My Favela LifeI am writing this Blog because I think people need to see and read the realities of favela life. I was born and raise in a favela comunity. And many people tell me that my life is interesting and I should write about it. Lately we are receiving many tourists here in Rocinha and I always thinking why people from the outside want to come to a favela. Many people first impressions is that favelas are war zones with shootings everyday and murders. There is some truth to this but I would not live in a place if it was like what they read in the news. Are there drugs here? Do we have invasions of the police? Of corse, where in the world is there not drugs. I will say this over and over..as long as you have users, you will have dealers/sellers. Drugs touch every class, race, age ..of people..I am tired of people always asking about the negative things. No place on this earth is perfect. I am here to tell you MY LIFE! No glamorisation of these places, just reality. Like any place a person lives, there will be positives and negatives, ups and downs! The point of my writing is to give you an inside look at life here on a day to day basis. But this is MY experence. To protect some of my friends, I will change names as I believe privacy is important. Some of you may know who I am talking about and if you do, please respect and keep to yourself. I was born and raised here in Rocinha but had oportunity to travel because my mother is from the united states. I am one of the lucky ones as most favelados (people who live in favelas) never get to leave the city never mind the country. I left Rocinha when I was 15 to get oportunity in the USA and better education. I graduated High school but never had oportunity to go to college or university. I have since been back and forth to Brazil trying to find where I should be. And what my purpose is here on this earth. I have always been involved in some type of sports. At age 7, I started with Karate, which I hated because every time you made a mistake, the sensei would hit you or use his strong hand to correct your positions if they were wrong. So, I switched to Capoeira, which still had its discipline, but I found, more fun. I practiced Capoeira until about age 12. And with Capoeira I enjoyed the integration of music as well. In Capoeira the mestre encouraged each student to perform to the best of their abilities. About 13, I switched to Judo because it was an Olympic Sport. I thought through Judo that someday I would be in the Olympics and improve my life. All through this, I went to school but was never a great student, but only once failed a class. I was good in History, Biology, Geography and languages. But, I had troubles with anthing advanced over Geometry. Algebra, I understood a little but berly passed. Things like Calculus, Chemistry, Physics, or Trigonometry, I still do not know what they are all about. And at this point of my life, see other things more important for me to learn. I continued with Judo and in 1995 started training in Jiu Jitsu, Brazilian style. My judo came in handy as there are portions of judo that teach Newaza or Ground Fighting. I was always had better strength in the wrestling style, rather than the punching & kicking style martial arts. I still to this day, practice and teach Brazilian Jiu Jitsu but prefer no kimono as it works better for those who have interest in potentially competing in no kimono or vale tudo style competitions. And in the favela, where people do not have money to buy kimonos, this is cheaper and easier. I grew up thinking I was not worth anything because this is what is imprinted on the mind of people from the favela, because of prejudice. I admit to having shame of being from a favela because this is what I was told. I used to deny where I was from because I did not want to expereince the prejudice because of the place I lived. Even outsiders would tell you were worth nothing, and the police too. But, now I am older and do not care about such things. I have learned to apreciate what I have, not what I do not have. I could be much worst off. Now that I have had a taste of life in the USA, I am returning to Rocinha and help my people. I want my life to have meaning more outside of myself. If I was to die tomorrow, I want people to be able to say that I tried to make a diference, no matter how big or small..This is why I returned to Rocinha.