I am from Bahia, but I like it here in Rio. I’m good here. I came here to work in a family’s house. Afterwards, I went to live in Mangueira, and I got married. I lived for 30, 25 years in the favela at the bottom of Mangueira, before I came to live here. Everyone
I was born in the Ceara. I came here because all my brothers lived here, and I wanted to work, to have a better life, and not depend on my father. My mother was already getting old, so I came here to try and help them. Of five siblings, I’m the youngest. And all of
Maria Estrelita Nogueira Peixoto, 43, scrap merchant [What was your house in Notre Dame like?] I had a lot of friendships there, all the families lived close to each other. The beach was close by, work was close by. The guy from City Hall turned up at our house and said ‘you’re going to
Almir Jose da Costa, 32, builder The municipal guards and military police treated us badly. The guards invaded my house and took my things, throwing everything into the middle of the street, as if I was nobody. They said, let’s go, we don’t have much time to waste. I left Recreio after living there for
I lived in Vila Autodromo since I was born, for 29 years. When I was born, there were just fishermen here, my mother lived in a shack, there wasn’t even any electricity. She used candles. Afterwards, bit by bit they built their home, and then they gave me my piece, that was my house, which
Carlos Augusto Pereira, 53 More than 15, 20 years here. Even the dogs misses the house. Because he was used to it there. I was the one who built this. They managed to make it so that any tourist who gets here, the first thing they would have seen is that house. It was this
Cosme Vinicius Felippsen, 27, tourist guide, Providencia The Providencia favela was the first favela in Rio de Janeiro, we have a lot of history. I live in the Ladeira do Farias part of Providencia. I have lived in that house for five years. City Hall started to take out some residents, I lived at the
I was seven years old when I came here, my aunt died and my mother died, and I lived with my other sister in Recreio. After that, we went to live in Curicica, for a long time. Since then, until now. City Hall, on the day they went there, they just wanted to take half
Isaias da Costa Almeida, construction worker, 53 Vila Uniao, where I lived for nearly 27 years, a community which I helped to found – it had everything on its doorstep. There was a supermarket next to it, if you wanted to buy some bread there was somewhere nearby, there was a little fair every Tuesday
Maria do Socorro Oliveira, 55, restaurant owner I’m from Minas Gerais. When I came to live in Rio de Janeiro, my whole life revolved around paying rent. When I went to live with my second husband, I didn’t pay rent, because I went to live in his house. I had a house to live in,
