Life in the slum

The Rocinha is the largest favela in Rio de Janeiro. Around 150,000 people live there in inhumane conditions with a powerful presence of the drug cartels.

Those who suffer from these inhumane living conditions are primarily children and young people, who are often characterized by tight quarters and violence, a lack of care and a low self-esteem. Then there is the drug trade, which is already recruiting children for its dirty business. It is therefore all too easy for them to get caught up in drug consumption, prostitution and gang crime.

Politicians are powerless against this and fail to offer children fair educational opportunities to get out of the vicious circle of poverty, discouragement and violence. This is achieved by the music school, which changes children's lives with positive energy, as the documentary “Music for the Slums” shows in a very moving way (a film by Joachim Stall).