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12oz foreign exchange thread: rocinhajj


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firstly, if you're sleeping on pffffft's thread on his trip to brazil, stop. shit is amazing.

while reading it i started seeing posts from rocinhajj, who conicidentally is from the favala (slum) where pfffft stayed. dude has tons of photos and is eager to share his city, so you should all ask questions and learn a little bit about something well beyond your boring american life.

 

 

Rocinhajj,

please tell us a little bit about yourself if you dont mind. age, where you grew up, what you do, etc. share any photos, stories or links that you think people should know about your city.

i'll try to come up wiht some questions for you tomorrow.

thanks in advance for sharing.

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hello, I am born in Rocinha favela, this is next to the richest area of all in Rio, Sao Conrado. I am simple guy who love music. I play (Dj) funk partys. I am learning music productions with Ableton Live and other software programs. And I love tattos too. I work with Two Brothers Foundation to help volunteer get situated when they come in the favela. I like to help my comunity and be worth something in my life. I do not want to work in taficking becase they live too shorts lives and the police always fuc* with them. I liek and prefer to help educated people about he good things that existe in areas like Rocinha, Cantagalo, Pavao-Pavaozinho and other favelas.

 

I have hard time now thinking of other things to say, but if people have question, I will be honest and answer correct for them..

 

Two Brothers Foundation

http://www.2bros.org

 

MY BLOG:

http://funkeirodarocinha.blogspot.com

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i remember watching city of god several months ago, and just being fucking blown away by those places. you look at the poverty and the crime and drugs and all that, and you try to compare it to your american experiences, but i dont think it really translates at all. poor people in america tend to be ignorant and uneducated, where as in other countries, from my limited experience, it really doesn't seem like that. they seem to often really value education and go out of their way to try and learn things, atleast on a fundamental level. in america if you're poor its because you're too dumb to make money, but there, and many other places ive been, it really seems like you're just born into poverty, and there really is no way out of it. because of that though, the poor people seem to maybe be a lot 'better' people than we have here. they're decent, hard working people who just dont have a chance, where as here, alot of the time those people just kinda suck.

 

maybe im totally wrong, and maybe im romanticising life in other countries, but thats been my take on things so far.

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its a whole dif story when there is no welfare system in place..

 

you have people getting by , by any means possible and not "milking the system"

 

 

i saw a 6 year old kid rolling up little perfect balls of mud and placing them on brand new cup cake papers( you know, the little paper you peel off a cup cake) ...they looked like little chocolates....i BET he was going into the neighborhood of copacabana and trying to sell them to unsuspecting buyers...hahaha

 

poverty breeds creativity..

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it also levels the playing field, and makes people more 'realistic' (for lack of a better term).

 

in detroit you'd constantly see people living in $50k houses, driving $60k cars. it was so disgusting. i know that racism and classism exist everywhere in the world, and no culture is immune to it, but in most poor countries, or at the least the ones ive visited, people seem more concerned with genuinly being happy in the life they have, rather than spending all their time trying to pretend their life is not happening to them, or that they're doing better than they are.

 

i kind of hate talking about this stuff, because im very consciouse of the fact that eveything ive experienced has been as a fairly well off (by their standards) white male, and the world i see is the one that foreigners are privy too. i know thats not the real reality, so i apologize if im every grossly wrong.

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people seem more concerned with genuinly being happy in the life they have, rather than spending all their time trying to pretend their life is not happening to them, or that they're doing better than they are.

 

 

i couldnt have said it any better..

this was a huge factor on why i liked the brazilian people..

 

humble and giving..

sometimes the people who want to give and share the most are the people who have nothing.

