{"id":5860,"date":"2012-11-16T09:00:43","date_gmt":"2012-11-16T12:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=5860"},"modified":"2016-02-19T08:47:13","modified_gmt":"2016-02-19T11:47:13","slug":"vila-kennedy-struggles-and-triumphs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/?p=5860","title":{"rendered":"Vila Kennedy Struggles and Triumphs"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Click here<\/a> for original article in Portugese in Vila Favela.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"Technology plays an ever greater role in our lives: the fact that you are reading this\u00a0now attests to this. Nowadays, we immediately turn to the Internet for answers to so many\u00a0questions. As a matter of fact, when you’re done reading this I’d like you to enter the name of\u00a0the place mentioned in the title of this article in your favorite search engine. Never been to\u00a0Vila Kennedy? I invite you to get to know this place. Vila Kennedy will celebrate its 49th anniversary on January 20th, also the feast day of Rio de Janeiro’s patron saint, Saint\u00a0Sebastian. The celebrations usually include community soccer and basketball championships\u00a0as well as activities such as graffiti and capoeira. This year representatives of the Business-School Integration Center (Centro de\u00a0Integra\u00e7\u00e3o Empresa Escola–CIEE) registered young people for the Youth Internship program.<\/p>\n

The community of Vila Kennedy was established in 1964, with support from the U.S.\u00a0Government as part of the Alliance for Progress program, through which President Kennedy\u00a0sought to promote social and economic development in Latin American countries. President\u00a0Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, one year prior to the creation of the area named in his honor.\u00a0Carlos Lacerda, the governor of Rio de Janeiro at that time, oversaw the construction of the\u00a0first planned community in Rio with housing projects for displaced residents<\/a>\u00a0from the Favela do Esqueleto<\/a>, which was demolished to make way for construction of Guanabara\u00a0State University, now known as the University of the State of Rio de Janeiro (UERJ)\u00a0in the Maracan\u00e3 neighborhood. \u201cThe Favela do Esqueleto was first settled shortly after the\u00a0Maracan\u00e3 Stadium was built. The first shacks were built in the area around the construction\u00a0site. Within a few years, with numerous types of shacks, the Favela do Esqueleto was the\u00a0largest favela in the city.\u201d In that first instance residents were also brought following evictions from Favela Praia do Pinto<\/a> on the (Rodrigo de Freitas) Lagoon, and Favela de Ramos.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The government initially built some 5,000 houses in Villa Kennedy but the distance\u00a0from downtown Rio, in addition to inadequate public transportation, meant a commute of up\u00a0to three hours for residents. Another problem, all too common in Brazil, was that the project\u00a0was never fully completed. The plans for Vila Kennedy initially included a crafts studio, a\u00a0clothing factory, laundry facilities, pens for livestock, sports fields and other facilities which\u00a0were to be run by residents. However, two years after the founding of VK, as the community\u00a0is known, inspectors confirmed that none of these plans had been implemented.<\/p>\n

While the community has overcome many of the problems of its early days, there\u00a0are still issues with public transportation, namely bus service to downtown Rio (although\u00a0improvements have been made to the 394 bus line), and violence currently plagues the\u00a0community of VK.<\/p>\n

The approximately 144,000 residents, according to the most recent (2010) IBGE\u00a0census, living in Vila Kennedy’s Quaf\u00e1, Jardim do \u00c9den, Vila Progresso, Metral, Malvinas,\u00a0Pica-Pau, Alto Kennedy, and Alto Congo neighborhoods now have access to basic services\u00a0provided by public agencies such as an urgent care clinic (UPA, by the Portuguese acronym),\u00a0the Henrique Monat Health Clinic, the 14th Battalion Military Police station, as well as several\u00a0public schools. However, residents often complain about the quality of these services and\u00a0others. Unfortunately, these complaints do not always result in improved services. Trash, for\u00a0example, is ubiquitous in the streets of Vila Kennedy despite the presence of Comlurb, the\u00a0city’s sanitation department.<\/p>\n

