Building a shantytown/favela back in the 80s

I was attending school back in the 80s and a very popular activity among the teachers was project work. Project work meant 2 weeks away from the normal class room setting and the topic could be anything. Mostly, the topics were about poverty or social injustice. If the topic was energy it was most likely about the terrible consequences of nuclear energy. You get the picture right: Most teachers were left-wing and the topics were always about how capitalist society failed on some dimension and how the "simple" life was much better.  

What the teachers were really looking forward to - I believe - were 2 weeks away from the class room. 

Photo from www.deathandtaxesmag.com

Teachers in the 80s

I remember that most of the teachers were high on the alternative way of living and in particular, some were into alternative farming. Instead of taking a career step into farming they stayed on as teachers and fenced part of the school area off for goats. Another area was set up for chickens. There were probably some idealistic teachers on the staff that seriously believed that they did it for the benefit of the children. I believe that most of the teachers did all this because they failed to see the point of doing science, math, litterature ... in short, they failed to see the point of an education. It was all politics to them. I guess that was a big part of the 80s.

Now, one of the consequences of the farming activity on the school area was dirt. Actually, a small mountain of dirt was accumulated on the school area, right next to the farming activities. It was a little mountain of dirt and I guess the teachers responsible for this did not really want to move it because that would actually require tedious work effort. So, one of the teachers got the briliant idea to let the kids work on a project that required a mountain of dirt. The idea was born for the next school project: The kids were to build a favela on the side of the mountain.

The project

So, the project was about building or recreating the slum of Brazil on the dirt mountain. I was in a group of 3-5 people that had to spend 2 weeks building a little house out of wood on the side of the mountain. Other kids were assigned in a similar manner - some were also given the task of building a slum house and others were given the task of building all sorts of infrastructure, so that we would end up with a mini version of the Brazilian favela or shantytown.

It served two purposes: One, the teachers did not have to move the mountain of dirt and two, the teachers hoped - I guess - that it would teach the kids something about poverty. The thinking was obviously that (capitalistic) cities are places of inequality and poverty. 

Megacities in the developing world

Working with emerging markets for some time makes you think about the role of megacities in the developing world, like Mexico City, Mumbai, Rio, etc. What do they actually mean for the developing world. My teachers, many commentators and articles about cities in the developing world is about the amount of poor people and inequality and they see a big problem in that.

My point is that Rio does not make people poor - but Rio attracts poor people.  There is a huge distinction. The favelas in Rio attracts poor people who hope to improve their options in life. But, where do the poor people come from? They come from the countryside and hope that a life much closer to the city will improve their lives. And it does: The poverty rate among recent arrivals to big cities is higher than the poverty rate of long-term residents. 

Poor people seek the shantytowns of Rio because it offers advantages they could not find in the countryside. First of all, they find access to a larger supply of jobs and education that will - over time - give them more opportunities. I am not trying to make light of life in the shantytown - by no means. But, fact is that shantytowns are the stepping stone that poor people use to build a life. That is a positive thing and not a negative thing. 

I am sure my teachers back in the 80s would have refused to look at the positive aspects of favelas. They had a static picture of the world: They considered poor people powerless and repressed - ignoring the fact that these people have made a choice and done something to try to change their lives by moving to the big city. The world is dynamic. My teachers moved backwards, but the poor moved forward.