9 Feb /16

Favela

Favela – Word of the day - EVS Translations
Favela – Word of the day – EVS Translations

With one of the world’s most famous carnivals – the Rio Carnival – which attracts nearly two million people on the street every day; taking place currently, Brazil and in particularly Rio de Janeiro, attract tourists from all over the world.

And while many would likely not miss visiting Copacabana – the world’s most famous beach, and the famous statue of Jesus Christ, which is one of the highlights of Rio; there is one aspect of urban life in Rio which would attract the interest and curiosity of some while completely repulse other – the favelas.

To cut it short, a favela is a slum, a shantytown; but going deeper, there are nearly 1000 favelas in Rio where close to 1.5 million people, or around one forth of Rio de Janeiro’s population lives.

A favela is, indeed, a great place to touch to and observe the local Brazilian style of life, but the reason most tourists stay away of it, is the fear of crime, which Brazil is anyway quite populFaar with. Most tourists believe that visiting a favela is only an option when you have insiders along and even then is still a quite risky undertaking, regardless of the fact that most favelas are situated near areas where middle and upper urban class lives. Literally, to pass from an upper class neighbourhood to a favela, one might only need to cross a narrow tunnel.

The oldest favela in Rio was founded in 1879, a decade after the abolition of slavery. The first settlements were soldiers and former slaves, followed by some of the poor population which was with time pushed away from the central urban regions.

The word favela, naturally, comes from Portuguese to name a slum and is possible that the term derived from the name of a plant native to rural North-eastern Brazil (Jatropha phyllacantha).

The first time, the word appeared in print in English, was in only 1961. In How to Tango: a solo across South America, where George Mikes provides a quite detailed description of a favela: “In the midst of all this beauty and elegance, you discover the favelas… The favela is a wretched, ramshackle, filthy hut run up out of sticks, rotting planks, dirty rags and cardboard, as a rule in less than twenty-four hours… The favelas have no electricity (unless, as frequently happens, an enterprising favelado manages to tap an electric cable).”

But keep in mind that much has changed since the 60s, most modern favelas appeared in the 70s to host Brazilians who moved from rural to highly urbanised areas and the Brazilian government took many efforts to improve the infrastructure in favelas.

Nowadays, according to a study released in 2013, 80% of favela residents are proud of where they live and 70% feel secure with their surrounding and do not intend to leave it even if their incomes double.