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When I heard about the hardships and living conditions of the children of the favelas (shanty towns) in Rio de Janeiro, I felt compelled to follow and document one child’s life. I saw many children, but one child stared at my face and followed me around with seeming curiosity. I was drawn by a deepening curiosity of my own about this dirt covered little child, who seemed not unhappy despite her deplorable living conditions.
Rafaela is eight years old and living in Rocinha, the biggest favela, not only in Brazil, but in all of South America. When I first saw Rafaela with her short shaggy hair and tomboyish manners, I thought she was a boy. By most measures, living standards in a favela are very low. Future prospects for Rafaela are greatly limited and somewhat grim. Rafaela will most likely follow in the footsteps of her mother as most young girls in Rocinha and have children by the age of fifteen or younger. For most of these girls, there is a daily struggle to face the cycle of poverty in which they are caught. For Rafaela and the other little girls, it is a challenge to get a good education as the teachers are often not fully literate themselves. In spite of all this, she is a happy child enjoying the present and full of dreams for the future.

Rocinha is at the base of a mountain, on the outskirts of the city. It is typical for favelas to be built on steep slopes or other land that is quite unsuitable for construction. The higher up I climbed, the greater the poverty I found. Rafaela’s concrete house is half way up the slope. To get there, I had to climb the steep steps through the narrow alleys. These alleys serve as Rocinha’s sewage system and the choking stench is part of Rafaela’s life. The entrance to Rafaela’s home is downhill from the alleys and in heavy rains it is flooded with the sewage and trash of the thousands of neighbors above her. Rafaela lives with her parents and five of her brothers. Like thousands of other children in cities of Brazil, her oldest brother has already left home to live on the streets. Inside, the main room is used for cooking, eating and hanging out. The only running water in the house comes from the cold water shower in the tiny bathroom. In another small room, located in the back are two wooden beds with only thin blankets serving as mattresses. This is the room where the whole family sleeps. Surprisingly, Rafaela’s family does have electricity. Their small TV provides some needed entertainment, but because it is illegally tapped into their neighbor’s cable the reception is really bad. It seems that everyone in Rocinha owns a TV and stereo, sharing cable lines indiscriminately. On first impression I was actually astonished by the commercial developments in such a poor community. The main street of Rocinha has a MacDonald’s, an internet café, restaurants and shops. Local residents of Rio say Rocinha is not a favela anymore, it is a community. This may seem so to those residents who don’t go in to see Rocinha for themselves. They are misled by all the exciting news they hear about the latest commercial businesses popping up on the main road. They are unaware that hidden behind these impressive developments, lie a people living without the most basic of services provided to the businesses on the main road. The children of Rocinha rarely go outside of the favela. At most, they’ll go down to the beach below where the water and sand is unfortunately polluted from the sewage channeled down the mountain to the shore. Many people living in Rio have some kind of skin disease from the ocean water. Local residents outside the favela are detached from all this.

The roof top is Rafaela’s favorite escape. It serves as a place for drying clothes for Rafaela’s mother, as well as a playground for the kids. The roof-top is a relatively safe oasis from the violence that erupts from time to time in the favela. Up on the roof, Rafaela is free to be a kid. She loves to play there with her two little brothers. They can be seen singing and dancing together, pretending to play instruments made from discarded junk. The children chase each other around and let their imaginations run wild. Their laughter seems endless. The view from Rafaela’s roof is quite breathtaking. Like a giant behive, the thousands of concrete homes of Rocinha sprawl down across and up an adjacent slope. A high peak looms above this colony of over 150,000 inhabitants. On Rafaela’s roof, it is easy to forget the lack of basic services, education and the pervasive influence of drug trafficking impacting their lives. It is far more pleasant on the roof, where one can get lost taking in the natural beauty of the scenery that Rio offers under the open sky.

Scenes like this are repeated in numerous favelas throughout the city and throughout the country. Although they are located adjacent to wealthy areas, the inhabitants of favelas are ignored and discriminated against by the rest of society. Well qualified job applicants from Rocinha are regularly turned down, because of the bad reputation of being a favela resident. Part of the dilemma of the favela is that it is a center for major drug-trafficking and, to a degree it is this industry that sustains the favela. Where the Brazilian government fails to provide basic services and education in the favelas, the drug traffickers provide more for the needs of the community. This may involve sponsoring an all-out salsa party with famous artists in the street on a Saturday night. It may also include policing and settling of disputes in brutal and ruthless ways. There is always the danger of being caught in a sudden shoot-out. Violent executions have been reported in some favelas. Not only is the Brazilian government to be faulted for failing to provide for the residents, it is commonly believed that there are corrupt elements throughout the government who have formal dealings with drug traffickers who run the favelas.