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In the USa the system is set that nobody will starve becase welfar. food stamps public housing, but it is matter of the people to see things of worth and treat nice. I hear story about Americans poor get all thses things then trash it..WHY? I have discussion with American Black about his life..all he do is complain but he have OPORTUNITY..but is he oing to work or just expect everybody GIVE him something.. I tell him..try live in a favela where manybe some nites you do not have light or water and other things or the fact that employers say to your face..I will not hire you becase you are "Favelado"..sucks but true..I know rascism exist but USA does have docors, lawyers, sucess minority people..In Rocinha we are lucky if out of the 300.000 who live there, that maybe 100 get university chance..

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just so i/we all understand, 'favela' means 'slum' or 'ghetto', yes? it's a slang term for the type of city? how are these set up? are there schools in them? are the schools funded by the government? what is the education like for the average person in a favela?

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Favela=slum, poor area, getto but specifically Squatter comunity becase the people do not pay taxes but again we get no public services either..Favela word: from a plant that grew on the hills where the first favela was create in downtown Rio..Called "Morro da favela" but is now know as "Morro da Providencia"..if you are in RIO (specifically and day you live in the Morros, this means Hills) which means hills=favelas..Most if not all the hills in Rio are FAVELAS.

 

In Rocinha we have only 3 schools to help over 300.000 people, yes goverment provide education for favelados (residents of favelas) but these school outside of favelas..Education is good but becase of descrimnation and social exclusion becase where we live, we are tret bad by people. So choices outside are hard to come by and the prejudice is very open..Guys will say to you..oh you live in a favela? oh you must be bandito or drug person..they assume becase on the news Tv always hear bad things happen in favelas..but if you watch..it ALWAYS involve the police shooting somebody and thye say it was a bandito, sometimes this is true but many time not!

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seeking do not feel guult of how you were born or being white etc.. I use to be ashamed to be living in the FAVELA becase other people TRy to make me feel bad about it..5 years ago I change and now I am proud..If Favelas did not exist you would not have Carnival or Samba or many other things..

 

Tenho orgulho de morar na favela!

De ser pobre nao e crime

ninguem Merece de ser pobre..

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ha, i don't feel bad about being white. i just meant that i know that when i go someplace, i can never really understand what life is like for the people who live there.

 

in america, often times people like to believe that they understand the problems that others have. they mean well, and they want to help, but they usually have no fucking clue what they're really talking about. i try to not be one of those people.

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if you want to live in the favela and can buy or build a house you can..

 

all bootleg electricity, plumbing, internet connection..

they dont pay taxes.

 

i would see the public bus system running routes in and out of Rocinha...

i asked someone.., if nobody pays taxes then why does the bus system run through here??

 

"the drug dealers pay them to come in there so their people can go to jobs and can have transportation"

they drug dealers make so much money is unbelievable..

 

JJ, correct me if i am wrong but the main guy running all or Rocinhas drug cartel is only like 23-24 years old

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I am from Rocinha favela and have troubles of what

people say about we who live there. People do not

relise this, but everytime people buy anything inside

the favela, it is taxed. So we do pay taxes when we

buy things, but we receve nothing for this. It is easy

for people who living outside the favela to say we

steal eletricty or water or such things, but these

people in these are never in the life had to not have

these things. I would like to know the last time that

taxi driver you speak of had to take a shower outside

or have to use a candle as a light in there house?

Probably NEVER, becase they always had it.

In the favela many do not have light, water acess to

"normal" things outside of the favela. Do we steal

these things? Some people think so, we like to inform

that the goverment does not provide these things so

how do we get something if the goverment does not

provide? Every human has right to have a place to

live, cloths, food and if posible education. We in the

favela are open to pay for these things if the

goverment or a company come in and set up or provide.

In my house I have cabo TV and pay a company called

"TVRoc" $13R for month. It is a real company, no

pirate Tv. My house is locate near the Estrada da

Gavea and have the meter for power, I pay $8-10R for

month. There is a problem for people who live not

close to the EdG becase the eletricty maybe can not be

there. It is to far distance. The fact is people will

pay if the service is made to be there. Most people

have cel fones becase there is no company that want to

come in to put fone lines in for the houses. Most

people in favelas are honest hard working people, not

crimnals but people of poor conditions..

