A slum is more than just an area inhabited by poor people. This is a special world in which physical and social degradation prevails. There are several prerequisites and reasons for this deterioration. We often hear the phrase “American Dream”. What is this? What percentage of emigrants escape poverty and move to normal areas, passing through the poverty line? How many hard workers are forced to wander through crime-prone and dangerous areas of such a large and not always friendly America? Very often, emigrants from Brazil settle in the poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods that are not marked on the map. tourist maps. More than 27 million children in the United States live below the poverty line. Everyone knows this one musical genre like RAP, he comes from the ghetto. Songs about pain, violence, poverty, single mothers and hungry children. The younger generation has become embittered and denounces the system that created such conditions, that built fences around their homes. When you enter the poorest areas of the richest cities in America, you can be horrified by what you see. Everything is too far from what is shown on television.
NY. Lost souls
Same type stone houses, broken lanterns and dirty streets - this is what you can find in modern American ghetto. These areas were identified according to special programs for low-income citizens of the country. Middle class after refugees appeared in the neighborhood, he began to leave in panic, as robberies, assaults and other crimes became more frequent. The idea of universal brotherhood was met with hostility and did not take root, but only aggravated relations between different classes population. 
Many people wonder how one can live in constant fear in all my life. Every year, 125 thousand schoolchildren from poor areas try heroin or cocaine. Most of these children have no future. Their destiny is to participate in criminal showdowns, communicate with criminal world, drug use and prostitution. There are very few who leave the ghetto and achieve better life. Most do not even live to be 50 years old. Detroit Slums: A Look into the Heart of America
If you want to see what happened to " American dream” in the era of globalization, it’s worth looking north to Woodward Avenue. If the sidewalks and streets are empty, people are preparing for a ghost masquerade. For white man The worst thing in such ghettos is “the night of the devil.” Since so many houses are left to the mercy of fate, because so many of the middle class have moved out, every October 30th is accompanied by the appearance of roving bands of black pyromaniacs who burn abandoned houses and go into the darkness. 
Increasingly, such remote areas of the United States are causing panic and fear in central cities, supplying them with drugs, starting fights and riots. Detroit is one of the most depressed areas in the USA. Short Richmond. Ghetto history
Small Southern City with a population of hardly more than 200,000 people, is called the Richmond Ghetto. This city has a unique culture and history, is located in one of the largest states- Virginia. Communities like Jackson Ward were once the heart of Richmond's black culture, and were sometimes called the "Harlem of the South." Jackson Ward was created strictly for black people, according to some as a way to control black residents. Outside Jackson Ward there were little black ones settlements in the eastern part of the region. Around this time, people slowly begin to leave the old areas of the city, such as " North side" and parts " South side", for new microdistricts of the city. This led to these communities eventually becoming predominantly black. It seems that all the people living in the ghetto are animals in a big cage, and when food gets into their cage, they will tear it to pieces. They are not always inveterate scum, just people with lost souls, people who have lost faith in a bright future because of social inequality. Only a successful music career or show business can become a ticket to a better life. But, unfortunately, only a few are lucky. Modern ghetto- This back side one of the most powerful states in the world. Do you think America is a country of victorious civilization, culture and high technology? Do you think there are clean sidewalks and free Wi-Fi everywhere? Nothing like this! Having visited some American towns, you can feel like you are in a country not even of the third, but of some fourth world! So remember their names so you don’t accidentally end up there.
Camden, New Jersey
In 2012, Camden had one of the highest crime rates in the United States, with 2,560 violent crimes per 100,000 residents. In addition, Camden has very high levels of pollution environment, associated primarily with the abundance of garbage and unsolved problem its removal, as well as water pollution. Residents of surrounding towns consider Camden a real hole.
East St. Louis, Illinois
East St. Louis is a real crime nest. 80 people out of 1000 inhabitants annually find themselves involved in criminal activity- both as criminals and as victims. Police, firefighters and paramedics don't have time to rest - shootings happen every day in the city center, and other incidents don't even count here.
New Orleans, Louisiana
Tourist centre famous city The South has long recovered from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. But as soon as you move away from the center, you will be surrounded by entire blocks of destroyed, neglected houses. Some of them are uninhabited, in others, however, life still continues, which is almost more frightening than the abandoned ruins.
