view at Sao Paulo

“The Church of the poor”
The title already expose what stroked me on the first day. During the trip to Cantinho de Ceu a lot of churches passed in review. Although most of the pictures I made are of the local houses, the church stands out here in some way. Mostly you see at least 3 or 4 of them around one favela. I think everyone could understand that poor people stick to the churches because the church tries to help. But there is also another side. We’re not talking about the traditional churches. These churches (often Protestants) tend to lack of bible teaching and reject book learning, but they do have a lot of legalistic rules, strong authoritarian leadership and most of all try to brainwash or “better said” healing worship ..Not a very healthy characteristic seems to me. Another point why this is so striking is because of the materialization. Paulistanos in the poorer areas seem to be real builders. Each dwelling in the favela has the possibility to extend and preferably using many different kind of materials. Colored tiles, paint, metal gates etc. The church though is often white, made out of a few materials and glass colored windows. Funny fact is that this ‘sober’ church is paid by the same people that try to upgrade their own house
Day 1 06-04-09 Cantinho de Ceu & Parque Cidade Jardim

Patterns and colors in the Paraisopolis favela
Although women are not really famous for their navigation qualities, I guess that most people would get lost after entering Paraisopolis for the first time. After 5 minutes of walking in narrow streets and some kind of cross points I was wondering how I would ever get back to my starting point without the help of my guide. Nevertheless I believe there are some characteristics in this area with, which I could “survive” my second time in this favela. First of all, Paraisopolis is surrounded by the rich area Morumbi. This means that it is almost unavoidable to see one of the skyscrapers on the boundaries of the favela. I could have the chance of finding one of the main roads which is crowded with people and small shops (where you can pay with credit card!) or find one of the present phone boxes to call my friend to help me out. But once you are grabbed in the middle of Paraisopolis the best thing that you could probably do is look at the richness of colors. Each house seems to have a different color, graffiti can be found on the walls and ‘clean’ laundry is drying in the streets. Maybe this diversity will help you orientating.
Day 2 07-04-09 Paraisopolis

Gated between the rich people
After 2 days of seeing slums and illegal settlements it’s now time for ‘the shiny side’. Although I doubt a bit of the shininess when we walk through the park of Alphaville. Such an incredibly large area completely empty. You could almost imagine that the guard is a better friend than your own neighbor! Fortunately we also experienced the ultimate freedom on the top of Conjunto Nacional. What a view! Here you see the dynamic of the city. Cars moving from one side of the city to the other. The rhythm of the facades of the tall buildings. You would almost forget the street level that brings you the image of segregation, by the presence of gates and guards.
Day 3 08-04-09 Alphaville, Conjunto Nacional & Vigliecca

Welcome to the city favela
Today we went back to SEHAB, the organization that helps people with social housing projects. Absolutely a nice purpose to upgrade certain poor areas but isn’t it to difficult to do that all on your own? What stroked me in the projects is that the areas are getting more protected according as the site upgrades. Not yet at a level of guards but a certain distinction is made between the ‘real’ favela people and the new social housing inhabitants. Is this were real segregation starts? One of the most intense experiences were you don’t see this division yet are the city favelas. The situation is far from comfortable but at least seems that the community lives happily together. It would be nice to upgrade also the standards for them in a good way.
day 4 09-04-09 SEHAB & corticos