Eagerly taking risks

When visiting the favelas of Sao Paulo perspectives are changing. Influence of the media play a big role in this world of slums, they actually control the first expectations of the visitor. But what they actually show is just a small piece of the whole. The problems, poverty and crime rates of these irregular communities are always addressed and shown to the outside world. Entering a favela is risky business. The truth is clouded in a way, or at least not shown as a whole. The only time this image of favela appeared was at the visit of a part of Paraisopolis (07-04-200, day 2 of the workshop program), I would like to address this as the ‘Phase One’ and actually call it slum. This phase is characterised by the haste of the invasion of a certain area. Houses are constructed of wooden walls that can barely hold their own weight and sheets of corrugated material as a roof. The word temporary is written all over it, in three to six months these ‘Phase One’ parts of favelas are transforming slowly in a different kind of area. When the inhabitants decide to stay and convert their hut into a house that has a better resistance and a better adaption concerning the surrounding area. This I will call ‘Phase Two’, an intermediate state in the evolvement of the favela where provisionally is tried to maintain a water network and sometimes a sewer system. But ‘Phase Three’ is were it gets interesting. The municipality and private companies or the community itself start to interfere and create opportunities were there first were problems. For their own benefits or not, this means an upgrading of the neighbourhood, and here a new kind of angle of looking at these neighbourhoods is created. A new truth you might say. Such interventions are for example to be seen in Pantanal (07-04-2009, day 2 of the workshop program) where the community has created an arts and crafts centre for entertainment and education of new generations. When visiting a ‘Phase Three’ favela these kinds of projects are shown and create a different perspective on the area. It seems that poverty and crime do not exist here; people are proud of what they have and are eagerly to show this (also luxury goods as washing machines and televisions are present). This is on the one hand very logical, when someone is visiting Amsterdam you would like to show him or her the richness of the city, the beautiful sights and the pieces you are proud of (For example the city centre with its canals, and not the ‘Bijlmer’ with his metro). This also happened in Cantinho do Ceu (06-04-2009, day 1 of the workshop program) were big houses and relatively good infrastructure was shown (lots of 5m x 25m, and dwellings of three stories high!). On the other hand this is showing a kind of truth that is also not complete. A dilemma for the outsider is created and the risk of taking a wrong point of view is rising. Are these people really happy or living in fear for any particular reason? During the lectures and discussion at SEHAB (09-04-2009, day 4 of the workshop program) it became clear that the fear of being removed from your house is a fear that should not exist. SEHAB is trying to avoid houses to be demolished and inhabitants of invaded areas are offered a new dwelling or a compensating amount of money if their house is on the list to be demolished. Which is considered to be strange because of the illegal background of the settlement and the risk that people apparently are willing to take when living in these kinds of areas. It seems that SEHAB is not fighting the problem this way but stimulating it in some strange way. But at least they are trying and not hiding behind an electric fence, like people who live in communities like Alphaville (08-04-2009, day 3 of the workshop program). It is strange to see that these people seem so afraid that they are willing to give up a part of their privacy for more security. But what is live without a little bit of risk?