Last night, after Harry's talk, we were driven past the villas de la miseria. In Brazil they are called favelas, while in Peru the euphemism for slums is pueblos jovenes (which roughly translates as young villages).
Because we were on an overpass above them, we could see their layout as well as their construction. Although there was lots of tar-paper and corrugated tin, and haphazard electrical wires and dangling bulbs, the general form reminded us of a western movie set, complete with streets both wide and narrow, storefronts and laundry on the line. These are not government issue high-rises with water and sewer lines; they are the cobbling together of materials at hand to provide cursory shelter. They go on for miles just across the shallow river from the wealthier area of the city (where many of the slum residents work).
Scutwork often falls to the urban poor, and these Portenos are the recyclers of Buenos Aires. Folks on the wealthy side of the river put their bagged trash on the sidewalk every night at eight, and crews with big carts and bags come to sort through it. They collect anything that can be recycled and sell it to the big recycling companies. We have seen the collection in process and did not peg it as scavenging; it was at least as organized and well-executed as any municipally-supported trash pick up we've seen.
As with any city, we've seen homeless squats in the parks (though fewer than many cities and as orderly as Tokyo, whose homeless are so neat and clean they are almost invisible). Also in common with other cities, there is much division about how to address the problems. We are told there is a current crack-down, in the form of iron fences and stepped-up policing to keep the poor and homeless from settling in.
As always and everywhere, drugs are alluded to as a factor in the burgeoning slums, and organized crime is said to be part of their building and management. All agree that the tanking economy has exacerbated the problem.
It is a tough situation and although we've seen some excellent assistance programs (micro-lending for example) we don't have any big solutions. My physicist and I appreciate that we wouldn't last 24 hours there.
At the same time, we can't help but be inspired by the human spirit. In the toughest of situations, our species seems hard-wired to work toward community, self- organization, and productivity. We saw families gathered around a ghetto storefront last night, with little ones playing happily underfoot, a baby being held and rocked. How could you not be touched by that?
Because we were on an overpass above them, we could see their layout as well as their construction. Although there was lots of tar-paper and corrugated tin, and haphazard electrical wires and dangling bulbs, the general form reminded us of a western movie set, complete with streets both wide and narrow, storefronts and laundry on the line. These are not government issue high-rises with water and sewer lines; they are the cobbling together of materials at hand to provide cursory shelter. They go on for miles just across the shallow river from the wealthier area of the city (where many of the slum residents work).
Scutwork often falls to the urban poor, and these Portenos are the recyclers of Buenos Aires. Folks on the wealthy side of the river put their bagged trash on the sidewalk every night at eight, and crews with big carts and bags come to sort through it. They collect anything that can be recycled and sell it to the big recycling companies. We have seen the collection in process and did not peg it as scavenging; it was at least as organized and well-executed as any municipally-supported trash pick up we've seen.
It is a tough situation and although we've seen some excellent assistance programs (micro-lending for example) we don't have any big solutions. My physicist and I appreciate that we wouldn't last 24 hours there.
At the same time, we can't help but be inspired by the human spirit. In the toughest of situations, our species seems hard-wired to work toward community, self- organization, and productivity. We saw families gathered around a ghetto storefront last night, with little ones playing happily underfoot, a baby being held and rocked. How could you not be touched by that?
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