Our main activity for the day was a two-hour long boat ride around Bertioga. Before boarding the boat, we had a bit of time to kill, so we visited a nearby park that had a few statues and other landmarks commemorating the Portuguese colonization of Brazil.
I can’t be 100% positive, but something tells me this isn’t really the way it went down.
A view of the beach from the park:
We entered a small museum and took a few more pictures.
Then, it was time to board the boat.
After the boat ride, we stopped at a local inn owned by a Rotarian, and had a chance to nap for a couple of hours. It was time to present again, this time at the Bertioga Rotary Club.
This will give you an idea of how these meetings are starting to feel.
During our stay in Guaruya, we were accompanied by an 18-year old French Rotary exchange student named Marie. Marie is a very remarkable young lady fluent in four languages: French, German, English, and Portuguese. Next up was Mandarin, as she would be visiting China soon. She was so friendly and helpful that I had to point her out. We’ve met quite a few remarkable teenage Rotary exchange students during our stay. I really wish I would’ve known about the program when I was in high school. Here is a picture of Marie presenting after we were done.
After we received our banners, I hurried everyone out the door. I hated to be rude, but I really wanted to watch the Laker game. It was worth the effort since they were victorious.
On day 3, we took another trip. This time, we visited Cubatao, an industrial town located on the other side of Sao Paulo. We began by visiting a construction site. There, builders were putting together offices for contractors who were tasked with building project housing that would allow the government to relocate thousands of people from the rainforest and hills in the near future.
Of the many thousands of people living in the rainforest and hills of Cubatao, exactly 50% were going to be relocated. Amongst many reasons for this project, the first is the poor quality of housing. Recent rainfall led to a few landslides, causing hundreds of people to lose their homes. Absolutely no one’s home is guaranteed to survive the next rainstorm and those immediately next to rivers and hills were selected as the first to move. Another cause for this undertaking has to do with waste disposal. Residents of these areas simply dump their waste into nearby rivers and lakes, damaging the region’s ecosystem, and spoiling the area’s water supply. Finally, like every other favela in Brazil, the residents are squatters, having built their dwellings on state property. They have not paid for their homes, and any utilities they may have are pirated.
Despite the fact that these residences are on their last legs, many of the area’s residents are understandably upset about the government’s plans for them. While their homes may be heavily deteriorated, they are much larger than the apartments they will be moved into. In addition, for many of these people, this is the only way of life they know. Some of these houses have been occupied for four or five generations. While the mountain and rainforest dwellers will receive title deeds for their new homes at no charge, they will not have to pay for the utilities they enjoyed at no cost. In addition, many are frightened at the prospect of having to integrate into a new society. Social workers will be appointed by the government to ease the transition, but there is no doubt that it will be very difficult.
We made our way into the rainforest, where we observed a presentation detailing the entire relocation. In great detail, we learned about the affect of the project on current residents and the environment.
After listening to the presentation, we were shown a small area dramatizing the effect of waste on the animal population. These animal models are made from actual carcasses.
After lunch, we went to city wall and learned about another relocation project. In another area of the Cubatao hills, current housing would be destroyed and replaced with new project housing, consisting of multi-story towers. (In the general Sao Paulo area, most people live in high-rises. The concept of a beautiful house for a nuclear family that is so characteristic of the “American dream” does not exist) The new projects would also beautify the area by adding walkways, bike paths, man-made ponds, rivers, streams, fitness centers, soccer fields and basketball courts among many other upgrades.
During both presentations, current inhabitants of the affected regions were referred to as “invaders” or “aliens.” Both terms were fairly shocking to my group. We assumed that this could be blamed on the difficulty of translation between English and Portuguese. However, in both cases, we came to feel that the presenters really felt that these people were “invading” the current spaces they inhabit. Although they defended the project by noting the dangerous conditions of the housing and the harm to the ecosystem, they referred to the fact that the “invaders” had never paid for their housing or utilities more frequently. We felt that the project covered most of its bases when it came to social reintegration, but some of our questions regarding this topic seemed to make the presenters defensive. I asked if a campaign was undertaken to make the people who would be relocated aware of the grounds for the project. After being told this had been taken care of, I asked what action was taken when residents rejected these reasons as being beneficial. The answer that I received was as follows; “we can’t baby them. We know that this is the right thing to do, and regardless, they have no choice in the matter.” While I don’t entirely disagree with this statement, the tone of the response made it clear that the safety of the residents was not the focal point of this project. It was simply a problem that needed to be dealt with in order for the project to be successful…
After the presentation, we took another boat ride. This ride wasn’t so scenic and was very pertinent to the all the information we were given throughout the day.
