As Brazil faces one of the world’s worst Covid-19 epidemics, a smartphone app is helping others in deficient spaces called favelas risk the virus in sudden mass unemployment.
To date, the Latin American country has recorded more than 120,000 deaths caused by the Covid-19. The unemployment of economic activity destroyed 7. 8 million jobs, mainly affecting the unskilled eventual workers, who make up the bulk of the favela population.
Emergency government income is limited to 60% of the minimum wage, making it difficult for families to make the end of the month.
Many blame President Jair Bolsonaro for the tragedy. Bolsonaro, a right-wing populist, has consistently adopted science-based policies on pandemic control and has pushed for orders to remain at home. cause more deaths.
In an attempt to prevent the near humanitarian catastrophe, a coalition of activists in favelas and spouse corporations has developed an app that facilitates the distribution of food and sources of emergency income to thousands of female heads of households. Facial popularity feature that helps volunteers identify and register aid recipients and prevent fraud.
To date, Favela Mothers’ allowance has distributed $26 million in food packages and money allowances to more than 1. 1 million families in 5,000 neighborhoods across the country.
“Women are the cornerstone of life in the favelas,” says Claudia Raphael de Oliveira, president of United Favela Center (CUFA), the organization of the Favela Mothers initiative. “Many women have to feed not only themselves, but also their children and other members of the family circle. So when your source of income is insufficient, your total circle of family members is affected. “
Oliveira says corporations and civil society organizations rushed to make donations and explains that aid has a dual purpose: it provides relief from transience to families and is helping to flatten the curve by making sure others can stay home during the pandemic.
“Help came just in time. My daughters are hungry and I don’t have anything to feed them with,” says Luma, a resident of the Parque Esperanca favela in Rio de Janeiro, in a video posted on CUFA’s social media. five and her husband is unemployed. ” I’m glad other people even though everything has gone to the favelas. I have lived here for 3 years, and this is the first time I notice such a wonderful initiative. “
Compliance with social estating regulations is a major factor in favelas, these deficient neighborhoods evolved on the outskirts of primary population centres in the 20th century, home to working-class families who have been forcibly evicted from central spaces, and others who have migrated to the big city from other parts of the country. They are also home to many descendants of enslaved Africans, reflecting a legacy of racial segregation that persists in Brazil to this day.
After decades of forgetfulness on the part of the authorities, millions of inhabitants of the favelas live in overcrowded spaces, in huts built hastily with little or no access to running water, sanitation and public fitness services. These citizens are disproportionately vulnerable to outbreaks of diseases such as Covid-19. .
“This pandemic shows what has been in the favelas for many years,” says Marcivan Barreto, CUFA’s head in the state of Sao Paulo, who since the start of the pandemic has been working seven days a week to coordinate donations from mothers of favelas. in the region. ” The favelas face many problems, but they are full of other people who need to do good. There is a massive sense of solidarity and unity. “
Barreto is a resident of Heli-polis, the largest favela in Sao Paulo, with more than 200,000 inhabitants, it is one of the maximum affected spaces of the city, with more than one hundred deaths caused by the Covid-19 despite the maximum productive efforts of the locals to involve the spread of the virus. “Unfortunately, some other people don’t realize the severity of this crisis until they lose the ones they enjoyed,” he complains.
Sometimes the distribution of aid is hampered by the police. Barreto says law enforcement officers arrest, and rarely confiscate, CUFA vehicles. In May, volunteers at the Cidade de Deus favela in Rio de Janeiro were forced to prevent the delivery of food packages due to a shooting during a police operation that left a teenager dead.
“Repression has made the pandemic worse as officials use violence to impose closures, but security forces have long disturbed the lives of other people in the favelas,” Barreto said.
According to Danielle Klintowitz, urban architect and coordinator of the Pelis Institute curriculum, “old age and fitness disorders are not the only points that put others at risk of dying for Covid-19; social and economic points also play a role. “She says the virus disproportionately affects blacks and favela dwellers, reflecting chronic inequalities in the country.
The first cases of Covid-19 in Brazil were recorded last February among members of the white elite returning from vacation trips to Europe and the United States. When the local government imposed home maintenance orders in mid-March, coronavirus outbreaks were still ongoing. largely absent from poor areas, however, unbalanced blocking measures gradually replaced this scenario.
As Klintowitz explains, “middle- and upper-class Brazilians can only stay home during the pandemic because lower-class staff are regularly exposed to coronavirus in essential services. “These include activities such as food delivery, garbage collection. physical care.
In this way, staff become inflamed and return the virus to their communities, and favelas are now experiencing some of the worst Covid-19 epidemics in the country.
Community engagement projects like Favela Mothers can make a big difference. Parais, a favela of more than 100,000 people in Sao Paulo, has implemented a comprehensive strategy to combat the virus that has proven to be a success.
In addition to the distribution of aid, trained volunteers adhere to inflamed citizens door-to-door in Parais-polis: those who cannot practice social estating at home are transferred to makeshift isolation centers in inoperative schools. They also hired fitness personnel, and car rental ambulances to make up for the lack of public in the area.
As a result, coronavirus infections in Parais-polis are nearly 3 times lower than the Sao Paulo city average, according to a recent one through the Pelis Institute.
“Parais-polis has achieved remarkable effects in combat opposing Covid-19 through the mobilization of sustainable networks and long-standing solidarity networks,” Klintowitz says. “Unfortunately, this is the truth in the maximum favelas, yet across the country we see citizens taking action to save lives in the pandemic.
As Brazil’s economy continues to worsen due to the fitness crisis, favela activists are seeing the contributions of Americans and businesses decline. Barreto of CUFA-Sao Paulo says he hopes the government and civil society will pay more attention to their demands.
“We want help to continue to support the pandemic and after the viral risk disappears,” he says. “The suffering of the favela population will continue, many will have to start their lives from scratch. “
Gabriela Onofre, marketing director of generation start-up Acesso Digital, says corporations have a lot to gain by helping those in need: her company supplies the facial popularity software used in the Favela Mothers app.
“Knowing that our service is helping thousands of lives at such critical times has lifted our team’s morale and given us new concepts of innovation,” he says. “We hope that this crusade of solidarity will be here to stay. “
This article gave the impression in Open Democracy https://www. opendemocracy. net/