{"id":19152,"date":"2014-11-22T09:05:40","date_gmt":"2014-11-22T12:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/?p=19152"},"modified":"2017-07-11T07:00:30","modified_gmt":"2017-07-11T10:00:30","slug":"mail-service-in-rios-favelas-a-patchy-underserved-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=19152","title":{"rendered":"Mail Service in Rio’s Favelas: Community Solutions in the Face of Government Neglect"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas<\/em><\/strong>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The informal geography and history of favelas can mean it is difficult for letters and packages to be delivered to residents. The creativity and entrepreneurship of favela residents have resulted in alternative community mailing services in some favelas. In\u00a0other communities, residents still struggle to be recognized by the formal government and claim their right to mail service.<\/p>\n

A community initiative<\/h3>\n

In Rocinha<\/a>, the company Carteiro Amigo<\/a> (Mailman Friend) has been delivering mail to residents\u2019 homes since 2000. The system is simple: residents sign up for the service for a monthly price of $6 (R$16) per family and start using the company\u2019s address as their own. Once their correspondence arrives, Carteiro Amigo mailmen deliver it to their doors. Around 30,000 homes are signed up for the service.<\/p>\n

The company’s owners Elaine Vieira, Sila Vieira and Carlos Pedro da Silva noticed an access gap in their community. Despite receiving a Pacifying Police Unit<\/a> in September 2012<\/span>, around 70% of Rocinha, the largest favela in South America, has not been formally mapped by the government. As such,\u00a0people do not receive their mail through\u00a0government postal carriers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur work is to deliver mail where the government hasn\u2019t formally mapped,\u201d explains Sila Vieira. \u201c[Before] people had no way of receiving letters. They had no way of giving out an address. The person wants to buy something over the Internet, 30% or 40%–sometimes even 80%–cheaper than in a store and the person did not have that right. Today people can buy online and save money, and they have…an address. I think that\u2019s the larger impact: the person knowing their address.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Carteiro Amigo initiative has been covered worldwide<\/a> because of its\u00a0work mapping the\u00a0community and Google’s interest in the community map. The mapping happened gradually over a number of years: when a new client signs up for the service, a member of the staff accompanies them to their home so it can be added to the map. A large scale map now hangs proudly in Carteiro Amigo\u2019s office in Rocinha.<\/p>\n

The company has expanded to eight other communities that had the same problem, giving jobs to more than 20 people. Morro dos Macacos<\/a>, Parque da Cidade<\/a>, Asa Branca<\/a>, Cantagalo<\/a>, Vila das Canoas, Parque Royal, Praia da Rosa, Rio das Pedras<\/a>, Mato Alto<\/a> and Provid\u00eancia<\/a>\u00a0all boast Carteiro Amigo\u00a0mailing services.<\/p>\n

Although Carteiro Amigo has benefitted a number of\u00a0communities that are slowly being mapped out by their staff, other communities struggle with the right of correspondence even when they have been formally mapped by the authorities.<\/p>\n

Lack of service in a mapped community<\/h3>\n

Santa\u00a0Marta<\/a> was the first favela to receive a Police Pacifying Unit (UPP)<\/a>. Unlike many other communities, the pacification program has been generally\u00a0positively seen in Santa Marta. In 2010 a large portion of the community was formally mapped: residents now had street names, house numbers and zip codes. In theory, Santa\u00a0Marta residents should be able to receive their correspondence.<\/p>\n

But according to resident and business owner Thiago Firmino, he rarely receives his letters at home, which complicates the administration of his Favela Santa Marta Tour<\/a> business.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The mail service] was delivering in a few houses but most of the correspondence is delivered to the Neighborhood Association. It\u2019s a mess. They don\u2019t deliver bigger packages. They screw it up when it\u2019s near the favela. I had to go get [my mail] several times. The secretary there separates everything, but anyone can go there and get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The president of the Neighborhood Association, Z\u00e9 Mario, says around 95% of Santa Marta\u2019s correspondence is delivered to the Association, where there are no staff or resources to organize and deliver the letters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mail here works like this: they deliver it to the Neighborhood Association and we used our own resources to prove that in Santa Marta, they have to deliver the mail at the residents\u2019 houses but the mail service alleges there are no mailboxes in the houses,\u201d explains Z\u00e9 Mario. \u201cThe law says they have to deliver it. The Association has no obligation to do it, that\u2019s their work. Nothing has been done, the law has to be followed. The residents here pay their taxes but we are still informal. Our rights are being taken away.\u201d<\/p>\n