Memphis, Tennessee
Memis itself is a quiet and neat town. However, it does have a suburb, 38106, which is named after its postal code, or zip code in our parlance. And it’s better for a decent person not to go there! This is the cheapest real estate in the US - for $50,000 you can buy a great home. But even behind its walls you will never feel safe. Cheap housing has attracted many antisocial individuals from all over the country - and now crime is rampant on the streets, drugs are sold on every corner, and most buildings, even residential ones, look like little better at home in the picture.
South Los Angeles
Once you find yourself in a brilliant and rich city of millionaires, do not even think about going to its southern part! It is, for the most part, a dangerous ghetto with all the associated trappings - from garbage on the streets to crime, drug trafficking and street gang warfare. Over the past 15 years, the population of this area has halved to about a quarter of a million people. By the way, at one time they tried to separate this part of the metropolis from Los Angeles, giving it the name South Central. Now he is remembered mainly by fans of the old black comedy “Don’t be a menace to South Central while drinking juice in your neighborhood,” which very clearly depicts local morals.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
This city is still home to the famous hockey team Pittsburgh Penguins, but many areas of Pittsburgh are now largely abandoned. Less than half of the houses here are inhabited. This, of course, led to an increase in crime: empty neighborhoods simply attract criminals. After the closure of its massive steel mills decades ago, Pittsburgh never fully recovered.
Orlando, Florida
On the one hand, Orlando is famous for its world-famous Disneyland park. On the other hand, the Parramore district, a dysfunctional suburb, notorious high level crime. Every year, about 20 thousand crimes against property are committed in Parramore and the surrounding area - robberies, arson, thefts, and so on. So, when you get to Orlando, it’s better not to go too far from Disneyland.
Chicago, Illinois
After the Prohibition era with its gang wars, Chicago became a prosperous city. However, in last years here again there is a sharp surge in street crime. Thus, during the year, 762 murders were registered here, mostly committed with firearms. The risk of dying from a gunshot by criminals in Chicago today is higher than in criminal Guyana, a third world country known for its high level of crime.
Flint, Michigan
Flint was booming in the early 20th century as the American auto industry boomed. During the prosperity of the GM company, which located its factories here, the city had 200 thousand residents, all prosperous and employed. Now it's a different matter. First, auto companies began to close, the number of jobs decreased, and the city was struck by total unemployment. And then - new scandal: Flint's water supply was poisoned by lead. As a result, the city is now practically deserted.
Atlanta, Georgia
For half a century, Atlanta has consistently ranked among the top five cities in the United States for crime rates. In recent years, city authorities have been successful in promoting safety, but many suburban areas remain extremely disadvantaged. The rate of gun crime in Atlanta today is 17 per 100,000 residents. These numbers correspond to such dangerous criminal countries like Panama.
Washington, DC
About The White house and its surroundings - not a word! But Washington is not only the quarters of government offices. In the usual outlying areas of the American capital, crime and poverty levels are more consistent with third world cities. In suburbs like Columbia Heights and Anacostia, the crime rate is 60 crimes per thousand residents, and the infrastructure of these areas - from running water to garbage collection - is little better than in the provincial Russian outback.
Las Vegas, Nevada
And let’s make a reservation again: we are, of course, not talking about the Strip with its brilliant casinos, but about the residential areas of the city, of which there are plenty here. Not so long ago, there was a construction boom in Las Vegas, but the exploding real estate bubble buried the dreams of many local residents of owning a decent home. Many houses on the outskirts of Las Vegas still stand empty or illegally occupied by squatters. The police are increasingly having to go out to evict illegal tenants who have become too violent. Many Las Vegas suburbs look like ghost towns, and their happy future is, to put it mildly, in question.
Breezy Point, New York
Until October 2012, Breezy Point was a prosperous and wealthy suburb of New York. However, during Hurricane Sandy, more than 350 homes were destroyed in Breezy Point, and the town's infrastructure was completely destroyed. The subsequent fires completed the picture of destruction. And today, former residents are in no hurry to return to the destroyed Breezy Point, which is a real slum literally an hour from Manhattan.
Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
Things aren't going too well on the reservations. Of the 20 poorest counties in the country, half are on Indian reservations. Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota- perhaps the clearest example how life is like for Indians in the USA. The level of alcoholism and drug addiction here is off the charts, almost all of the population suffers from diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, and the unemployment rate reaches 80%. It is not surprising that the problem of Indian teenage gangs in this area is considered one of the most pressing today.