\"\"While life in Vila Kennedy can be difficult, there are several spaces for cultural\u00a0and leisure activities, such as the Ary Carvalho Olympic Village, the M\u00e1rio Lago Theater\u00a0(residents are fighting a state government plan to close the theater<\/a>) and the headquarters of the\u00a0Unidos de Vila Kennedy Samba School (founded in 1968). The Brother Kennedy Community\u00a0Center, established in 1969, offers courses and trainings, and the Friends of Vila Kennedy\u00a0Society (SAVK, by its Portuguese acronym) provides health services, especially to women.\u00a0In addition, other activities have been organized by dedicated residents who are committed to\u00a0improving the quality of life.<\/p>\n

\"\"Residents of Vila Kennedy have been working to improve the quality of life\u00a0continuously throughout the history of the community. Some current residents active in this\u00a0quest include filmmaker Guilherme Junior, who organized the Vila Kennedy Short Film\u00a0Festival<\/a>; actor and writer Ravengar, who created the \u201cArvores e Meninos\u201d (\u201cTrees and\u00a0Children\u201d) program, which facilitates the planting of trees in VK; former soccer player F\u00e1bio\u00a0Am\u00e9rico, who coordinates (from his wheelchair) a sports program; resident Jacy D\u00e3o, who\u00a0along with other residents has been running the Vila Kennedy Against Hunger program for\u00a0the past 12 years; the VK run for peace<\/a>; and tour guide and researcher Alex Belchior, who created the Vila Kennedy\u00a0web site<\/a>. Other residents involved in improving the community include three-time Brazilian\u00a0boxing champion F\u00e1bio Le\u00e3o, who was wheelchair-bound from injuries resulting from his\u00a0involvement in drug trafficking<\/a> and then went on to participate in the Pan-American Games.\u00a0Mr. Le\u00e3o is now a teacher for prisoners<\/a> in the Bangu Penitentiary, where he was a prisoner,\u00a0and for children, in the backyard of Vila Kennedy’s Assembly of God church. He also serves\u00a0as a workshop facilitator for the Gr\u00e3o program, created by Judge Thelma Fraga (who found\u00a0him guilty).\u00a0Those who know Mr. Le\u00e3o personally attest that his life story\u00a0proves that nothing is impossible. Those who do not have the privilege of knowing\u00a0Mr. Le\u00e3o will have the chance to learn about his inspiring story in a film currently under production<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are surely many struggles ahead, but there is no shortage of dedicated people\u00a0ready, willing and able to help in Vila Kennedy.<\/p>\n

–Sandro Mendes is a tour guide and historian from Vila Kennedy who writes a column for Viva Favela<\/a>\u00a0and the West Zone blog O Meu Lugar<\/a> on latest events and positive news from Vila Kennedy.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clique aqui para Portugu\u00eas Click here for original article in Portugese in Vila Favela. Technology plays an ever greater role in our lives: the fact that you are reading this\u00a0now attests to this. Nowadays, we […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":5885,"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":[335,328],"tags":[650,652,11,188,282,654,210,837,651,612,21],"writer":[649],"translator":[110],"illustrator":[],"photographer":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5860","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-policies","8":"category-understanding-rio","9":"tag-favela-do-esqueleto","10":"tag-favela-praia-do-pinto","11":"tag-forced-evictions","12":"tag-history","13":"tag-housing","14":"tag-lacerda","15":"tag-public-housing","16":"tag-resident-account","17":"tag-uerj","18":"tag-vila-kennedy","19":"tag-west-zone","20":"writer-sandro-mendes","21":"translator-lee-weingast"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5860","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\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5860"},{"taxonomy":"writer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fwriter&post=5860"},{"taxonomy":"translator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftranslator&post=5860"},{"taxonomy":"illustrator","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fillustrator&post=5860"},{"taxonomy":"photographer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rioonwatch.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fphotographer&post=5860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}