Volunteering with Project Favela in Rio de Janeiro

Ooh boy, this is going to be one of my most favorite posts to write. As Damian and I were planning this trip we knew that one thing we wanted to make sure we had as part of it was volunteering. Selfishly, it’s something we really enjoy doing and get a lot of fulfillment from, and less selfishly, we believe we have the ability, and therefore duty, to help others.

I’m going to start by saying that finding the right volunteer opportunities is difficult. There are many programs out there where you can pay a fee and go somewhere from 1 week to a year, be provided housing, meals, etc. and volunteer. My issue with these programs is that they generally charge a large fee and much of that fee goes to the middleman agency / company between the volunteers and the NGOs. We found a few good sites that we liked and then just did a crazy amount of google searching and reaching out to learn about opportunities directly from the NGOs.

Since we did not need housing and were more independent volunteers it was harder for volunteer agencies to accommodate us. In many ways, I understand – it takes work and organization for a couple to be able to pop in for a day or two and really make an impact, and, many agencies really do need the money and volunteer fees are a source of income. However, we are two eager beavers who want to help in the most direct way possible (i.e., with an NGO directly vs. through an agency), so we were a bit picky in terms of the opportunities.

We could not have found a better organization to spend a day with – Project Favela. Project Favela was starting in 2009 by the amazing Scott Miles, and the organization is getting ready to open its 4th school in Rio’s favelas (aka slums, but better aka is low-income communities). I love this rendering of Project Favela’s logo that a local graffiti artist did for the inside of their new school.

Before diving deeper into Project Favela I’d like to share a bit about the education system in Brasil and Rio overall and in favelas specifically. This of course is going to be a high-level overview by a non-expert, but even these nuggets should help give insight into some of the challenges that Project Favela is trying to address:

• Children are required to go to school from ages 6-14. However, because of the shortage of schools in Brasil most students (regardless of income) only go to school for half a day – either in a morning session or an afternoon session. While not mandatory, there are public and private options for pre-school before the age of 6 and “high school” after the age of 15 as well.
• The main goal that students are working towards is to do well on the vestibular, the national exam that is somewhat similar to the SAT or ACT in the US. Those that do (extremely) well on this exam can attend the (very good) public universities in Brasil with no tuition fee.
• However, access to schools and the ability to attend and thrive are exponentially more difficult for children living in favelas. About one-quarter of the population of Rio lives in favelas, and while life is slowly becoming more stable with more services (water, electricity, etc.), many in these communities still struggle everyday.
• Some of the major reasons that children in favelas fall behind or stop in their education are: need for children to work to earn an income, unstable out-of-school conditions (trauma, violence, etc.), distance in commuting to schools, lack of needed school supplies (from backpacks to a working parent not having time to clean a uniform) and a few missed days snowballing into being further and further behind with diminishing hope of catching up.

Let’s also take a minute to talk about favelas themselves. Again, I don’t claim to be an expert on this topic and there is a ton more reading and information on the internet if you are so inclined. Currently about 1.4 million of Rio’s residents live in favelas. Favelas were originally built as tenements on the hills of Rio, and in recent years have finally started having city services provided for their residents, like running water, electricity, etc.

There is a long complicated history between the favela leadership (aka cartels, militia, etc.) and the police, with attempts to have Pacifying Police Units manage favelas. Which sounds great, until you realize that Rio needs to deal with cleaning up its corrupt police force first before these units can be effective. All that being said, we felt, in many ways, safer at the Project Favela school in the Tabajaras favela than we did in most other places in Rio (separate post on Rio safety to come!). There is such a strong, interwoven community in the favela and because the personal connections are so intertwined any crime is quickly caught and the perpetrator punished. That being said, I would not recommend just walking into a favela and browsing around on your own. As the favelas have gotten more developed there are more and more “favela tours” that have popped up as well. We did not attend any of these tours, but I can’t imagine it being comfortable walking around and staring into homes to observe the lives of those who had the misfortune of being born into a level poverty that most of the tour takers can not even fathom.