Daniel, a local Rotarian and our guide for the day, gave us quite a lesson on the environmental impact of the mangrove, and the harm a damaged mangrove would cause to the environment.
After an hour in the uninhabited areas of the mangrove, we came across the favelas. Before they were even in sight, the pollution in the water and mangrove increased tenfold.
The sight was shocking. Rows of hundreds of shacks built on top of shoddy support columns, just tall enough to keep the shacks above water level during high tide. (And of course, this isn’t always the case, flooding causes damage to these dwellings regularly)
As we passed the favelas, the smell of the air and water became increasingly foul. Some of us literally covered our noses to keep us from vomiting. The waste in the water was clearly a problem that needed to be dealt with. This was yet another instance where we observed people living in housing that no one human should ever have to live in. (Of course this doesn’t keep them from putting up satellites to get a decent television feed) At this point, I was in full agreement that these people needed to be relocated. I just wish the communication was handled a little differently.
As we made our way across the water, we passed Terezinha’s old Coca-Cola bottling plant. She was the owner of the beautiful home w e stayed in while in Santos. As I mentioned before, this plant made Terezinha’s family extremely wealthy.
Her bottling plant was followed by plenty of other industrial units.
Certainly, I am not qualified to speak about the impact these plants cause on the environment, but I believe that the toxic material emitted by these plants must also contribute to the rancid smell and appearance of the surrounding water. I found it ironic that while these plants cause just as much, if not more, harm on the environment as the local residents, the government doesn’t feel that they need to be relocated. I guess money talks in all languages, definitely Portuguese.
After an hour or so to recharge, it was time to present at the Cubatao Rotary Club.
In an unfortunate way, our experience at this meeting was unlike that of the dozen or so previous meetings. Just after we received our banners, we heard a scream right outside the door of the room we were occupying. We ran outside to see what happened and heard the sound of footsteps running into the distance. We look down at the floor and saw a woman passed out. A toddler (one or two-years old), sat on the ground right next to her midsection, crying hysterically. At her feet there stood a young boy (six or seven) who was crying as well and looked shocked. He told us that a masked man held his mother up at gunpoint. He grabbed her purse and took off on a bicycle. The woman fainted thereafter. We called for an ambulance and before it arrived, one of the Rotarians escorted the boy up the street so that he could pull his grandmother to the scene. (The victim and children lived less than two blocks away from the crime scene, which was less than 100 feet away from the Rotary podium) The ambulance arrived after a few minutes. As the ambulance tended to the woman, the police arrived. The officers exited their car and pulled the Rotarian who was closest to the woman. They asked one or two questions, and made the “fuck it” face, leaving less than two minutes after arriving. The woman was taken away into the hospital with her grandmother and infant. We invited the boy into the meeting, where he ate and left as soon as he was done.
The entire situation hit really close to the home. I could vividly recall walking around McArthur Park with my mother and younger brother during our first years in the states. While we were fortunate enough to never experience a hold-up at gunpoint, I could remember always feeling like we had to look over our shoulder. In addition, our house was robbed a few times, and I could imagine the feeling of vulnerability that the mother and her children must have felt. While seeing her children in tears made enough of an impact on me, way the police handled this made me sick to my stomach. For a minute, I almost had an appreciation for the cops back home. Even in McArthur Park, they would’ve at least taken a report.
Of course I thought all my other experiences dealing with the police, and my temporary admiration was completely gone.
Our time in Guaruya came to a close. In my next entry, I’ll tell you about our time in the next city, Sao Caetano.
