Slum Stories - Brazil - It's not better and it's not the same

Olympic city TransCarioca a quicker Rio for you 41 km exclusive road 68 percent shorter My name is Antonieta Rodrigues. I used to live in this favela Largo do Campinho. Since the eviction for the World Cup and Olympics I'm the community leader. We've had to make way for those. We weren't relocated, but removed. That's what you do with trash. They picked us up and put us elsewhere. Everyone got the same amount: 15.600 euro. No matter if you had 1 or 2 bedrooms, or two floors. The same value. My house was a historic site, which our mayor Eduardo Paes destroyed. Apparently Dom Pedro I even stayed in these premises. They also say a square meter is quite valuable in this area. That the compensation we received in comparison is absurdly low. This was my bathroom. And from here to there, was the kitchen. And there, where you see the road, was my bedroom and another room. The front of my house was over there. It was an old house, with two floors. A monument. And our mayor Eduardo Paes destroyed it. The house went from here all the way to that pole over there. The first official meeting was on January 5th. We heard that we had to move to Cosmos, which is 2 hours from here. Otherwise, you'd have to go to court. The friendships we had over there... Some people went to Campo Grande. Everyone went in a different direction. It's impossible to stay in contact. The council dumped us in a hole. -We helped one another. We all helped one another. -Even going to court is now difficult. Because we can't get everyone together. I will tell you about my neighbour on the right side. He lived with his mother, two brothers and his wife. His mother has health problems. The people from the council came in with officials. They just said: We're knocking this down. And the police had on riot vests and they came with lots. The municipal police also had riot vests. They just said: Don't do anything. He couldn't even finish his coffee. They came in, took the sheets off, ripped the curtains. As if it was nothing. My house there was enormous, right? -So beautiful. They didn't care. I'd lived there for 15 years. I raised my kids there. They've practically taken my life away from me. Okay, I'm still alive... but my dream, my life: It was all there. A nasty story. Some of those who were evicted went to city hall really early... to stop the eviction, and then got told: 'We're going to demolish it now. No matter if there's kids there.' Right? I feel a sense of revolt. I think they could have talked it over with us and approached it differently. We wouldn't have been hurt this bad. I am really angry. I live in this area now. I always walk this wet stretch. Good morning, neighbour. -Good morning. The difficult thing about living here, with shopping bags or heavy stuff... you have to leave the car down there and then carry everything up. With bags in one hand and your kid in the other. That is hard. Especially when it rains, like today. If there was school, you'd have to go down here. And there's so much water that you have to walk through the mud. This is the house I could afford with the compensation money... from TransCarioca and Mr Eduardo Paes. This area is the living room by day and by night it becomes the bedroom. Here is another space, my kitchen. This is my kitchen. It's so small there's hardly space for my daughter and me. And I will now show you the bathroom. That's also tiny. This is the bathroom. So this is the bathroom. Very small as well. Everything is just minimal. A small house, a small compensation Nothing got better. It could have been a better house. But what to do... The law stated that we had to leave our house... in exchange for better or similar housing. But this is neither. In 2016 Rio de Janeiro will organize the Olympics. In 2014 the World Cup. As a result of these construction projects, thousands have been evicted. Everyone gets a compensation of 30.000 euro max. Especially low income families had to move to a new house... far away from their old life. The compensation is insufficient to afford a similar house. Which is why families are forced to relocate... to a place far away from their old neighbourhood and their workplace.