Carving a good life for one’s self and one’s family on the slope of Rocinha takes perseverance, a positive attitude, as well as physical stamina. To wash dishes and clean the whole family’s laundry, Rafaela’s mom, Andrea has to carry it all down to a community well at the base of the slope. There Andrea does the dishes and all the laundry by hand then she lugs it back up the hill. In addition she works a twelve- hour shift every other day, cleaning bathrooms at a shopping mall across the street from Rocinha. Andrea is fortunate to have a job. Her husband is around, but provides little for the family. He picks up a bit of cash by selling junk. Meanwhile, Andrea attempts to hold the family together, working, cooking, cleaning and keeping a reliable home.
As much as possible, Andrea will spend quality time with each of her children. When holding each of the younger ones on her lap, Andrea talks, laughs and gives them kisses, while checking their hair for lice. But, Andrea told me that she is so tired from all the work she has to do that she goes to bed exhausted and wakes up the same as though she’s had no sleep. She is exactly the same age as I, but looks so much older. The hard life she’s been living is indelibly etched on her face. She hopes that soon, Rafaela can begin to help her with the housework and chores she is so burdened with. At the same time, she hopes that she and Rafaela will remain as great friends as they are now.

Rafaela is a very expressive girl. She is full of energy; one minute playing with her brothers, the next she is mumbling and writing something down. She has an imaginative mind and is sometimes lost in her own world. Her face is smiling one moment, studious and serious, the next. She sometimes shows a pensive face. It might be telling of the hard life she’s had and of the dim prospects for anything better. The first time I saw Rafaela’s girl side was when she became upset after a fight with her brothers. She went into the back room, crying and pulled out her treasure box. Inside was a doll with long blond hair. Rafaela began to dress the doll and brush her hair then brought her out to play. It seemed to bring her comfort. A few days later, Andrea gave Rafaela fake hair extensions. Rafaela loved it! She played with her new long hair and kept swinging it around. The long hair transformed the tomboy into a delicate girl, which suited her beautiful face and personality. Watching her, one can’t help but wonder what the dreams are of this one little girl, living in such a hard life.

The problems of the favela and poverty throughout Brazil need to be addressed on a massive and progressive scale. There is a fundamental failure of the Brazilian government to represent the needs of an enormous portion of its citizenry. More often than not, the “problem of the favela” is dealt with by police conflict and suppression. What is needed is an improvement in education, increased provision of basic human
services and fair representation in local and national government. Collectively, Brazilian society needs to look beyond its prejudices and recognize the humanity of its residents of the favela, so that a bright girl like Rafaela can get a fair chance in life to make some of her dreams a reality. Nevertheless, I still am hopeful for who Rafaela may come to be. I look forward to following her life and seeing her grow. Hopefully, a difference can be made in her life.

Born in Tokyo, Japan, Yui was immersed in art from a very early age. Through her father, a successful film actor, she was exposed to international cinema and the Japanese film industry. Being the daughter of a British-Japanese mother, her mixed features made her an outsider in a very homogeneous society. This planted a seed that would grow into a deep interest in different cultures and lead her on a photographic quest that has carried her throughout the world. She moved to the United States in 1989, and studied photography at Brooks Institute of Photography in California. Yui’s photojournalistic approach allows her to tell a story. Her projects have included the colorful and passionate flamenco dancers in Seville, Spain; the juxtaposition of traditional Shinto culture and modern life in Japan; and an inspiring story of an 8-year-old girl living in the shadows of society in the largest slum of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In January 2005, she was awarded with the Puffin foundation Grant to continue on this project. She returned to Rio and followed up the story of the same girl in the fall of 2005. Through her images, Yui seeks to find what is beautiful in every different situation. Her flamenco dancers in Spain invoke the joys of family, color, music, and dance. Her images in the slums of Brazil show a vibrant, creative young girl who blossoms in spite of the poverty of her surroundings. Through celebrating the positive rather than lamenting the negative, Yui’s uplifting images awaken hope in people and society.