the mud down another bank, making this unstable too – but ultimately there was nowhere else for it to go. Some of the guys unblocked the drains whilst diggers searched for bodies in the nearby slum.
The work was so tiring and gave me blisters on my hands, but was worth it. By the end of the day we were exhausted, but all felt it was worth it. The owner of the centre thanked us for our work and explained that the kids hanging against the fence outside the centre (pictured below) were drug dealing and aged no more than 15 (Marju saw one of them showing off his gun!). He said even though they were drug dealing, it gave them somewhere safe to be and was important that they were there – in view of the people running the club. One of the boys helping clear it up – aged only 7 – was the son of the cheif drug lord in the Favela. Even though he was the cheif, he wanted his son to be in safe hands and not get involved with the drugs. Having the centre up and running again was therefore so important.
I’ve added the photos from the day below. You can see how the surrounding favelas have massive brown streaks down them where the mud has torn away the houses. About 25 people died in Santa Tereza.
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