Why I Took a Slum Tour

A friend of mine, an MBA student at Nova Southeastern in Florida, went on a remarkably similar trip in October, so I consulted her before I left to hear about her recommendations. She told me that she went on a Favela Tour (independently) and that it was the best part about her trip. So, I told myself that I needed to do that, too.

Our trip started in Sao Paulo, and then we spent the latter part of the week in Rio. Throughout our stay, we visited all sorts of companies and organizations that told us all about the business landscape in Brazil. All week we heard about Brazil's boom, its growth, its incredible strength and rise to power, and all of the recent successes it has celebrated. I have no doubt that Brazil has really blossomed in the last five or so years. It's undeniable.

But, none of the places we visited mentioned the poverty that is still very much a part of life in Brazil. One organization, FIESP, didn't even acknowledge that housing and access to clean water were a major issue for the country - even when asked point blank. The poverty's not exactly hidden either. Driving around, one can see favelas on hillsides all over and in the city centers themselves, homeless people sleep in street medians, in ATM vestibules, and wherever else they can find shade from the heavy sun.

That the Brazilian working (and upper classes) treated the rampant poverty as a nonissue with us, I thought it was especially important to visit a favela. I needed to see the "other" Brazil, the place that is reality for millions of people and that will continue to be until the country undergoes serious and major reforms to "fix" the system.

While my tour was guided and led by a private (presumably for-profit) company and despite all my fellow tour-members being from developed countries (strangely I was the only American; all others were European or Australian), I was perfectly comfortable with the experience. In other words, I didn't feel like I was exploiting anyone. It was evident that the guide had a strong rapport with the community we visited. He shook their hands, knew their children's names, and was very sure that we respected the "rules" and the privacy of the residents. The residents, too, were very welcoming. They would invite us into their homes and shops and were fascinated by our clean clothes and "fancy" sunglasses.

What I want to express is how important it was for me to learn about the Brazil that others won't tell you about. Many Brazilians don't even know what life is like in a favela, even though millions of their countrymen have experienced that lifestyle for generations. The contrast to corporate Brazil was stunning, and while Brazil is quickly rising through the ranks in its global importance, seeing the favela highlighted to me that Brazil will never reach the status of the US or Europe so long as favelas exist.

Editor's note: This column is a complement to the demo dirt feature story, Slumming It, about the growth of slum tourism.