My first impressions

A favela is named a shanty town, in this case in Brazil, most often within urban areas. The first favelas appeared in late 19th century and were built by soldiers with nowhere to live. It is characterized as a place for poor people, with low expectancy of life (just about 48 years)and a bad quality of life because most people can't satisfy their basic needs.For example,around 70 percent of the people who live in Rocinha (Rio de Janeiro) are from the impoverished northeast of Brazil: often a family of six will live in one room with one bed for the adults and the children sleeping on the floor. Illnesses such as bronchitis are common, and although medical care is available at no cost, essential medicines are not.

 Apart from the difficulties of diary life, people in the favelas have to face crime and violence. They also have to cope with the social stigma of being criminals when most people aren't: in fact 80 percent of people in Rocinha are employed, and the vast majority have nothing to do with the drugs and violence for which their community is famous. Drug-traffickers, armed with sophisticated, modern weapons, have moved into many favelas, not infrequently resulting in gun battles with police troops sent in after them. The film "Cidade de Deus"(god's city) shows common scenes in places like this, with the police coming from time to time to catch people who are considered criminals. We can see a situation like this in the following episode: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldVlSKByUtg"></a>

When I arrived to the favela Cidade de deus in Rocinhna (Rio de Janeiro) I felt as if I was in a different world. I also went to Sao Conrado favela which is neer a golf field. The contrast is incredible: you come out a luxurious place which rich people and you enter a place full of poor houses, some of them destroied by the last rain downpowr. All the houses are on a hill and when there is a rain downpowr, when one house falls, the others do the same and the favela can disappear. In fact, when I arrived I helped some people to rebuild their houses. The contrast between  poor and rich areas is ironic and shocking, and it shows the social differences that are common in Brazil.

 Today, there are an estimated 800 favelas in Rio, inhabited by about 3 million people. Over the years, many of the favelados have improved their property, so that a lot of them today have electricity and running water. Despite the harsh living conditions, almost all houses have a color television, and most have a stereo and the use of a mobile phone. There is even a thriving property business, with richer favelados moving on to better houses and selling their rougher shacks to newcomers.