Celeste’s fantastic post about favela tourism got me thinking about the differences between visiting and working with favelas (or barrios de invasion as they’re generally known in Colombia).
One of the things that I most love about volunteering for Kiva in Barranquilla is that I’m in a city that (aside from Carnival) is unfairly maligned by Lonely Planet-wielding tourists—Lonely Planet is a dirty word amongst some of my friends here—and that I get to see every part of the city. I live in what I see as a safe barrio, a word which has no negative connotations in Colombia, but have a role that takes me to all areas of the city. The result of this is that I know several areas of the city better than some of my Colombian friends. Whenever I tweet that I’ve made a trip to a barrio like El Bosque, or parts of Soledad, a neighbouring municipality, I normally get one or two comments about them being dangerous areas of the city.
Only on one occasion have I actually felt threatened that I was in any kind of danger in these barrios, and that was during a visit to a borrower where neither I nor my colleague knew the area well. The loan officer (a local who usually would have accompanied us) was ill; we didn’t go to the barrio until the mid-afternoon; and when the borrower wasn’t at home and something didn’t seem quite right about the way that people were moving around us, my colleague and I left straight away and got into the first taxi we saw. This might make us sound like wimps, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
On the other hand, whenever I’ve gone to similar barrios with one of the loan officers, I have yet to feel at risk. I think that this boils down to a few things:
* Knowing the area. The loan officers that I work with know the areas they work in, they know where they’re going and who they’re expecting to find there.
* Being known in the area. This is the other side of the same coin. If the community knows you as a loan officer of a microfinance organization, you’re more likely to be safe as people recognize you as a source of financing for their family. I also feel it’s rare for a supposedly dangerous barrio to be dangerous for its inhabitants. I am always struck by the number of borrowers who tell us that their barrio is safe, even when it has a really bad reputation.
* Getting out early. The foundation I work with has some clients in an area of Barranquilla with a particularly bad reputation where a loan officer has advised me not to take anything: no bags, no papers, nothing. The key to visiting this barrio, she tells me, is to be out of there by mid afternoon. As another colleague explained, potential muggers are lazy.
From my experience throughout Barranquilla, my view on favela tourism is positive if it’s done in the right way. If the tour proceeds go toward supporting local entrepreneurs, rather than people involved in the drug trade, then I think it can be a useful way of normalizing these barrios or favelas. I suspect that areas get more dangerous when people fear visiting them; though the initial fear may be a real, rather than imagined, one, I would guess that it becomes self-perpetuating. And if a tour ends up convincing local people that tourists (no matter how much you may try to protest, you are—and are seen as—rich) aren’t all bad, then it might contribute to social reconciliation in highly polarized Latin America, albeit in a very, very small way.
If you want to see what favelas are like and you do your research to find a trustworthy guide, then I would say go and take a tour. But don’t go on your own.
Rob Packer is currently working as a Kiva Fellow with the Fundación Mario Santo Domingo in Barranquilla, Colombia. For more on his experiences, check out his blog or follow him on Twitter.
Latest posts by robpacker
- Asking the Right Questions - April 6th, 2010
- You, You and You - April 1st, 2010
- Day in the Life: Times are Changing - March 9th, 2010
- Amigos - March 2nd, 2010
- Day in the Life: Barranquilla Carnival - ¡Quien lo vive, es quien lo goza! - February 16th, 2010
- Weird Words and How to Learn Them - February 9th, 2010
- Living in Two Worlds at Once - February 2nd, 2010
- ¡Por Fin, Me Quejo! - January 26th, 2010
It was my experience volunteering in a barrio not too far from the “safe” city center that locals wanted to tell you of the dangers. Your advice to volunteers is brilliant … and you can add seek guidance from the locals. The bus driver that took me to my neighborhood introduced me to several frequent riders and also looked for me most evenings.
Looking forward to visiting Barranquilla one day … to visit the great people I have met over the years, and dance salsa with the locals.