 

"Ninguem merece de ser pobre"

(Nobody deserve to be poor)

 

"De ser pobre nao e crime!"

(To be poor is not a crime!)

 

I write these becase it is true. In the United States

everbody has oportunity to change how they are born.

If born poor you can, if you work hard and smart (and

play the game), you can move out of poor areas and be

sucess. Alot of this come from parents who raise the

kids to study and use oportunities thet they have

acess to. In the US, you have many sucess people of

all colors. You have many minority story of sucess.

 

It amaze me to hear young black talk of others within

there race, if one is of sucess that he is "being

white". I do not understand this. Everybody have

oportunity to have sucess if they work for it. Nobody

should have guilt in there race if they make sucess in

there life.

 

Here in the US the system is set up that really nobody

should die of hunger or not have house, you have

things here like "welfare", "Food Stamp", "Public

Housing".

Some people think these are bad things. But in BRAZIL,

THERE IS NOTHING FOR FREE! Here even the City College

have FREE computer class and English class. We do not

have these kinds of help for poor people. Everbody

have to work!

 

Yes, many people live there becase they want to. I

live in Rocinha becase it is comunity. Becase of

decrimnation aganst people who live in favelas, It

would be dificult for me live outisde this place. To

the middle class, I will always be favelado of this

hills.

We do not like the word slum, it is a poorer area but

slum give only images of bad things, never anything

good. Favelas have problem like any area. Outisde the

favela you can buy drugs and find troubles too. Just

go to "Help Disco" in Copa and you can find many drugs

and troubles.

Drugs are a bad problem but most of the buying of the

drugs comes from the midle and high classes of people

who have money for drugs. Many people in favelas do

not have the money to buy drugs.

I do not like always what the trafickers do but most

of them are from the comunity born and raise. Who are

we to trust, people of the favela or some corupts cop?

The police always abuse people of the favelas thinking

everbody is a drug traficker. This is not true. Most

people of favelas are HARD WORKERS who make little

money.

 

I can give you a story of such descrimnation exist. I

was in Copa one day in a cafe, speaking English with a

good friend of mine and a woman came to me to ask

where I was from becase I was speaking English. I told

her Rocinha and she look at me with disgust. I ask her

why she have a problem of where I live? She said "Oh,

those people just are crimnals becase they steal

everything", I respond by explain to her, "Nobody

choses to live a life of sufering, the goverment is

the biggest crimnal". She looked surprise to hear me

talk that way. I told her, I am from there and live

there becase, I work but there is no equality in the

work I do, becase I live in a favela comunity, my work

is not value of the same of somebody who live outside

the favela. This is true, my father make $400$ a

month, not enough money to live outside in regular

comunity. Does he live in favela by choice? Well,

somebody could say yes or no, but the fact be that he

is make only $400R

a month, what other place can he live.

I have had people tell me in my face becase I am from

the favela, they do not want give me the job. I have

to live with this every day, the fact that people hate

me and do not know me. Am I angry? No, more disapoint

becase of the media ALWAYS only telling of bad things

that happen in Rocinha and think the comunity support

the drugs trafickers. So now what I have to do is LIE

for me to get a job, is that right thing to do? I have

to lie and say I am from another place. I want to feel

good of where I am from and educate people that the

favela is not all bad things like this Taxi Driver

says.

 

There is much good there too. In Rocinha we have many

activity like restarants, clubs, capoeira, football,

samba, art and music schools. People care about each

other and try to help each other. I feel warm and love

there. I feel care for there and I have many good

friends who like ME for ME and do not make judge of

what kind of house I live. Outside of Rocinha, people

only care about money and things. There is no comunity

outside the favela. People have no trust in each other

and are scared. The rich hide bhind tall walls with

security gards around the house. That is like living

in a prison. For all the money they have, they live in

fear. Why? Becase Brazil is a injust country where

everybody "Sh*ts" on the poor. But the poor are

starting to fight back, not in crime but protest.

