one resident of the cortiço...

Maria Helena dos Santos

Lives in the cortiço for 4 years, before that she used to live in other cortiço with her husband and 4 children. The municipality gave the family an apartment, where the older daughter now lives with her husband and children. So Maria Helena moved to this cortiço, but first she had to buy the place that was R$300,00, and then she moved with her husband and children.
The older son called Jeferson works in a factory mostly in the nights, and her husband works during the day, so she does the laundry, takes the kids to school, sometimes she collects some cans in the street to sell it.
The thing that most bothers her is the only one bathroom for all of the people who live in the cortiço, in the morning and at night, people make a line to use it. Her kids most of the time don´t use it alone because of the dirt and the diseases, the sewer goes to a septic (not so septic) that sometimes overflows.
The sink where they do the laundry is the same one they use to do the dishes. Other problem that really worries her is the electric network that sometimes catch a fire, and they have to be fast to stop it, before it gets worse.
She is saving money to someday buy a better place to live, but if she had the opportunity she would buy a new refrigerator, a washing machine and a closet.
The most interesting things that she showed was a little plant, she said that was the thing that represent her better, and she would like to have a lot of plants, but because of the space and the children she doesn´t have that.