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In the Complexo do Alemão, one of the largest groups of favelas in Rio de Janeiro, the 26-year-old communicator Renê Silva has become an active voice in the fight against covid-19. Silva, who has been isolated from his family for five months, has lived with eight volunteers since the beginning of the pandemic in the offices of Voz das Communities, a non-governmental organization that he founded to deal with the issues of the favela beyond criminality. “Since March, I only entered my house on Mother's Day and on my mother's birthday, with all the precautions and for a short time. Other times I just went to the door ”, Silva explains by video call.
Their daily work includes publishing journalistic information on the institution's website and in the application created to help prevent covid-19, the monthly distribution of food to the most vulnerable population, and the registration of beneficiary families in the Complexo do Alemão . It also participates in the organization and daily delivery of 1,000 food items. In addition, Silva is involved in internal campaigns to prevent the disease and raise resources on social media.
Since the age of 11, Silva has been an information activist in the favela. He always strove to broaden the discussion about his neighborhood beyond the topic of crime associated with drug trafficking. It began in a school newspaper, distributed to the residents of Complexo do Alemão. In 2005, he was one of the founders of Voz das Communities , where he deals with local problems, such as the lack of public services or police violence. The young man gained notoriety during the occupation of the Complexo do Alemão by the Military Police of the State of Rio de Janeiro, when he became a kind of war correspondent through his posts on Twitter. Aerial images of the gigantic operation, broadcast live on television, went around the world. In a long line, traffickers were fleeing from the police through the brush.
“I had 200 followers. I was trying to somehow inform people and started answering them. Then it overflowed me. There were 200, 300 messages ... Neighbors talking about how the situation was in the community and people from outside looking for information ”, he recalls. In one hour, it went from 200 followers to 10,000. “There were many people wanting to tell and many journalists wanting to know what was happening in Alemão. The television channels were at that time teaching the Alemão from a helicopter, above the community. Nobody had access to information from within ”, explains Silva.
From then on, the 17-year-old's life changed. For the first time he traveled outside of Rio. He spoke at the Campus Party technology fair, in São Paulo, and at Harvard University; He was a scriptwriter for soap operas for the Globo network and played himself in soap operas. In 2012, he was one of the Brazilians chosen to carry the Olympic torch at the London Games.
The communicator lives in one of the poorest towns in Rio de Janeiro. With nearly 100,000 inhabitants, the Complexo do Alemão has the worst human development index (HDI) in the city, according to data from the last census, from 2010. With everything against it, they have had one of the lowest incidence rates (infected) of covid-19 among the communities of Rio, in a proportion of 14.7% for 10,000 inhabitants, according to a report made by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) based on epidemiological data from the city until June 21.
"The worst of the pandemic is over," says Silva, reflecting what professionals from the Unified Health System who work in the area tell him. According to information from the Voice of Communities , in 25 favelas in Rio, 4,816 people were infected and 655 lost their lives. However, many of those who live there do not even have identity documents, which means under-registration of cases.
The Complexo do Alemão had 38 deaths from coronavirus and 434 confirmed cases until August 13, at least officially. Silva says that Alemão witnessed a specific drama of the pandemic: seeing people die at home, without even being able to reach a hospital. Fiocruz itself admits in its report that the low number of tests in Rio influences results. The foundation recognizes that “in the absence of actions promoted by the State in a specific way for the reality of the favelas”, “we for us” style initiatives are growing, such as the one headed by Voz das Communities.
Poverty, hunger and lack of access to potable and waste water networks or to garbage collection are part of the daily life of that area. The pandemic led to the creation of a German Crisis Cabinet, an initiative of Voz das Communities in conjunction with the Papo Recto Collective and the group Mujeres en Acción in Alemão. One of the actions is the distribution of water.
"The campaigns began with the first blow of the pandemic, we put up banners because we knew that the mass media often did not have such a wide reach in the favelas," he says. “We thought about how one could communicate to the people who live in those territories about the importance of staying at home, of cleaning themselves. First, we put up posters in different parts of the community. Afterwards, we had cars with loudspeakers driving around the community all day to inform about the importance of staying home, washing your hands with soap and water. There was still no talk of masks, "he adds. Many people, however, did not have access to water. “There are still people who suffer from not having tap water. There are those who carry buckets of water on their heads. In summer, there are even clandestine connections. People pass rubber hoses over the roofs to be able to get from other houses that do have water ”, Silva explains.
13,000 food rations
The campaign to donate resources for the distribution of food, on the other hand, obtained a quick adhesion on social networks. Until the end of July, 13,000 rations were distributed. Many people in the community have informal jobs, and hunger came early. “We received messages from people asking for food, saying that they had run out of food because they were at home, they had stopped going to work. Freelancers, entrepreneurs, people who work in the subway, on the train or on the beach, they sent us messages saying: 'For God's sake, help me, I need food, I don't have anything to eat at home.'
Later, the crisis Cabinet realized that the food rations were not enough and they did not serve the elderly who live alone and cannot cook, or neighbors without gas, water or even a stove. The dish donation campaign was then created. “Among the beneficiaries of the basic ration, many also receive a packaged meal to complement it. No need to prepare lunch, you stop spending gas and food. Before offering these ready-made food packages, the food ration, which had to last a month, ends up only lasting 15 days, ”says Silva.
The communicator adds that the emergency aid offered by the federal government reduced the demand for food since the end of April, but it was not enough. The hunger persisted. “Many people in the favela don't have an identity card, they don't have access to the Internet, they don't have a way to register, they don't have a way to do anything. And many people who needed it were denied it. The demand continued, and we stayed with that mission of helping the families ”.
In Silva's vision, the lack of attention and assistance from the State to the poorest in the pandemic is indisputable and, without the work of the NGOs, the situation would be even more serious. “The situation would be much worse. Hunger, death, covid-19 cases, even violence. The NGOs have the role that the government should have, ”he says.