![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/bicicletas.jpg\" "\\"bicicletas\\"")
The neighborhood of Santa Margarida, in the West Zone of Rio, is home to 5,000, many of whom depend on bicycles for local transit and who pitch in to clean up the neighborhood. The Vice President of the Resident\u2019s Association of Santa Margarida explains that: \u201cYou evolve as a human being, by passing on your knowledge and learning from others on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n
The association strives to have the wisdom and the foresight to create improvements for the community\u2019s residents. One of their projects involves local residents helping with the trash pick-up in the neighborhood. It\u2019s the ideal job for Seu Tijuga, 71, who can choose his own hours and help improve the community while at the same time making himself feel useful and healthy. \u201cI have diabetes, and diabetics aren\u2019t supposed to stay still, they have to move. So, I know that when I\u2019m moving I am doing well\u2026I take care of myself, I take the right medicine and the rest of the time I just live my life,\u201d he says with a big smile.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.rioonwatch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/D.-Carminha.jpg\" "\\"D.")
Another worker, Dona Carminha, does not read or write and is one of the main supporters of her family at 78 years old. She is proud of her work and the fact that, in six years, she has never taken a sick day, or a day of leave. Dona Carminha even broke her arm and said, \u201cI went to work the next day\u2026I needed to. I have a widowed daughter, three boys, one who has special needs, and now I have diabetes.\u201d The project employs people who may not have other chances to work due to prior circumstances and lack of opportunity. They are residents with dignity and perseverance whose work helps the community become a cleaner and more beautiful place.<\/p>\n
Despite the wonderful work being done there are still many resources needed within the complex, such as a bank and a nursery center. The majority of the residents work far away from their homes in Santa Margarida in more developed parts of the city such as Barra, the city center, and Ilha do Governador, and deal with Rio\u2019s infamous traffic every day to go back and forth. With the West Zone quickly becoming one of the city\u2019s largest working class areas due to its overall affordability, neighborhoods such as this are on the rise.<\/p>\n
Santa Margarida is one of eight communities to be featured in\u00a0Catalytic Communities<\/a>\u2019 film, \u201cFavelas as a Sustainable Model<\/a>,\u201d to be launched during the Rio+20\u2019s People\u2019s Summit in June.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"