Detroit, Michigan
The decline of the former automobile capital of the United States is a well-known problem, but few realize its scale. Today, many Detroiters lack the amenities that residents developed countries have long been taken for granted: access to clean drinking water, uninterrupted power supply, emergency medical care, decent schools... In recent years, Detroit authorities have managed to bring almost the entire city center back to life, but the rest of its parts remain as comfortable to live in as some war-torn African country.
Everyone has heard about the slums surrounding Mexico City, Rio or Mumbai at least once. But slums are everywhere, even where you least expect to see them: in the world's most prosperous Vancouver, in luxurious Dubai, in brilliant Los Angeles and sophisticated Paris.
Downtown Eastside, Vancouver, Canada
Travel magazines have repeatedly named Vancouver as one of the best cities for accommodation. It is known for its scenic views and beautiful architecture. To the east of its main street, however, is one of worst examples urban squalor of our day. Several thousand drug addicts live there, many of whom are HIV-positive. It is quite strange that so many sufferers of a deadly disease are located in a confined space of 18 blocks. There are also countless cases of hepatitis C. Theft, prostitution, murder and mental illness have consumed the area - the homeless and disadvantaged can be found on every corner. There is a thriving market for stolen goods, which is located right on the main street. Notorious serial maniac Robert Pickton found most of his victims here, as the locals are easy targets. Despite enormous efforts over many years to renovate and clean up the area, conditions in east side seem to be getting worse. Many continue to become drug addicts. An excellent film was made in 2008 documentary"Pain and Garbage" is about the terrible living conditions in these places.
Canada Real Galiana, Madrid, Spain
Canada Real Galiana is the largest European slum, home to more than 30,000 people. They are located next to where garbage is burned, so local residents can often be seen rummaging through garbage in order to get something valuable for resale or independent use. Most of the houses were built from pieces of wood and metal found in the trash. This place is the drug capital of Spain. On a section of the road called “Shooting Range” you can buy all types of prohibited substances. The people who have the misfortune of calling this place home are trapped without any help or support from their government. The Spanish authorities took some steps to liquidate this area: demolishing houses and driving out people who knew no other way of life. Left without money or shelter, these people simply went to where the rubble of their old houses had been dumped and restored what had been destroyed. Local social workers often try to help residents, but are forced to do so in free time, since the area in the eyes of the government is no man's land. Only a few dozen people from these slums are trying to bring back their family members from the slums and there is really not enough help. Currently the area is only seen as a problem that cannot be eradicated but can be hidden.
Slums in Texas
Based in various parts In Texas and the American Southwest in general, slums known as "colonias" are composed primarily of Hispanic people. Some of them moved from Mexico in search of a better life, while others were born here and know nothing about outside world. About 2,300 of these makeshift "colonias" are located along the border with Mexico. They are home to about 500,000 people. Since most of those living in these communities are undocumented, it is impossible to know a more precise number. Most of these communities emerged in the 1950s. They grew from plots of land that were sold to desperate immigrants seeking a better life. For the most part, these poor communities remained as they were: slums without any infrastructure. In some communities you can find well-built houses with running water and electricity, but these are very rare. Residents eke out a miserable existence as hired agricultural workers and construction workers. To their credit, American government and Texas officials passed legislation to protect these communities and provide them with resources. Unfortunately, the scale of the problem and its complexity are too great, making a solution difficult.
Mahwa Aser, Yemen
"Mahwa Aser" is an area near the capital of Yemen, which is considered one of the poorest and most dangerous on Earth. It is home to the Akhdam people of African descent, who are considered second-class citizens in Yemen. About 17,000 people are deprived of social services and have almost no rights. Their “trap” has no sewerage, electricity or infrastructure. They can only beg for help from their brothers and get a job as janitors in the capital. During the famous “Arab Spring”, which swept across the Middle East and North Africa In recent years, the Akhdam people have seized the opportunity to organize a series of strikes and protests. But this only proved everything military power Yemen. Hundreds of protesters were killed by the military. The only thing that was done after the riots by the street cleaners was some concessions for the construction of houses and infrastructure. Unfortunately, too little has been done to change the fate of the slums for the better. To this day this little known ethnic group faces not only endless poverty, but also the wrath of his own government.
