The community of Roupa Suja is located high up on the hills of Rocinha, one of the largest favelas in Rio de Janeiro. Numbering around 5,000 people Roupa Suja is the poorest neighbourhood in Rocinha, and can only be reached by walking up steep, twisting, broken alley-ways. The housing is very ad hoc and is built from left-over building materials with none of the essential public services - sanitation, electricity or clean water - now found in much of Rocinha.

As a result the narrow walk-ways have dirty water standing in pools or running down the hills which creates health problems and makes it difficult for children to play safely on the streets. As children grow older there are few opportunities and they face the inevitable pressures to drop out of school and to get involved in drugs trafficking, prostitution and different kinds of child labour as a means of survival.

The Project
In 2003 a group of women from the area created Uniao de Mulheres Pro-Melhoramento da Roupa Suja – loosely translated as the ‘the United Women’s group for the Improvement of Roupa Suja’. They were determined to see how they could improve the area in which they lived.

Five years later their hard-won success is a testimony to the dedication and commitment it takes to work in such tough surroundings. Their focus is one of confronting the heart of the problem – which they see as being social exclusion. Much of their work is aimed at their younger generation - providing children and young people with the skills, confidence and independence they need to succeed in the face of the many difficulties they will encounter.

On a shoe-string budget and amidst many sacrifices the group now have 4 strands to their work.

Creche and Day-Care
The first is the operation of a crèche and day-care centre for 50-60 children aged from 4 months up to 5 years old. It is open all day for 5 days a week and provides essential care for young children as well giving parents the opportunity to go to work. This often means earning no more than 400 reais a month – approx £130 a month – but it is just enough on which to get by.

The After-School Programme
The second and perhaps most central strand is the running of a small school – the Oficina do Saber – which means ‘Workshop of Knowledge’ – and which the ABC Trust helped start with funding in 2006. It is the only project of its kind in Roupa Suja – and sets out to reinforce the basic education the children are getting.

There is space for 50 children who range from 6-14 years old. The school itself is based in 3 tiny rooms and every day the children come in two shifts – 25 in the morning and a further 25 in the afternoon. They get support on all of the basic curriculum – but especially with reading, writing and numeracy. There are also some extra-curricular activities like football, capoeria or even something as simple as visiting the beach – which otherwise seems a world away.

The success of this work is there for all to see: the children they help manage to remain in school and all of them are now in higher grades with some moving on to high school. Moreover parents report that their children are much more motivated to study and really enjoy learning.

Computer Literacy
The after-school programme is teamed-up with the Mundo Informatica – which is a computer literacy programme where young and old alike can learn basic computer skills. They are particularly proud of the fact that several of the young people who have learned there are now teaching others, and of last years ‘graduates’ there are now 10 working in computer related jobs and earning a good basic income.

Programme for Adolescents
More recently a new, and as yet very informal, programme has been set up – a kind of transition programme for adolescents (aged 15-23) who may have been involved in some way with the drugs and gangs culture but who are desperately looking for a way out.

Marcia told me about a boy, 15 years old, who late one night, had to carry his friend home on his back after he had been shot in a violent clash in neighbouring Vidigal – and soon after they got back his friend died. The vey next day he had come to her and asked for help – help that would literally to save his life. He was looking for a second chance – and with Marcia and her team he got it. They managed to find him an on-the-job training opportunity and he really focused on making the best of it and staying out of trouble. After 18 months he got a good job which pays well enough for him to contribute to his family income and start thinking about the future.

Marcia
The person behind all of this is a very unassuming, hard working woman called Marcia Ferreira da Costa – and she would be the first person to point out that there are many others who also deserve recognition for the work they are doing. Marcia was born in Rocinha and started to help teach and help her fellow students when she was just 12 years old. She clearly had some kind of calling even then – and now at 38 years old, a qualified teacher, mother and life-time resident she is determined to give as many opportunities as possible to the young people of her community.

Support Needed
The project gets by on a patchwork of support from a number of sources – support which gets stretched as far as possible. An Italian NGO provides funding for the crèche and day care facilities, and there are local donations and modest fees paid by families who use the services; a local organisation partners with a US NGO to provide support for the computer workshops; and they get some local support for basic food and schools supplies.

However, there is very urgent need for direct support for the school project. The funding they need is approx £6,000 a year - which means £120 for a year’s education for each child on the programme.

Marcia knows they have to keep it going at all costs. Teachers are volunteering in their spare time when they can; they collect and sell anything which will make a profit – which includes collecting the drinks cans and bottles left by visitors. For Marcia it simply isn’t an option to stop. But the fact remains they badly need our support.

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Additional information

The illiteracy rates in Rocinha are the highest in Rio. Public schools do not have enough places; even then they are often far away so sometimes children can’t make the long journeys required; and if they do get to a school they find the classes are huge – 50-60 children. The result is that general education for children from Roupa Suja is very poor.

Everyone in Rocinha is touched in some way by the tragedy of daily life. Marcia’s nephew was shot in a cross-fire incident in a violent clash between gangs and police - and she has countless heartbreaking stories which in many ways make it all the more amazing that she perseveres and as a result she also has the success stories that make it all worthwhile.

One boy in class was though to be particularly slow and disruptive but it was only after getting some close attention from one of the teachers that they realised that he had a problem with his hearing and a severe heart problem. They took him to the health clinic and after a course of treatment and with some special teaching he is now doing very much better.

I asked Marcia if there was a particularly important age to be present in children’s lives if they were to make a difference. She replied that there seemed to her to be three ‘moments’. At 6-7 years old children start going to local schools but can very quickly can fall behind – or simply don’t start reading and writing. It is here that they need encouragement and basic support in reading, writing and basic numeracy and given a sense that learning is not only important but fun too.

At 9-11 years old children start to come into contact with some of the drugs traffickers in the area who adopt recruitment strategies which at first seem harmless but can rapidly envelop a child. The first step is to approach a young child and ask them to deliver a small package and in return they will get 10 reais (about £3). At this point it is important to be keeping children occupied, away from contact with gangs on the streets and becoming conscious of some of the choices they will have to make in life.

At 14-16 years old they can get much more involved – the money gets much attractive but life is much, much more dangerous – and once a young person gets wrapped up in gang-life it can prove to be almost impossible to escape. Marcia told me that many of the young people she knows who become part of gangs tell her that they don’t expect to reach their 18th birthday. This is where young people need to have had a good basic education and can read and write well which means they can go to high school or find a job which provides an income, and just as importantly have a sense of right and wrong and where a life in drugs or prostitution leads.