Flavio's Home Summary

“The Struggle of Flavio” Based on “Flavio’s Home” by Gordon Parks
On the outskirts of Brazil in the 1960’s, near Rio,was a place called Catacumba. In this city was a young boy named Flavio. He lived on the mountainside where it was hot and had death written all over it; they called these places favelas. The poor child looked like he was on the verge of death, but continued to provide and help his family as much as he possibly could. After reading “Flavio’s Home” people can understand the hardships people in different countries face. Flavio had the life you would not wish on your worst enemy. He lived in a tiny shack with his whole family, which included eight people. His family was very poor and they were all malnourished because they didn’t have the money to provide food for the family. Today, in the favelas, things have changed but not by much. The only thing Flavio cared about was helping his family. In …show more content…
This favela, or slum, had children working too hard. Flavio had to do everything for his family. He took care of his brothers and sisters, was responsible for providing food for the family, and had to clean the shack. If he did not do his duties correctly, then he was beaten. They also had no fresh water. Flavio had to carry a jug of water up the mountainside and to his shack. They also had a limited supply of water. Flavio washed rice and even his infant siblings feet with the water, but even then the water could not be wasted. He told his other siblings to wash up with the same water. After they were done, he poured the water on the floor and scrubbed it. Most people would not have considered the shack they lived in a home. They had eight people living in a six by ten foot shack. The floors were rotting and the walls had holes. There were no plumbing systems and for a toilet all they had was a hole in the corner. Living conditions were very hard for people living in the outskirts of