Cellular Slums, Hong Kong, China
Sometimes those living in poverty can feel like they're in prison, but there are free people in this world who actually live in cells. Surprisingly, they exist in Hong Kong, one of the most prosperous cities in China. According to some estimates, about 200,000 people in the city live in such conditions. Some of the cells are stacked on top of each other in groups of 10 or more. Some people have lived in them for many decades, and some were even born there. Life in these “houses” does not provide any protection from the weather and takes place in the midst of noise and dirt. A little further from the “cage-houses” are “coffin-houses,” which are nothing more than sleeping niches hollowed out in the walls of buildings where 25 or more people live. Those who live in a "cage" or "coffin" can consider themselves lucky in Hong Kong's slums. Those who cannot afford to buy any kind of “home” are forced to sleep under bridges or right on the streets. Over the decades, the situation in these slums has only worsened due to inadequate social systems, high property prices in an extremely crowded city and unscrupulous landlords willing to rent out unsuitable accommodation to those in desperate need. The list of applicants for social housing consists of hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom die from their terrible living conditions before they have the chance to live a normal life. Unfortunately, the problem of poverty in Hong Kong is currently so great that there seems to be no solution.
"City of the Dead", Cairo, Egypt
In the Egyptian capital there is a necropolis incredible in our time, known as the “City of the Dead”. Cairo is so overcrowded that some 500,000 of its 18 million residents are forced to live among the graves of their ancestors. Approximately one million burials are located within a 6.5 kilometer area. In the tombs, men and women are buried separately, each grave simply covered with a stone slab. The houses themselves here look almost normal: with kitchens, courtyards, and sometimes even gardens. However, electricity is rare, and there are no police or any kind of security guarantor. The streets connecting many houses do not have a normal layout, and there is nothing to speak of asphalt. Crime is rampant and many live here illegally. The future of people living in this modern " City of the Dead" remains uncertain. The Egyptian government is taking steps to resettle its residents, but real estate is too expensive in Cairo, and accurately recording and tracking slum residents is very difficult - a task that seems almost impossible. At present, the best the government can do is to provide for more people clean water and electricity.
Tent city in Seattle, USA
Tent cities pop up everywhere from time to time, but in Seattle, in an area known as Nickelsville, they are there 24/7. About 275 people live in these makeshift communities, not counting hundreds of others who arrive at the camp only at night and disappear the next morning. Permanent or temporary - all residents are poor, uneducated and have no opportunity to build a career and somehow establish own life. In the 1970s, a series of tragic fires led to the closure of several low-cost and safe housing complexes known as "SRO" (single-occupancy occupancy), forcing many Seattle residents to live on the streets. This new generation of homeless people must live in constant fear of being arrested for illegally camping. Only decision What they found was to build tent cities that people could pack up and move to another site if necessary in less than a minute. Security and safety in these areas is minimal, and there is no electricity or sewerage. The people who call these places home live from hand to mouth, sometimes even hunting local wildlife for food. There seems to be no hope for the residents of these houses to improve their conditions, at least for now. Seattle officials came up with a 10-year plan to end homelessness within the city more than a decade ago. Obviously, the measures are ineffective, and the city police basically treat the residents of the tent city as criminals. Luckily, some members of the public have been kind enough to donate and help find The best decision than just chasing these people around the city.
La Courneuve, Paris, France
The city of romance hides its dark secret just 10 minutes from the center by train. The area known as "La Courneuve", along with other temporary communities, developed with a wave of immigration in the mid-twentieth century. The children of those emigrants and their children grew up, as a rule, unrecognized citizens in their own country. own country. This attitude and residents’ dissatisfaction with living conditions caused mass riots over the past decade. Although the fury of impoverished citizens has largely subsided, little has changed in the worst areas of Paris. With most residents having no hope of getting a job thanks to a combination of racism and a lack of available jobs, they spend their days among the slums, often using drugs. At the same time, they constantly have to find ways to outwit the corrupt police officers who are looking for them to arrest them and then use their drugs or sell them. The area is, as one resident put it, gray: “The buildings are gray. People are gray. Everything is grey. They are the same people, but there is nothing to do here, nothing to do at all. You wake up every morning and look for a job. But why? She’s not here.”
