A resident of a São Paulo favela saved 600 families from displacement by transforming a 1.2-hectare trash-filled space into a vibrant community garden.
According to the BBC, 600 families in the Vila Nova Esperança favela were threatened with eviction in 2006. There was no municipal garbage collection in their settlement and the garbage polluted a nature reserve. It’s the classic “chicken or egg” problem when it comes to community neglect.
So resident Maria de Lourdes Andrade Silva, known as Lia Esperança, which translates to “Lia Hope,” decided to act. “I thought, 'I have to do something to avoid losing my home or someone else's,'” she said. She began organizing community cleanups. She proposed the garden after a court victory in 2012. “We didn't have any sustainability specialists… so we came up with the idea of creating a community garden,” she told the BBC.
It was an idea that just grew. “I started out of necessity,” Silva said. “I had no idea it would snowball to this point.” This garden became a full-fledged community center with a library and kitchen and provided food security for over 200 families.
Resident Batista Santos joined after losing his job. “The room today is wonderful and beautiful… It has really changed my life,” he told the BBC.
This trash-to-treasure model is popping up everywhere. In Boston, a coalition is transforming abandoned properties into edible food forests. Another story from Leek, England, shows how two residents, fed up with a local “disaster,” turned a landfill into a garden. Even entire cities like Copenhagen are using green roofs to become “sponge cities” that can better prevent flooding.
For Vila Nova Esperança, the garden was her lifeline. “Without the garden, they could have gotten us out of here,” said Cícera Maria Lino.
People on Reddit liked it too.
“This is absolutely amazing!!! I really believe this is the way to go when it comes to developing underprivileged communities,” one Reddit user wrote.
Another added: “It was emphasized that it worked for this favela because the entire community was involved in the decisions.”
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