Religion and Social Development - Brazilian favelas

Religion and Social Development - Brazilian favelas
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Introduction
Why do the people in the favela continue to be poor when trying to carry out economic and social development with help of the church?
According to Brazilians, ‘the Favela` is a term used to refer to the underdeveloped town inhabited by former slaves who were also landless. It is a place that lacks a modern touch in terms of its buildings and other forms of infrastructure. Bairros africanos which was also referred to as (African neighborhoods) was an area set apart for the poor Brazilian citizens to live in. This indicates how discrimination was practiced on citizens according to their social classes in Brazil on the other hand, the question on why the favela people continue to be poor when trying to carry out economic and social expansion with the help of the church group, remains our main concern.
Lack of economic opportunity
Different from other countries economy, the favela economy did not do well and incase there was a time it did well, prominent persons were the only one who benefited from it. For this reason, many of the favela people lack economic opportunity hence the trend of poverty continued to increase. The other thing which delays the growth of the favela people from poverty to wealth is due to their reputation. It is well known that the Favela people were poor since 19th century. This affected their reputation and in most places they were not respected nor considered as respectable people in the society (Hellena 1944 pg 26-27).
History of slave and discrimination
The favela reputation was messed after the great rural to urban migration which took place in the 19th centuries. During this era, a good number of people vacated rural and went to town. However, not everyone was lucky to get a best place to live and therefore some Brazilians still ended up living in the shanties. From here everyone hand to look for a way of serving. The only ting that was available to construct houses was tins, among other simple possessions that they could afford and therefore the shanty town resulted this way (Perlman, 2009).
High level of unemployment
Discrimination and the history of them been the remnants of the slaves, have affected the continuity trend of poverty. For instance the favela history is not much pleasing and whenever one get the information of their past, they are treated as power and as if they deserve to be power. The other thing is the high number of unemployment in the favela and this has contributed to poverty swell.
Leaders hampered the development activities.
In contrast to reality and the stand held by the church, Arias in his article confirms that drug traffickers in the favela of Rio de Janeiro have greatly managed to control crime and solve disputes that arise in the area. These drug traffickers have become the rulers of the land. They have put up policies which ensure that the dwel...