Skid Row, Hollywood, Los Angeles
Where dreams are made, some are forced to live in places like your worst nightmare. Countless people come to this city to get into the world of show business. But if they had seen with their own eyes the living conditions of those less fortunate, they would have turned back in horror and gone far away. In Los Angeles, right in Hollywood, there is a slum called Skid Row. They began to appear with the boom of the film industry, but the situation worsened with the advent of B-movies and the development of the porn industry in the 1970s. The number of poor people flocking to the city began to increase in geometric progression. In some buildings, hundreds of people are living in uninhabitable conditions. The worst parts of Hollywood are rife with drug addiction, prostitution, and crime. All this is made worse by the fact that some of the more unscrupulous members of the film industry are constantly looking to set up those seeking fame without any money at all. Although many efforts by local residents have yielded some help in restoring the area's grandeur, both officials and city residents agree that it is a losing battle. It seems that as soon as one house is cleaned up or demolished, another source of problems appears in its place. Thousands of newcomers seeking fortune and fame come to the city every year. But the dreams in their heads are always far from reality, which leads to a problem that grows as cancer tumor, in one of America's most famous national treasures.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Before the global financial crisis in 2008, Dubai seemed like a miracle to many. But after him the city turned its ugly side to everyone. The city that boasts some of the most expensive buildings in the world is also home to some of the world's worst slums. Less than 1 percent of Dubai's population is born there, and many foreigners cannot legally obtain citizenship. Government efforts to maintain some semblance of cultural identification, and laws that should be fair to everyone, are heavily skewed in favor of those born here. Thus, countless thousands of workers who came to work were left in poverty and without social protection after the 2008 default. They had no choice but to settle in the most unfavorable areas of the city. Although data on the presence of such areas is difficult to find due to the efforts of the state to hide them as carefully as possible. The sad fact is that most of modern Dubai was built slave labor immigrants from Pakistan and India who came to the country to work and ended up in the well-hidden slums of Dubai. Or, even worse, many have settled in labor camps, which appeared right next to construction sites. Dubai has forgotten about these people, leaving them to fend for themselves in a city where they remain unwelcome guests, even though they helped build it.
In addition to the weakness for various kinds gloomy abandoned objects, like a huge and for the most part abandoned prison full of lost souls of maniacs, I have a second weakness - for old skyscrapers. You know, those ones, huge and monumental with stucco, statues, grand foyers and ancient elevators with wooden doors. This kind of goodness is most abundant in America: New York, Chicago, Philadelphia. Today we will take a walk around Philadelphia, where I found myself for the first time yesterday, returning from Canada to Washington. The purpose of visiting the city was the prison mentioned above strict regime, and actually ended up in the business center of Philadelphia by accident, thanks to some sporting event, which is why the city was clogged with traffic jams. So, trying to escape from the stubborn traffic jams, we taxied into the center. But they found themselves “locked” there too and decided to park and walk for a couple of hours and then have lunch in the local colorful Chinatown. Do you know what I'll say? Philadelphia is a wonderful city, like New York in miniature! Here you will find skyscrapers of the business center and old buildings of the 18th-19th centuries, slums of the poor and entire blocks of abandoned houses. Well, typical for a large American city there is a crowd of different people: whites, blacks, Asians, variations of mixtures of all these three. Extremely colorful.
We started with prison, about which there is a separate post. Doesn't it look like a medieval fortress?
The prison is surrounded by relatively disadvantaged areas where blacks live -
As we move from the prison to the center, we understand that the neighborhoods that we saw are still quite decent. There are completely abandoned houses here, where no one lives -
A whole dead hotel -
It’s not only uncomfortable to walk on these streets, but even to leave your car. On the other hand, people are parking, apparently not everything is so bad? Certainly no worse than in the wildly criminal South America; remember the article about my trip to Peru/Ecuador/Brazil and tips? Key moment- do not find yourself in “isolated” situations where you are alone on a deserted street, like this one -
Pay attention to the advertisement. They buy "agli" (ugly) houses, then renovate them and rent them out. How much do you think a three-story building like this could cost? brick house, on which these advertisements hang? The location seemed good, it was a 15-minute walk to downtown Philadelphia. I'll tell you - within 25-40 thousand dollars. For the house. I repeat - for the WHOLE house, all three floors. And such houses in American cities hundreds of thousands. The bargain price is explained by the area, which is dangerous in a criminal context (proximity to the center does not mean anything), the destroyed infrastructure of the building itself (it was built at the beginning of the 20th century and has practically not been repaired since then, you will have to change everything, from sewerage to electrical wiring, not to mention about strengthening the foundation and strengthening the roof). Well, such factors as the lack of sane kindergartens and schools for children, unless, of course, you want your children to go to school with drug addicts and thieves -
I don't know if you would want to live in these houses even if you bought them. Still, you still have to walk to the city center, even if it only takes 15 minutes. At some point, and after a number of incidents, you will choose to replace those 15 minutes with a taxi ride. Safer.
