Favela life: The diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 4 June 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Carolina Maria de Jesus was a poor, single mother-of-three who lived in a derelict shack and spent her days scavenging for food.

Her diary, written between 1955 and 1960, brought to life the harsh realities faced by thousands of poor Brazilians who arrived in cities like S?o Paulo and Rio de Janeiro looking for better opportunities.

In 1960, her diary was published and became a bestseller, turning Carolina into a celebrity.

Her daughter, Vera Eunice de Jesus Lima, spoke to Thomas Pappon in 2020 about how the book changed her family's life.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ?Indian Titanic? and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy?s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and G?rel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they?ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America?s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Carolina Maria de Jesus. Credit: National Archives of Brazil)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Why does some big successful brands go bust?
0:05.7	Toast is back for a new series, taking a look at the decisions that often left investors burnt.
0:11.6	I'm Sean Farrington, a BBC business journalist. I'll be hearing about the hype.
0:15.6	They're going to do the deal that makes them the most money at that point of time.
0:19.7	And I'm picking what went wrong, talking to
0:22.1	owners and employees to ask, what can we learn? It was being undercut by similar rivals. It just
0:28.8	couldn't survive. Toast. Listen first on BBC Sounds.
0:43.1	Hi, you're listening to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service.
0:49.9	We're going back to 1960 and the launch of a book by a poor Brazilian single mother,
0:53.2	which became a bestseller in Brazil and America.
0:54.2	The diary of Carolina Maria de Jesus,
0:57.5	who lived in a slum in Sao Paulo, turned her into a celebrity.
1:02.1	It was the first time the world got an insider's view of life in a favela.
1:07.7	Thomas Papon spoke to her daughter Vera in 2020. July the 15th, 1955, the birthday of my daughter, Vera Aunisi. I wanted to buy a pair of shoes for her, but the price of food keeps us from realising our desires. Actually, we are slaves to the cost of living. I found a pair of shoes in the
1:29.7	garbage, washed them and patched them for her to wear. I didn't have one cent to buy bread.
1:35.7	So I washed three bottles and traded them to Arnaldo. He kept the bottles and gave me bread.
1:41.8	Quarto di Dispejo, dumping room in English, sold out in three days in Brazil.
1:47.9	Its author broke records for book signings in Brazilian bookshops. Interest in her book was enormous
1:54.3	because fragments of her diary had been published before in Brazilian magazines. August 2nd, I dressed the boys and sent them to school.
2:04.0	I went out and wandered around trying to get some money. I passed the slaughterhouse,
2:09.2	picked up a few bones. