Come and learn about Rocinha in Brazil!

National Geographic magazine is like The Surfer’s Journal of real life. Every story it touches turns to absolute gold, every pictorial between its thick, glossy pages grabs and refuses to let go. I remember spending hours, as a young boy, flipping through and learning about worlds beyond tiny Coos Bay, Oregon. About Mongolia and Burma, Argentina and Yemen.

The country/city features were always my favorites. I was never the biggest fan of dinosaur or science segues but the social studies were… perfection.

And today we learn about surf and surf culture inside one of Brazil’s largest favelas.

The piece begins:

A GROUP OF boys holding surfboards dash into the sea, smiling and laughing as golden light beams down on their wet skin. Here, in the water, they have found reprieve from the chaotic, cramped, colorful streets of Rocinha, Rio de Janeiro’s largest favela, a low-income urban neighborhood in Brazil.

Residents in Rocinha are plagued by violence and crime—children play in the same tight alleyways where drug traffickers work. One avenue away from the conflict: the ocean. The Surf Association of Rocinha (ASR), a local surf community and group of instructors, work to pull kids away from the dangers of the city and into the water, every day of the week.

Unfortunately, the community also struggles with widespread pollution and insufficient sanitation. The issue is a reality for all the favela’s residents, but it is uniquely problematic for those who spend time in the ocean. Much of the neighborhood’s waste flows straight into the nearby sea, leaving surfers and beachgoers to swim in tainted waters. Though the battle against this pollution seems monumental, ASR integrates eco-conscious activities into its sessions with the local kids—planning beach clean-ups and supporting environmental education.

After meeting this group of surfers while teaching English in the region, London-based documentary filmmaker and founder of the socially conscious Goma Collective Mikey Krzyzanowski knew he wanted to share their stories. He pulled together a crew of friends to help him produce the film, including director Sirus Gahan, co-producer Joseph Izzard, and assistant producer Gilvan Oliveira.

An interview with Mr. Kryzanowski follows and it si both illuminating and good. My favorite part is:

Why do you think surfing is important?

For these boys, they are faced with hyper-masculinity—having to live up to this big, strong stereotype. It’s a difficult thing for many kids, and I think surfing lets them escape that for a little bit.

A perfect summation of surfing everywhere and I completely agree. Surfers, even when pretending to be hyper-masculine, are either basically nude or wearing pantsuits in the water. We are all dancers. Dancers in the largest musical ever.

Watch here!