Chinatown Gate -
Chinatown is a cool place to eat tasty and inexpensive food. In local eateries, a huge portion of rice with shrimp will cost $4.75, and soup with sea reptiles will cost $5-6. To be honest, their portions did not fit into me. The companions helped with the eating, having themselves eaten to the point of insanity. But walk one block from here and you'll find yourself in an upscale restaurant district where $5 won't even get you a glass of beer.
Contingent -
So, business center Philadelphia with its ancient skyscrapers built at the beginning of the 20th century -
A funny thing: people are pedaling and having lunch, and the lady is steering so as not to get into an accident. Both useful and fun: you pedal, food is digested faster, circle in the center and back to the office, to work -
Listen, I forgot to tell you about the visit coal mine in eastern Pennsylvania, in the mining town of Scranton. And it's super cool there. I'll tell you one of these days!
Houses made of cardboard, plywood, metal and boards. This is what the vast areas of poverty in Brazil look like, forming a dense ring around the cities. It is estimated that every second resident of Rio de Janeiro lives there. Residents of these places often live from trading on the street. They sell everything they can, often drugs or own body. Tourist excursions to such places are usually carried out under supervision. Few people have the courage to explore poor areas "at their own risk."
2. Manila, Philippines
More than 20% of Manila's residents live in slums, and this number is increasing every year. There is no need to look for such areas for a long time - most of Manila is like that. And the most terrible quarters are considered to be the Navas district, where desperate people, unable to find best place, settled in the cemetery. Rot, garbage and fragments of corpses are everywhere. You need to walk carefully so as not to end up in gutter. The smell and atmosphere are terrible.
3. Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya
The fame of the slums, located almost in the very center of the Kenyan capital, has long spread far beyond the country's borders. An excursion to Kibera is the second, after African safari, tourist attraction for which Kenya is famous. Hundreds of tourists and many celebrities known from magazine covers come here. Do they understand the risk? According to statistics, more than 800 thousand people live in Kibera, of which 20% are HIV-infected. These are the largest slums in Africa.
4. Sultanbeyli in Istanbul, Türkiye
In the middle of the 20th century, in the suburbs of Istanbul, it was decided to build a village for Turkish emigrants, which, over time, was transformed into a huge area for the poor. If you believe the statistics, more than 250 thousand people live in Sultanbeyli today. The expansion of the slums was probably helped by Turkish legislation, according to which if a house was built in one night, it could remain in its place even if a building permit had not been obtained.
5. Osaka, Japan
Japan appears to us modern country, and everything that happens there is viewed from this point of view. However, here too there is a place that has become a reason for shame among local authorities. This is Kamagasaki - the largest illegal settlement in the Country rising sun. This area is home to Osaka's poorest residents. Nobody knows exactly how many there are, because most people live here without registration. It's not so easy to get here - many years ago the name of this place was removed from maps. Since 1996, this place has been officially known as Airin.
6. Dharavi in Mumbai, India
More than 1 million people live in these largest slums in Asia. They are located in an area the size of London's Hyde Park. The world learned about this place after the appearance of the film “Slumdog Millionaire,” which also failed to convey the true picture. It is frightening that such a huge population of poor people in Mumbai is located on the outskirts of India's financial capital, next to the world of the rich. And only a wall separates them.
7. Petare in Caracas, Venezuela
Caracas is considered the most dangerous city V Latin America, and, at the same time, its largest slums. Here, every day, many homeless people try to survive, huddling in hastily put together “holes” made of cardboard and rags. The worst situation is in the Petare area. For years it was a world of juvenile murderers and thieves living in heaps of rubbish. Organized gangs have now invaded the area. Every day, at least a dozen residents of Petare alone die there.