A toddler peers through the gates of a favela community center. - Photo by Jen Shockley
By TheSequitur.com Contributor Nov. 13, 2006
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Sunbathers lay sprawled on colorful sarongs, sitting up only to decline the constant hawking of sunglasses and shrimp by local vendors. As baby waves cut across the white sand, they lounge to the tapping of soccer balls kicked back and forth. Joggers glide past the tourists sipping caipirinhas, made of Brazilian liquor and limes, at kiosks on the mosaic sidewalk.
Heading in the opposite direction is Keri Sinclair. Just blocks from the beachside Copacabana Palace Hotel, the maze of stairs she climbs are minutes away from the sandy beaches yet decades away from their decadence. The pavement on the pathway up to this Rio hillside steadily disappears beneath her steps. Stepping aside to let a flow of cars and bicylists pass by, her eyes scan for one of several mint-colored houses that dot the street.
Dozens of other tourists have taken Sinclair’s trek into Brazil’s favelas, impoverished communities that often lack basic necessities and are known as much for their drugs as for their violence.
“I feel a connection to the culture and the people, and I want to give back,” says Sinclair, a 24-year-old choreographer who came here to study a form of Brazilian martial arts known as capoeira and, in the process, has become a teacher.
Sinclair, and dozens like her, are becoming “voluntourists” in this vacation hotspot, as they leave the sea, surf and sand to become Samaritans.
David Clemmons, director of Voluntourism.org, said the concept is spreading among avid travelers and especially among young people, who seek group interaction and don’t want to be cooped up on a tour bus. Voluntourism.org is a non-profit dedicated to promoting voluntary service at travel destinations, with more than 600 industry professionals who subscribe to its newsletter, including Dateline NBC and the Wall Street Journal.
“Six years ago, this wasn’t really an industry,” Clemmons said. “In recent years we’ve looked at it and observed that this is taking off and it’s not just restricted to leisure travel.”
The industry has boomed, in part, due to the emergence of tour operators in disaster areas, such as 2004’s Indian Ocean tsunami or last year’s Hurricane Katrina.
About 200,000 Americans engaged in some form of “voluntourism” in 2000, but Clemmons says that today the participation rate has more than doubled. Although Sinclair did not arrive here with the intention of teaching hip-hop, she found it has eased her transition into the community.
“I am not naive to the fact that my status as an American citizen, combined with my connections in the arts world of New York, are a blessing. I would like to use my blessings to help improve the lives of youth who are exposed to fewer opportunities,” Sinclair said.
And so she has. At the Children of Light’s Home, a private, non-profit school that serves infants through high school graduates, Sinclair is one of a handful of foreigners who serve as much-needed friends and mentors.
As she begins the group’s warm-up, her blonde dreadlocks sway to the beat of Talib Kweli’s “Feel the Rush.” With her pale complexion and Brooklyn accent, Sinclair seems out of place among the crowd of honey-faced teenagers in white and green uniforms. A boom box and some rearranged desks turn their practice space into a makeshift dance studio, a fair contrast from its usual existence as the library’s extra reading room.
Maria Inés Tozatto, a clinical psychologist who works in favela communities, said the children’s self-esteem often increases after attending the volunteer classes. And the locals are not the only ones who benefit, she says.
“Foreign students with volunteer jobs have an opportunity to know the reality of Rio’s poor communities,” Tozatto says. “Volunteering allows an approach to this city that goes beyond the tourist itinerary.”
Tozatto is affiliated with Unicom, an organization that pairs student volunteers from the Pontifical Catholic University, a popular destination among the study abroad crowd, with community organizations.
Without question, Tozatto says, those in favelas are not the only ones who are learning from this cultural exchange.
Jason Andrews, 28, is a travel enthusiast who wanted to pack in one more trip abroad before going to Columbia University’s graduate school to study international administration. After being recruited by another foreign volunteer, he ended up teaching English at Children of Light’s Home and learned about favela life in the process.
“I didn’t have a clear idea of how many normal families live in these communities,” he said. “One of my students lives with 15 people and I thought, ‘That’s a different concept of the nuclear family.’”
Occasionally, Andrews asks his students how they perceive tourists and is met with mixed reviews.
“The gringos that these kids see are those who enter the favela to buy drugs,” he said. “I try to show them another side of foreigners, and I get to feel a little bit like I am part of the community.”
Children of Light’s Home has had an active presence in the community since its 1991 inception. A faith-based organization created it in response to a broken water reservoir, which killed a dozen people and destroyed eight homes.
Today, social workers for the program identify the neediest children in the community, ranging in age from 3-month olds to young adults, and work with their families to provide free education through high school.
At about any given time, a dozen foreigners, mostly from the United States and Western Europe, join these activities by caring for babies in the nursery or teaching English. With increasing frequency, however, these visitors are finding new ways to interact with the students and promote cultural exchange.
A longtime British visitor teaches chess, a University of California at Berkeley student organizes a silk-screening class, and others show up to lead afternoon soccer matches or help out with other activities.
From the center’s perspective, any volunteer is appreciated, though foreigners add an element of excitement for a population that is familiar with international trends, yet has little in-person exposure to outside places and people.
“I had a block of teenage girls who were doing nothing, and then this girl from Brooklyn said she could teach hip-hop,” says Lilian Bosboom, the program’s communications director. “It was something new and cool, but also something the students could relate to.”
Bosboom, a Brazilian who has lived in New York and Florida, said some students like the foreigners because they are, at times, ignorant of this city’s class politics.
“The kids here are culturally isolated,” Bosboom says, gesturing towards the hillside. “They don’t go to the beach or the theater. Volunteers help us give them the same opportunities as the ones who live down there.”
Voluntourism.org founder Clemmons adds that as the workforce becomes more globalized, many companies sponsor “voluntourism” projects so that their employees can rub elbows together instead of meeting over a cocktail.
In what he refers to as the “Under 25” group, college-age “voluntourists” are focused on exploring their curiosities while simultaneously padding their resumes.
“This is a unique way for them to connect to the destination and enhance their college and career options,” Clemmons said. “That’s a different motive than someone who is 50, has traveled the world and now wants a more meaningful vacation experience.”
Brooklyn native Keri Sinclair, 24, instructs students on their hip-hop moves at the favela community center. - Photo by Jen Shockley
Before Sinclair started teaching, she frequented sweaty samba clubs and went backpacking in Bahia, where she paraded with a local drum troupe during Carnival. Still, she says, interacting with the students became the highlight of her trip.
“I wanted to bring a technique to the kids that they have already viewed in music and videos from the states,” Sinclair said, noting their optimism in what would be considered dire circumstances by U.S. standards. “If teaching dance helps them leave the favela and show more people in the world how to smile, I think they deserve a chance to do that.” , a TheSequitur.com Editorial Board Member-at-Large, has a degree in women's studies from the University of Florida, where she worked as a reporter and teaching assistant. Following trips to Brazil and Mississippi, she has resettled in Jacksonville, Fla.
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