'Slum tourism'

An article in The Age, 'For Richer, For Poorer', looks at the pros and cons of 'slum tourism'.

I'd never heard of this term before reading the article, but it's meaning is obvious. The context: a three-hour tour of Rocinha favela, one of many shanty towns that cling to hillsides in Rio de Janeiro. One of the aims of the tour is "to show that most residents are ordinary people, not drug lords - yet evidence of the local gang, ADA, is spray-painted on many walls and our guide, very discreetly, points out armed sentries keeping watch for police at the favela's entry points." Similar tours now run in India and South Africa. In Mumbai, they go to Dharavi, Asia's biggest slum, and in Johannesburg to the township of Soweto, where the Oscar-winning film Totsi was set.

Critics of slum tourism - which, due to the derogatory notions of 'slum', I'm going to re-dub 'informal settlement tourism' (!!) - say that it's exploitative, voyeuristic and an invasion of privacy. I would agree with this...touring underprivileged settlements IS starkly different to touring wealthy settlements, for the simple reason that the underprivileged rarely have the luxury of privacy within their communities, let alone their own homes. They can't build big walls, they don't have private bathrooms, couples don't have private bedrooms...they don't have the resources to choose to "hide" themselves (and yes, I acknowledge that privacy may be valued differently in different cultures).

On the other hand, these tours are also praised for raising awareness of poverty and bringing tourism dollars to communities in need. I can acknowledge the former - so many tourists to places like Vanuatu or Thailand are either completely unaware of, or have very little idea about, the poverty that they are actually benefiting from. I've seen white American uni students berate tuk-tuk drivers and complain that Thailand is "too expensive", completely forgetting that the tuk-tuk driver is probably struggling to make a living while they, the "poor" American university student, are enjoying the luxury of international travel. I would, however, be careful of jumping to the conclusion that the presence of tourists in a particular geographical area necessarily means that the local population is benefitting - this applies as much to the "slums" of Rio de Janeiro as it does to the hill tribes of Thailand.

Squatter conference, U2 concert, and conversations in immigration queues

Last week I attended quite an inspirational conference sponsored by the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat on squatter settlements in Fiji. It was attended by squatters, and key people from government and non-government agencies working with squatters and on squatter settlement issues - it was extremely interesting to say the least, but I won't say any more as I imagine a report will be coming out some time soon. There's a paper from the last workshop that I'll try and link when I have time. There's also an interesting paper here:

Urban Squatters, Informal Sector and Livelihood Strategies of Poor in Fiji Islands - Manoranjan Mohanty

Flying back home for the U2 concert did my head in a bit - it was quite difficult going from discussing living conditions with squatters to a huge, over-the-top concert, even if it is lead by a band that's done at least a little for raising awareness of how "the other 80% live". Seeing a map of the African continent flashed across the screen while Bono talked about how we in the UK, the US and Australia need to be aware of the plight of Africa was a little difficult - Africa will be drowning under the weight of poorly-thought out aid soon, and there are millions of people in South and Central America, Asia and the South Pacific that are struggling for survival also.

I made the mistake of buying Marie Claire for my flight to Port Vila this morning - it featured a piece on St Tropez and the outrageous amounts people - including Bono - fork out for the luxury of hanging out there. I can't help but feel frustrated and disillusioned by the fact that there are celebrities like Bono who rant and rave about the plight of the poor, yet holiday at places where there's a requirement that you buy a $1000+ bottle of champagne every hour that you're lounging on the beach.

Touch down in Vila, and I find myself conversing with a middle-aged guy who's come over to go diving. He asks me what I'm doing here, and I explain that I'm working for an NGO. He looks surprised, and asks "what, are there poor people here?" I explain that yes, there's very limited health care, and people die of easily preventable diseases, and that malnutrition is a growing problem. I then say that there's many people in Vila living in appalling conditions in squatter settlements. He's visibly saddened by our short, shallow conversation, shaking his head and muttering "we just have no idea, do we? we have no idea..."

No, we do not.

Edit 23/11/06...I loved this final paragraph from an article on U2 in today's The Age: "Befitting the biggest band in the world, U2 spent the first week of their Australian tour at the exclusive five-star Palazzo Versace Resort on the Gold Coast and commuted between Brisbane via private jet, helicopter and limousine for rehearsals."

Hmmmm....U2, doin' their bit for global warming and the poor!

Suva

Yesterday started with a rather amusing trip to the bus station in Nadi, where I intended to catch a bus to Suva (FD$10) but instead got waylaid by a persuasive taxi driver. Anyway, after waiting around for a while, we got enough people in the taxi to make it affordable, and off we went. As always, travelling like a local (albeit a wealthy one - most Fijians couldn't easily afford the $30 it cost us to get to Suva) was a good way to pick up a few tips on safety, and the conversations provided a wealth of information for my research. :)

So - once I'd got settled, I wandered about, went to a meeting, and then spent the afternoon bugging reception by making phone calls (phone calls have to be made by reception, and I made about 25 in the space of an hour!). Today I had back to back meetings...

I caught a glimpse of myself this morning and laughed, as I realised it only takes a day or two for me to pick up that solid walk, walking from the hips with arms swinging by my side...

Squatter settlements are clearly a growing problem in Fiji - it's all anyone will talk about with me (they're less interested in housing, sanitation etc in rural areas), and the numbers demonstrate why. I'm told that many of the resettlement programs are funded by aid - perhaps AusAID or NZAid (this is what I'm told, but I haven't confirmed it). Squatters are evicted (with some notice, it has to be said) and moved elsewhere...problem is, the new settlement often has plenty of physical infrastructure (water, roads etc) but no social infrastructure (schools, healthcare etc). On top of that is the fact that many of the squatters are single parent families, headed by women...in patriarchal and generally patrilineal Fiji, a woman estranged from her husband is particularly vulnerable, and with the exception of the lucky few, most have no option but to move to an urban centre and squat.

It's 5pm, which means I should be heading somewhere to eat and then catching a taxi back...I've only been here for a day and a half, but already I've been told numerous times not to wander the streets after about 5-5.30 pm. I've obviously never been here before, but there's plenty of anecdotal evidence as to how Suva has changed in the last decade. This shouldn't be a surprise -rapid urbanisation, growing poverty, and huge numbers of bored youth...what more could be expected?