Ok, so back to Project Favela! So Project Favela was started by Scott in 2009, with the goal of providing education to children living in Rio’s favelas. The thing we first loved about PF was Scott – his energy, his enthusiasm, his deep relationships with the community, his dedication to the cause – we just knew instantly that he was someone walking the walk with this NGO. Scott and team are in the process of putting together and launching their 4th school in a Rio, this one in a favela called Tabajaras, near Copacabana. The other thing I liked about Scott’s approach is that he recognizes that he and PF can’t (yet) be everything to everyone.  For example, this new school will focus on ~30 students of ages 7-9. The goal is to provide an accelerated pace of learning and to get them back on track for the public school system. I love when NGOs are able to focus like this and know what their sweet spot is – that way they can do their part of the overall education system really, really well.

We joined Scott and another British volunteering couple on Tuesday morning at the school in Tabajaras and spent the day doing two main things: getting the inside of the school “prettier” and more inspirational and spending time with the local neighborhood kids. I’ll share a little bit here about what we did but then it’s way more exciting to get to what you can do to help.

Because of my limited Portuguese I focused on the visual inspiration part of the day. Currently, the school has a second floor that is living quarters for the volunteers (which will eventually become more classroom space once the school grows). Obviously volunteerism can be difficult and frustrating at times so we painted some inspirational words on the stairs leading up to the living quarters. The full set of what was written was: Appreciate each moment, Be brave, Choose positivity, Dream big, Expect greatness, Flourish daily, Give thanks, Help selflessly, Inspire others, Join hands, Keep laughing and Lead with love and then with Open minds, hearts, doors at the very top.

Damian spent a lot of time with the kids, and it really was the cutest thing ever. They were so happy to have a new adult around that spoke Portuguese. But even more so they were excited to have Damian around – who is so caring, empathetic and fun with kids, all while teaching them things at the same time. Our two “focus areas” collided when the kids started wanting to help with the inspirational decorating and it was so awesome to see them up there painting ‘Good humor is the best way to overcome your problems’ (in Portuguese).

How can you help?

Ok, so now the MOST important part, what you all do to help these amazing kids and this amazing endeavor? There’s three ways really:

1. Donate – Project Favela (like many other NGOs) needs money to continue operating and to open new schools. If you have it in your budget to donate to them, please do. And, as extra incentive, anyone that reads this blog and donates to Project Favela, I will match the donation. Click here to fill out the contact form and make a donation.
2. Volunteer – Project Favela is always looking for volunteers. From our very limited time there I know that anyone who spends time with this organization will leave changed for the better. You do not have to have any prerequisites or even experience teaching – Scott and his team are great at getting you up to speed.  Click here to fill out the contact form to receive an application and more information on volunteering.
3. Share – Project Favela and its cause could always use more awareness and support! To help drive that they maintain an active social media presence, so please subscribe/follow/share with others:
   • Instagram: @projectfavela
   • Facebook: Project Favela
   • Twitter: @projectfavela
   • LinkedIn: Project Favela

Thanks for reading, this really was one of our favorite activities in Rio and we look forward to stepping up our time and impact volunteering as we continue to travel the world!

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Read more about our time in Brazil using the links below:

• Brazil Country Recap – What we loved (and didn’t love) in our six weeks there
• Iguazu Falls
• Exploring São Paulo
• Exploring Bonito
• Touring in Bonito (river snorkeling and waterfall hiking)
• Rio de Janeiro: Our first three days in Rio
• Rio de Janeiro: “Professor-ial” thoughts on attending a game at Maracana
• Rio de Janeiro: Volunteering with Project Favela (you are here!)
• Three days in the beach paradies of Ubatuba!
• Rio de Janeiro: Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain
• The amazing landscape of Lençóis Maranhenses
• Three days in the hippie beach town of Jericoacoara
• Why we had to skip Canoa Quebrada and go to Natal instead
• Six days in Praia da Pipa (my favorite beach town)
• 24 hours in Olinda