Book of kids’ drawings reflect regular violence shaping their lives in a Rio de Janeiro favela

By MAURICIO SAVARESE and DIARLEI RODRIGUES
Associated Press

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Dozens of kids and teenagers from Rio de Janeiro’s Mare neighborhood gathered for the launch of a book in which they show, with their own words and pictures, how violence in their poor, bayside community weighs on their young lives. The book, titled “I Was Supposed to be at School,” features drawings and testimonies collected from youngsters aged between 5 and 17. All too often, when Rio state’s military police conduct operations and face off with local drug traffickers, class is canceled and they take shelter behind washing machines, under their beds or far from windows that a stray bullet might shatter.