Green My Favela Volunteer
Green My Favela (GMF) is one of our wonderful and most popular partner projects, located just outside of the Complex do Alemão in the nearby Manguinhos community. Green My Favela is an environmental rehabilitation project that engages favela residents, volunteers, families, NGOs, schools, and the government to transform public spaces and cultivate potential food security. GMF works with the local community to re-imagine the often abandoned trash-filled lots into a community garden that invests a wide range of participants in a productive and environmentally responsible project. Community in Action works closely with GMF, sending volunteers to support this initiative throughout the year.
The Green My Favela project was founded and run by former CiA project manager Zoë Roller, who helped implement our computer program in 2012. The initiative caught international attention when American Earthworks artist Stan Herd contacted Zoë about funding an art project in the new GMF space, in the Manguinhos favela community. Mr. Herd made a generous donation for the project and traveled to Rio to work with Zoë, local residents, children, and Community in Action volunteers to create a stunning tile mosaic in the garden.
The Green My Favela project was founded and run by former CiA project manager Zoë Roller, who helped implement our computer program in 2012. The initiative caught international attention when American Earthworks artist Stan Herd contacted Zoë about funding an art project in the new GMF space, in the Manguinhos favela community. Mr. Herd made a generous donation for the project and traveled to Rio to work with Zoë, local residents, children, and Community in Action volunteers to create a stunning tile mosaic in the garden.
The garden is now fully self-sufficient and principally maintained by seven local retired community members, who love the therapeutic nature of community garden work as well as the ability to create food they can eat! The garden grows twenty five types of edible plants without the use of pesticides and can provide food for over 70 members of the community. With hundreds of planter beds, the community is encouraged to take ownership of a specific bed: you can chose a planter box, grow whatever you like and decorate it with paint or signs. In addition to residents cultivating an individual bed, a separate “children’s section” gives local kids the chance to learn about gardening and to care for their own plants. Volunteers get the chance to work alongside children and adults alike, mentoring the younger ones to learn about the commitment of gardening and supporting the adults in their daily maintenance of the space.
Community in Action volunteers have played a pivotal role in transforming what was once an abandoned dirt lot into a communally valued and productive garden, but the work is not done! Volunteers lend an essential helping hand, spending time in the beautiful Rio sunshine with locals (and of course enjoying cold beers in the shade); and working side-by-side with local residents to leave a lasting legacy. From watering or weeding, to art projects, to teaching about food sustainability, volunteers truly engage with the community to make a difference.
To learn more about our community garden project, visit the project page.
To learn more about Green My Favela, visit the NGO’s website.