Examine the poverty endured by the Brazilian population living in favelas on the outskirts of major cities
The sharp contrasts between rich and poor in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
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Transcript
[Music in]
NARRATOR: The lure of urban centers like Rio de Janeiro is based on hope, the hope of rising above the limitations of rural poverty.
Brazil's Rio and Sao Paulo have much in common with big cities everywhere:
buildings that scrape the sky;
the everyday hustle of everyday people catching buses;
the challenge of getting to work on time;
less and less space in a place where more people live longer and more babies are born and grow up;
high finance on an international scale;
and, of course, high stakes--for some, power and luxury.
But most residents have simply risen out of rural poverty and into the favelas, as slums are called in Rio and Sao Paulo.
Yet, the people of the favelas rarely return to the countryside [music out]. However bad the poverty may be, there's always a chance, however slim, a one-in-a-thousand chance that does not exist beyond the city limits.
NARRATOR: The lure of urban centers like Rio de Janeiro is based on hope, the hope of rising above the limitations of rural poverty.
Brazil's Rio and Sao Paulo have much in common with big cities everywhere:
buildings that scrape the sky;
the everyday hustle of everyday people catching buses;
the challenge of getting to work on time;
less and less space in a place where more people live longer and more babies are born and grow up;
high finance on an international scale;
and, of course, high stakes--for some, power and luxury.
But most residents have simply risen out of rural poverty and into the favelas, as slums are called in Rio and Sao Paulo.
Yet, the people of the favelas rarely return to the countryside [music out]. However bad the poverty may be, there's always a chance, however slim, a one-in-a-thousand chance that does not exist beyond the city limits.