 

I have the great oportunity to be here in the United

States to receve education and hope in return to help

my family and comunity. The life of the favela is not

all miseria. Yes, we strugle but we help each other.

Could I ever life in the US forever? I do not think so

becase most people here only care about money and

themselfs. I Do not blame the people, I blame the way

the country runs. Everthing is advertise selling

something. The country has pressure of people having

to buy all this stuff to suport and life style. Most

Americans live in credit so much that this is why so

much stress is here in people. Payment of credit for

house, car, fancy things. But forget about comunity.

Does my nieghbor say hello to me? Never, he does not

want to know me, he is TOO busy, never have the time

becase he is chasing this

"American Dream". In the favela people say hello, are

friendly. I know my nieghbor and if he needs my help

with something, I will help, becase it is the thing to

do. The goverment do not help, so we try help each

other.

It is to help make the life more easy. Everbody need

to "get along".

 

I am get very tired now, but if anybody have questions

about what I write, my email adress is:

rocinhajj@yahoo.com.br

thank you,

 

Zezinho Dj

 

Tenho orgulho de morar na Favela da Rocinha!

 

"Podemos sair da favela, mas a favela nunca saira de nos!"

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rocihna jj:

 

do they have cartoneros in rio?

there probably called something else in portuguese, in buenos aires you see a lot of people from the slums, they're called villeras there not favelas, go into the rich barrios with big homemade carts and take all the cardboard, glass bottles and metal from the bins, which you can exchange for store credit at some of the supermarkets. also is glue-sniffing big with kids there? I saw that a lot in argentina, shit is naaaaaaaaasty.

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so do people set up their own schools in the favelas, to make up for the lack of schools the government provides? can most people read and write? what kind of work does the average person from an area like that do?

 

****yes we set up our own schools, becase the goverment do not give anything..remember favelados do not pay taxes. Not becase we do not want to but the people want eletricty, water all theses things but somebody need provide. Many people who live in favelas have little education so what can we do? So we try educate ourself becase nobody want to come in the Favela becase they are scare or descrimnation.

 

 

if you want to live in the favela and can buy or build a house you can..

 

***yes you can!!build a house but now there is restriction to not build house more then 5 floors!

 

all bootleg electricity, plumbing, internet connection..

they dont pay taxes.

 

*** Some people bootleg, but if you live on estrada da gavea you can get acess to legal things like elewtricity, water..

 

i would see the public bus system running routes in and out of Rocinha...

i asked someone..if nobody pays taxes then why does the bus system run through here..

 

"the drug dealers pay them to come in there so their people can go to jobs and can have transportation" they drug dealers make so much money is unbelievable..

 

*** yes this is true!

 

JJ, correct me if i am wrong but the main guy running all or Rocinhas drug cartel is only like 23-24 years old

 

***yes they are young but they die young too! Sad but true..

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See at least people make the effort and other countries people take to much shit for granted.

Even in CT where we use chilled diamonds to cool our glasses of crystal and where the water fountains flow with mimosas...

 

Seriously though it makes me sick watching these people in the ghetto sit back doing nothing then complaining about how they have no money. Or bums fucking pan handling on the side of exit ramps. Dude walks up to my car and I am like "THERE IS A GROCERY STORE RIGHT DOWN THE FUCKING STREET! GO COLLECT A FUCKING CART OR BAG SOMETHING YOU WASTE OF LIFE!" American state of mind is too lazy fucking stupid...

 

"Man look at me I am poor give me somemoney so I can get back on my feet."

070110_homeless_hmed_1230p.hmedium.jpg

 

I am just like BAM MY DUDE!!

pro-job-application-form-thumb.gif

 

Shit I am going to CVS or the Super stop and shop and am just gonna get a bunch of these to keep in my car...

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