So, more about the projects.

Today I went to a project in Ilha do Governador, a bit out of Rio, but I could stay at the house of really great people from Rotary, so it was fine=)

The project I went to is located at a hospital and is there for helping families who had a child with a cleft lip. The project accompanies the families during the healing process and the operations, depending on their financial situation it also helps out with donating money, in order to make a good alimentation of the child possible. They give out powdered milk to the families and if necessary also very basic things such as toilet paper, to ensure an adequate hygiene. They even visit houses of people who are in need of help, in order to see what they can do to make their homes more livable. So they see if they have running water, a toilet... I'll probably be working there with the children, while they are waiting to be treated. But they have also a whole lot of craft things, so that might be something too=) I'll see... After carnival...=D http://www.saudecrianca.org.br/en/nosso-trabalho/metodologia/

Carnival has already been going on since I got here, on weekends there are the blocos playing in the whole city, it's great=)

But also a lot of projects haven't really been doing anything until carnival, since everything pretty much stops for carnival and a lot of people are travelling. So I'll probably be a bit better organized after carnival=)

But anyway, all the projects I've been writing about are always happy about every donation they get, so feel free to donate=D

I also already went to a project which was really badly organised, as in they were some kind of childcare center and even had a volunteer program, just you had to pay heaps for accommodation and then you weren't even needed there. If they did give someone something to do it didn't really matter if it was done badly, since they didn't really care about the project. There the problem was, that it used to be a really good thing. They were making the Favela there a better place for the people living there, had this center for the children where they could go and play after school and the center really is really nice. But then the guy who started the whole project died and now it's his daughter and her husband who are in charge. Unfortunately they are more interested in having a good life here in Brazil with the money they've inherited from the father and don't really care about still having a great project. Since volunteers are made paying a lot of money to come they barely have volunteers and if someone ever gets there they start quickly doing other things than working there, since their help isn't really needed.

Then Christa, who already took me to the projec tin Rocinha with the kindergarden always takes me along when she gos to visit a project, which is great. The other day I went with her to a place where they have classes for women where they can learn to have their own business. It was great to see and talk to them and hear that some of them had already opened their beauty salons or cafes. Also getting to know all the people that work in projects like that is great, they are always really passionate about what they're doing and really put their energy into it.

More difficult to cope with is hearing about the kids that are missing a father, since he was a ,,traficant'', drug dealer. The average life-expectance of a drug dealer here is about 25 years. So a lot of kids are left without a dad. Unfortunately drug dealing is nearly the only way to get some money when you're growing up in a Favela, going to a public school, which is really bad here in Brazil. You can start drug dealing as a child, so why not start making some money? The projects who offer a place for the adolescents to play and hang out are trying to get the kids out of the violence and the drug dealing by giving them something else to do. They try to create an environment where the kids feel comfortable, away from whatever happens at home. No drug dealer wishes for his children to become one, but a lot of children do get involved one day. It has become less violent in the last years, at least in the Zona Sul, the southern, touristy part of Rio. The Favelas used to belong to the different drug dealing gangs, they all had their territory and if they wanted to expand it, they fought for it. There were borders you couldn't see, but living in the Favelas you knew where they were. You were not to cross them, if you did do so anyway you were pretty much dead. In the north of the cities, where the police haven't entered the Favelas yet it still is like that. In the south though the police started invading the Favelas. They came with tanks, guns and even helicopters to conquer the Favelas, appaerently it really was like war. They had to fight for the land and once they could call it theirs they installed their bases in the Favelas, the UPP. The drug dealing of course is still going on, but arms are no longer tolerated. So where there were shootings nearly every day it now went down to maybe twice a month or so. It still happens now and then, but the situation is nowhere near to how it was before. In Rocinha though, there is still a part that belongs to the ,traficantes'. The only people who are allowed to enter it are the people who live right there or the traficantes themselves. Anyone else is pretty much walking into death. So since the UPP are in the Favelas they have changed. Where before the traficantes were ruling over the Favelas it's now the police and the famous Funk parties aren't going on anymore. They are only in the Favelas that haven't yet been pacified, where it's still really dangerous. The only way to get to one is if you know someone from within the Favelas, but even then the risk of going in is pretty high. So I don't think I'll ever get to a real one. There is a club in Rocinha though where they play funk, so I might go there one night to have a look, I'll see.

It's also sad to hear people working in the projects talking about the kids families. When they're talking about the children it turns out that really a lot of them are growing up without a father. They talk about death as if its a thing that happens everyday, and unfortunately there, being involved in the drug dealing, it more or less is.

Another thing that apparently is normal is that you shouldn't have your phone in your hand close to a window on a bus. The other day I did that and suddenly, as the bus stopped a hand comes through the window and grabs my phone. Being lucky i manage to pull it away (actually it was only some s*** phone anyway, but still, the shock was there...) and a boy, about 16 years old walks off, giving me a too-bad-maybe-next-time look. The people next to me and in front of me, who'd seen it didn't even react to it, apparently one know that this can happen around here, including me now.

Then the other day I was in a taxi with friends, going so a Samba show, and we stopped somewhere because of a red light I think. Then there was a bus a bit in front of us in the lane next to us and a boy, about 10 years old, cilmbing up a buses outer wall. When he found the window closed shut he jumped down again, as his friend, about the same age, trew a stone at the window which broke it. The lady sitting next to it got the broken pieces in her face and the bus drove off. We were just in the taxi, shocked, having the taxidriver tell us: well yes, here it is a bit a dangerous area. The two boys walked off, pretty much as if nothing had happened, maybe a bit disappointed that they didnt manage to steal anything. What really shocked me was how it really isn't uncommon as it seems. I wondered what had happened to those children that they did things like this. Someone told me it was the crack they smoked, which apparently is really cheap.

I learned from those experiences to only sit in the middle of the bus and stay away from the windows.

But I guess it also depends on where you are. Pilar, the girl I'm gonna live with, has lived here in Rio for 4 months already and has never seen anything dangerous. So living with her will probably be safer, since Ipanema really is safer than Santa Teresa.

So I didn't want to make you scared for my safety, since I'm still fine and nothing has been stolen yet and I haven't been hurt yet. I'm jsut being honest, telling my experiences. I do learn from them and I do look forward to one day being back in Switzerland, being able to ride my bike without being scared of being hit by a car, go anywhere I want at any time of the day or night and feeling safe=)

So: Everything is still going great, it's still amazinlgy hot and Carnival is coming up=)

Beijos, Bettina