Title:Rio Final

Title:Rio final

Duration: {07:05} minutes

Description:

Kylie Flavell, Kylie Flavell, the interviewer, rides in on back of local boy’s motor scooter.

[Background music plays]

Gentle background music encourages feeling of hope.

[Animated sequence]

{Motor scooter rides into favela. The boy welcomes, the woman cries, the father holds his small child. Street scenes of the favela, children sit on steps or play, men gather, streets climb festooned with electric wiring and graffiti. Then children playing on the football pitch, a view over Guanabara and the favela. The Kylie Flavell takes camera and passport and heads for Rio}

{Kylie Flavell}

{Rio final} Transcript

{What if a boy welcomed you into his town even though you were a stranger. What if a woman opened her heart and cried in your arms the first day you met. What if a father’s only wish was that his girls grow up without violence outside their home. What if a 14 year-old boy with the only money he had chose to buy second-hand books because his dream is to become a teacher. I’m going to be honest with you, when I first looked up this favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, I read that it had a history of crime and violence, that tourists would not be safe going there alone, that the families living in this village worry their children would grow up working in the drug trade or growing up with very little hope. But what they were working in there was too intriguing. It’s not a big change, it’s not affecting a whole city or the whole country. But what if a tiny village with no modern infrastructure could take sunshine and the movement of children playing something they love and turn it into a small idea that might start a ripple of change. So I packed up my camera equipment, jumped on a plane and went deep into the favelas to see for myself.

[Animated sequence]

{Street scenes of favela, unfinished homes, chaotic electric wiring, then the football pitch and children playing in sunshine.Quick shot of pitch floodlit. Scenes of daily life, with happy adults and kids. Pitch, kids football team and coach. Kylie Flavell chats with adults and children. Lots of of laughter.}

{Kylie Flavell}

{It’s surreal. I can’t believe I’m here in Rio, but I’m excited. This is an inspiring story.

A year ago the football pitch of this favela, Morro da Mineira, was just dirt and goalposts. Shell put a small energy idea into action using the technology of Shell liveWIREgrant winner, Pavegen. They put about 200 tiles under the astro turf and these tiles capture the energy created by the movement of people playing and along with solar panels generate electricity which powers the floodlights.

OK, so it seems like just a small change but this square has become the heart of the favela. It’s becoming a social meeting point. The restaurants around it are getting more business; the kids are so excited about playing here. They’re proud of their village being chosen as the first in the world to trial this technology. The football coach, a local guy who trains the children just out of passion, is teaching them rules like no swearing when on the pitch and the kids are then taking this discipline back home. The parents who both need to work to make ends meet know that at night their kids can now play and socialise in a space that’s lit up and busy with people. I mean it’s not going to guarantee their safety or change their life in a major way but talking with these families on the pitch, in their homes and in their businesses I can honestly see the butterfly effect.

Do you think things will change for your family? You’re hopeful, ugh? Without hope you’re dead. This is true, and I hope for you that your community can continue to grow.

[Animated sequence]

{City skyline, then back to favela. Night falls and favela lights up, with the football pitch at the heart of it.)

The guys at Pavegen think this could be how we power whole cities in the future. I mean we’re talking about just using the sun and human movement. Think about that. This here is a just a little start, but can you imagine on a larger scale. I think the potential could be incredible.

[Animated sequence]

{Kylie Flavell chats with Henrique Drummond – background of coloured favela walls, graffiti, this time in nearby Santa Marta. Wall paintings, view of bay and Pão de Açucar, street scenes and close ups of Kylie Flavell laughing and chatting with community families, and dancing. Small girls play with Barbie dolls}

The next project Shell is getting behind is this young Brazilian guy called Henrique Drummond. He’s been trying to push for this little start up called Insolar, it’s just him and another guy working part time. He’s been doing it for the past 2 years and the idea is to help Santa Marta, which is another favela nearby, to use the power of the sun to bring light and hot water to the community, starting with the day-care centre that was created by the mothers of Santa Marta who had nowhere for their children when they work.

I don’t know, I’m really inspired.Like hearing what you do, it’s so cool. But hang on, so you were working in an office, and then what happened, suddenly you think ‘I want more from life, I want to do something that makes a difference’.}

{Henrique}

{You have to take one step forward and decide, OK, I’m going to do it, take the risk, if you think in this way. But I knew I needed to do that. I was searching for something with more meaning.}

{Kylie Flavell}

I spoke to this boy. His dream is to study and become a history teacher, and I think this is such a simple hope. He’s not asking for much.

{Henrique}

{No, not at all, not at all.}

{Kylie Flavell}

{And I don’t know, it makes me really emotional. Like, wow, this is, well a normal teenager is not even having dreams like this in many places in the world.

{Henrique}

{Not even have this opportunity to dream that high. For them it’s a high.}

{Kylie Flavell}

{Like you said, speaking with all these people, even in my terrible Portuguese, one little word here. But you do see that, you see hope. In the children, in his grandfather, I don’t know, there’s this optimism.}

{Henrique}

{The Brazilian people, but it’s one thing they are very known for is hope. We hope things are going to be better.}

{Kylie Flavell}

{I mean we spoke to this one man, he helps run the community, and he’s saying you know our children they’re walking around and all they see is the favela. Their whole life, all they have seen are these alleyways, this community. But he said now, because of the football pitch, there is press coming in, there are foreigners like me, an Kylie Flavell coming in, and he’s saying this gives them a little glimpse of the big world that’s out there, and maybe it plants a seed in their head and says you know what there are so many different ways of living.

I don’t know. For me it gives me goose bumps, because I think like, wow, I’m not doing anything, I’m just walking in and having a conversation with them. But for a child, it can start a dream.

{Henrique}

{As you said, maybe you just asked the question that was never asked before, like what’s your dream? Maybe that question, as you said, planted the seeds in the mind. I don’t have to worry that much about the challenges of the past or the present. But I can look forward to see how I can reach my dreams and do something different and surmount the boundaries of my community, my history, my family and the challenge also motivates us, because every step we take is like maybe the first step in this field.

{Kylie Flavell}

{I really, really, hope your project goes well. I really do. This is exactly what’s great about our generation. You can start with this little idea. You can say it seems crazy, but I don’t care, I’m going to do it anyway.

And when I spoke to the community in Morro da Mineira they say you know that we have this technology first, and we’re just a small favela, but you know what, we can do it.

We can do it!}

HOSTED, FILMED EDITED

by KYLIE FLAVELL

[First Shell end screen appears with copy: What if your idea could change the world? Search #makethefuture on Google.]

[Second Shell end screen appears with copy: See how we support bright energy ideas Search #makethefuture on Google.]