Poverty, Poodles and Favelas

This article was written by a young man that used to live at the bottom of a favela in Rio on the beach Ipanema.

The favelas are illegal settlements built on the sides of hills considered too steep for safe construction. The joke is that for once the poor end up with the sea breezes and good views.

Favelas are the slums of Brazil. There there are things called 'cats', wires that are hooked around electric lines and used to pirate electricity. Because favelas are illegal settlements, no rent is paid. No electric bills are paid. No water bills need to be paid. However, the military police use the favela's inhabitants as target practice. Up until the early 90s the police got a bonus for every criminal that they had killed. If kids are born black, they are most deserving of the bullets.

The author compares the life of the impoverished to the lives of the wealthy. There is a vast disparity between both. He emphasizes the lack of knowledge about the poor amongst the rich. He states that the rich wear their wealth like a badge, rubbing it in the faces of the poor, much like the police rub their guns in backs of the same people. They tote around their poodles, step from BMWs, and wear the finest of fine clothing. While the world that the tote around and step into is a world that gives no nod to its poor.
I loved the title of this article. The article itself, up to now, has been the most compelling and interesting for me to read. As an exchange student, you see favelas, you see poodles, you see the extreme rich mixed amongst the beggers. To hear about it from such a real standpoint was facinating to me.
When he describes the poodles and the rich people, this is almost a hilarious/sad reality about it. Every rich person in Brazil has a poodle. I don't know why, obviously the author doesn't know why. Other than to show off their wealth there is no reason to have a poodle. I lived with very well off people the entire year in brazil. So did my exchange student friends. They all had at least one poodle, each family did anyway. I saw no other kinds of house dogs. Of course I'd see poor dogs on the street that belonged to poor owners, but poodles are a status symbol.
A very honest approach to seeing Brazil though a Brazilian's perspective. I couldn't read it fast enough.