The first favela appeared in Rio de Janeiro more than 100 years ago and despite much effort to the contrary, they not only have not gone way but have increased in number. 

There are some 600 favelas in Brazil and these are home to 1.1m people.  1 in 5 people in Rio live in one, and the children are particularly disadvantaged.

Robert Vallier writes:

One of Rio de Janeriro's favelas.  Ufosa wants to help.

"I first experienced the desperate plight of the children of the favelas in 1980.

"I remember being on the forecourt of the Hotel Othon Palace on Rio de Janeiro’s Avenida Atlantica in Copacabana. It was a gentle afternoon, I was having a late lunch. Two children, a girl and boy each about 10 years old, were staring at me from a distance away. Or so I thought.

"I soon realised they were actually staring at my plate of food. I called over the Head Waiter, to speak about the children. He had seen the children too and as he thought I was about to complain about them (he said they bother people all the time) he was just about to go and shoo them away.

"I said, 'No, that isn’t what I meant. There is a huge plate of food here and I do not need it all. I would like the two children to come over and sit and share my lunch with me - with your permission?'.  The waiter was delighted, although rather bemused, and the children ate what was probably the first decent meal they had had in a long time.

"That’s a memory that has stayed with me for over 20 years.

"Now, Ufosa is going to help some other children of the favelas."

Back To International