Blogs
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Thursday 11 March '10
(from The John Ruskin Memorial Blog)
Heliopolis
A sneaked photo of the street from my phone
Tuesday, day two, and in at the deep end. Jeremy and I are taken to Heliopolis, Sao Paulo's largest and poorest favella; a jerry built shanty town of 125,000 people with a badass reputation to match. We are warned not to take photographs in the street as the whole district is run by the drug barons who might object to any pictures that might reveal the mechanics of their trade. And we don't want to look like stupid tourists.
We are here to meet the people who run UNAS a social project to educate and improve the outlook of the citizens of Heliopolis.
Interestingly the favella is doesn't come across as the murderous midden heap one is lead to believe but an amazing example of a self organising society. Throughout it's rambling, crumbling streets are all the shops, restaurants and services you would hope to have in a town, albeit self governed by the druglords.
UNAS is exactly what we needed to see, a contemporary version of a Victorian Mechanics Institute, spread throughout a number of ramshackle buildings across the town - library, sports hall, radio station, schoolhouse and so on. UNAS emerged from the vision of one man and has spread to become the ethical backbone of the community.
In what is perhaps the equivalent of the poorhouse the children work on projects (with Lego Technical) to provide electronic/robotic solutions to communal problems, like litter collection or hygiene. John Ruskin would be most enthused.
website design & build by dorian moore @ theusefularts.org.
1 Comment
That's bull,the biggest and poorest favela in sao paulo, is Capao Redondo.and actually, a lot of people die in heliopolis because of coke
Allan, April 14, 2011 10:15