first week finished

Well my first week of life in the favela has come to an end and boy has it been a week of ups and downs. I thought I had settled in relatively easy with Elisa being here to show me round and help me get to grips with life in the community but sometimes I wonder how this experience is going to go. One of the things that is the hardest to get used to here is the fact that there is nothing to do and nowhere to go. If I want to go for a walk it means walking through the favela, by houses, bars and not much else or, I can take the scenic route along the 'canal'...which is basically an open sewer. Yep, that's what is right in front of my house. There is no park, nowhere where you can get some quiet time, nowhere nice to walk to...there is no escape. Everyday I ask myself what the hell people do on a daily basis, no wonder so many are on the streets.

At times this week I have found it all a bit too hard to cope with. The constant noise in the form of shouting, music blaring out from bars, fireworks (or potentially gun shots), planes from the nearby airport is at times unbearable. Teaching went well but not having access to proper materials doesn't help. Trying to cram 13 students into a classroom no bigger than my living room back home in what has been the hottest week of the year (40 degrees in winter) doesn't help. Having a hyperactive child in my class and no way of controlling him because his mother doesn't bother giving him his medication doesn't help.

It's still all a bit surreal in terms of what I see on a daily basis. The amount of guns I have seen this weekend is ridiculous. I asked Neuza if she gets scared when she sees guns or if it has just become one of those things. She said she is there physically, but mentally she goes to another place because she can't believe what she is seeing, it can't possibly be real. I know exactly what she means. We were sat having a beer the other night and a car drove past me with the windows down and in each window was a guy with his gun hanging out. Later at least 3 teenagers walked past with their guns in their hands. It's unbelievable, it really is. The irony of it all is though, is that here is where I am most protected. Here, in theory, no one is going to rob me because I form part of the community - and you don't steal from your own.

I'm hoping to be more positive this week and I am at least starting the week feeling more prepared after a trip to Instituto Cervantes today. I can't even begin to explain how helpful they have been to the volunteers. They have given us free library membership, they let us take books out we wouldn't normally be allowed and they are letting us attend courses for free. Another great thing about the place is the silence in the library. The sweet sound of nothing which I have already come to value.

Tomorrow will tell if I will finally meet the students from class A. I am yet to meet my morning class as for the past week I have been waiting for my students to come and no one has turned up. This is the class that has the lowest attendance. The problem is is that a structured timetable doesn't exist in most houses. Sometimes the mums are already at work and sometimes they just don't bother waking them up which leaves both the volunteers and, on many occasion, the children themselves frustrated.

Successful first day!

Today was my proper day of life in the favela. I was up bright and early and after class Elisa showed me to the nearest supermarket. Walking around the favela I literally felt like I couldn't be further away from Copacobana. All I saw around me were DIY brick houses, noisy traffic, and music blaring out from stalls. To think that beautiful Copacabana where you feel like you are on a film set is in the same city is almost unbelievable.

I had my first classes and they went well. I was a bit nervous about the first class as it's got a reputation as being the naughty class. There were a few names on the board but in general they were fine. In fact, I got my first “I love you” note from one of the girls and a few came up and gave me hugs at the end. That's the kind of thing that reminds me why I am here and makes me smile.

A bit later on after class Elisa and I went for dinner and I had my first sighting of guns. I knew I would see them and be scared but I didn't expect to be less than a metre away from the guy and have him making some clicking noise like he was playing with the trigger! I also expected them to be smaller, discreet, and maybe in a holster. Wrong again. These are big guns that wouldn't come close to fitting in a holster! The narcos know that we are here to help in the community centre and Neuza tells them that we are coming. They allow us to be here but we have been advised not to look at them as obviously they don't know who we are and for all they know we could be police and they don't want us remembering their face type thing. We went to a bar round the corner for a beer and lots of blacked out cars drive past. Including one with the window down and a guy resting his gun out the window. I always knew they would make me nervous but sitting there thinking that if any problems were to occur round the corner, with the kind of guns they had kind of freaked me out a bit.  I've been told I will get used to seeing them, as perverse as that sounds.

Favela firsts

So today my new life in favela PARADA DE LUCAS has begun! Parada is situated in the north of Rio. The south is the rich area where Copacabana is and the north is where there is more poverty. I was originally told there are two types of favelas – the pacified ones where the police have gone in and 'cleaned things up' or the ones that are not pacified and therefore are run by the narcos. My favela is run by narcos. After a conversation with Neuza though, she said that no favela is pacified and all continue to have problems with drugs and guns, only that the pacified ones have a higher police presence. Apparently there is a police presence in Parada once a week/month – in this case they are coming to collect their bribe.

Most of you have seen pictures of where I am staying. The place is more than adequate, although there are some windows missing, but that's only really a problem when it rains. Most people start with a ground floor house and as they save money or as their family grows they build another floor. Three floors is the maximum any house can have. Pretty mcuh as far as the eye can see are these types of houses here.  My classroom is on the second floor and I live on the third floor.

After a long journey (of which most of I slept) I arrived at Rio airport to be greeted by big smiles and open arms from Elisa. I literally couldn't ask for a better person to be here to greet me and show me around. She was accompanied by a girl who will be a future student of mine and we all headed back to the flat together. To say it is hot would be an understatement. You can be sitting still and the sweat is pouring....we are still in winter! Within ten minutes of arriving I was having a beer with Elisa, Neuza (the woman who runs the community centre here), Walter (a guy who runs a project in another favela which I'm going to visit this weekend) and a guy called Paul who is a previous volunteer and funnily enough from Manchester. Within the first few hours I heard and saw fireworks. These are used by the narcos to communicate with each other. It could be anything from a warning about trouble, or to say the police are coming in or simply that they are having a party.

The area was more or less as I expected it to be to be honest. Possibly the stench of the river was worse than anticipated. One thing that has surprised me a lot is the amount of people in the street – at all hours. I had the impression it would be some what of a ghost town maybe because people were scared to go out but there are always people out and about. Unfortunately there are also kids out and about and last night I saw kids that must have been less than 5 years old hanging out on the street.