Rio Reality

Yvette Jimenez

On our last full day in Rio De Janeiro, we had the opportunity to visit our dear Guide Gabriel’s home favela. We later found out that this was his home all his life. We began the tour by taking the elevator of this large building all the way to the top, which was built specifically for this reason, for people to get up at the favela. We arrived at this large mountain on top of the favela with an open view of Rio. It was quite amazing how much we could oversee from up there. After, we went back inside the building to a space entitled “CENTRO DE REFERENCIA DA JUVENTUDE (CRJ).” This space consisted of cosmetology, coding, art, and boxing classes that were all free government funded courses for those in the favela who wanted to attend. After taking these courses, you were given a certificate of completion, and this certificate served in helping individuals get jobs. 

Once we finished exploring space, Gabriel allowed us to debrief and have a conversation with him about what we had just experienced. Gabriel shared his life with us and how it was for him to be raised in this favela. Gabriel shared that he knew he grew up privileged because he lived in a two-parent household, which is very uncommon there. Also, he saw his sister grow economically through her education. Gabriel shared that his dad would take him out of the favela specifically to show him that there was more to the world than just the poverty and violence they experienced in the favela. Thankfully, Gabriel was able to grow up and not become a part of the gang and violence. He shared that this program was one of those reasons. He spent the years of his youth in this space learning. This is what this space was made for, to help the children in the favela not fall into stereotypes, but to give them a hopeful future. I believe that this is why it was important for Gabriel to show us this part of his home. Gabriel showed us a part of Rio that was the truth, it was not the popular Christ the Redeemer or Copacabana beach, but it was the reality of a person in Rio. For myself, the first knowledge I had of the country Brazil was not the tourist part of it, but it was the favelas. The heart of Brazil. Seeing the beauty of this space that the community can thrive in gives me hope for the youth of Brazil and I felt extremely encouraged and honored to attend a place like this during our visit to Rio De Janeiro.