A place ‘at risk’<\/h3>\n

Neuza Nascimento<\/a>, whose community-based organization CIACAC<\/a> serves children\u00a0in Parque Jardim Beira Mar,<\/a>\u00a0part of unpacified Parada de Lucas, North Zone, has seen a shift in the mailing service in her community over\u00a0the last few years. Before, residents had to pick up their letters and packages at the Neighborhood Association but now most houses receive mail normally.<\/p>\n

\u201cYears ago there was no mailman,\u201d she said. \u201cBut the letters were given to the Neighborhood Association and we would pick it up there. Today, there\u2019s an official mailman who comes to the community every day to bring all of our correspondence.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the correspondence doesn\u2019t always make it to the houses because parts of her community are considered to be \u2018at risk<\/a>.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt depends on the company that is delivering. Some packages aren\u2019t delivered here because it\u2019s considered a \u2018risk\u2019 area. In that case we receive a notice\u00a0instructing us to go to the neighborhood\u2019s mailing service\u00a0office to pick it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fight for PO boxes<\/h3>\n

The community of Estradinha<\/a>, located between Botafogo and Copacabana, got\u00a0a free PO box service in September of this year after years fighting for the right to receive correspondence. Residents say letters and packages used to be delivered to a bar at the top of the community, Bar do Marrom.<\/p>\n

“The mailman left the correspondence in a box, in the kiosk,” explained resident\u00a0Dilma Pinto de Oliveira, 52, in a note on the UPP website<\/a>. “Since there were a lot of letters, they disappeared or people took the envelopes by mistake.”<\/p>\n

The 108 PO boxes have been\u00a0servicing 500 people for the last two months. Residents who struggled to communicate through correspondence now have that right.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A self-guaranteed right<\/h3>\n

The range of solutions and issues that arise in the pursuit of the right to correspondence illustrates the diverse and dynamic nature of favelas. The right to communication is\u00a0fought for in all favelas, in many different ways. Whether a group of community journalists delivering a\u00a0local newspaper to houses in Mar\u00e9<\/a>, or a group of business owners mapping the largest of the city’s favelas by hand, one thing is conclusive:\u00a0the right to communication is most often fulfilled\u00a0by residents organizing it for\u00a0themselves, not guaranteed\u00a0as rights.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas The informal geography and history of favelas can mean it is difficult for letters and packages to be delivered to residents. The creativity and entrepreneurship of favela residents have resulted in […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":5944,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1290,1271,329,328],"tags":[27,112,1492,1303,756,785,221,182,25,1487,254,742,387,37,1292,251,415,250,1490,1491,144,1445,12,66,156,1489,21],"writer":[1356],"translator":[],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-19152","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-civilsociety","8":"category-favelaqualities","9":"category-solutions","10":"category-understanding-rio","11":"tag-asa-branca","12":"tag-cantagalo","13":"tag-carteiro-amigo","14":"tag-communication-rights","15":"tag-community-organizing","16":"tag-estradinha","17":"tag-favela-culture","18":"tag-government-neglect","19":"tag-human-rights","20":"tag-mail-service","21":"tag-mapping","22":"tag-mato-alto","23":"tag-morro-dos-macacos","24":"tag-north-zone","25":"tag-organizing","26":"tag-parada-de-lucas","27":"tag-parque-da-cidade","28":"tag-parque-jardim-beira-mar","29":"tag-parque-royal","30":"tag-praia-da-rosa","31":"tag-morro-da-providencia","32":"tag-rio-das-pedras","33":"tag-rocinha","34":"tag-santa-marta","35":"tag-south-zone","36":"tag-vila-das-canoas","37":"tag-west-zone","38":"writer-nicole-froio"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19152"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=19152"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=19152"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=19152"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=19152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}