Now that I have walked around the neighborhood, and scene the children playing, and met some community leaders, and friends of Zezinho, I believe I have a greater understanding of the spirit that it takes to survive and thrive in Rocinha.
I have always gotten the impression that Brazilians as whole or more accurately, the cariochas, the lower to middle class Brazilians that I have personally met don't trust or believe in the government and its practices a sentiment that President Dilma Rousseff will have a hard changing. This is why Zezinho has started his DJ school in his own living room. Despite the humble beginning his commitment is rock steady, as is the professionalism, that I admired when I first saw his website. For the DJ school, Zezinho as its producer has hired teacher, printed out a curriculum for each student, and made t-shirts and banners to assure any naysayers that he is in it for the long haul.
Filming the DJ class in progress in Portuguese, it was really the curriculum that I was observing, I was checking out the fact that the students came dressed for class, the way North Americans used to dress to travel on airplanes, a sense that they had prepared for an important event in their lives. I noticed that everyone was on time, that students called when they wouldn't be able to make it, and that everyone was supportive of each other. Obviously some students were gifted and some were not, but that sense of the team pulling for each member was something I hadn't experienced in quite some time.
Later I returned to document another class and go to dinner and a baille funk (funk dance party) in the favela. The energy had not subsided in any fashion, and reminded me of my city New York.
I was able to become comfortable in yet another favela in Rio, Vidigal, thanks to my host at Vidigalbergue Rio Hostel. One of the owners first gave me a tour similar to my tour with Zezinho, but then I went back on a personal tour with this sister and climbed to "Morro Dois Irmãos" (English: Two Brothers Hill) which is actually a 40 minute vertical climb.
From this vantage point, Rocinha is at your feet, and you see how large it is in a way that I couldn't when Zezinho mentioned that there were over 300,000 people living there.
In Vidigal there is a overall feeling of tranquility. Its not small town feel, but more a peaceful neighborhood, where it would be easy to forget that you were in a favela. There were not as many in your face symbols of underground trafficking. Not to be naive, but just like in Rocinha I found myself making sure that I was not in the vicinity of anyone making 'sales' but at the same time, it obviously wasn't an issue as much as it was in Rocinha. I am not one to sugarcoat anything. Even my own city, if I find myself walking by an inner city park that is not well populated with children and parents, I wonder what kinds of enterprise I might be disturbing by presence. Rio is no different than any metropolitan city, that has poor, middle, and upper economic classes.
What makes favelas unique in my eyes is the way that the older people are respected, and the children are embraced without being smothered. The graffiti is accepted, and the art is uncensored.
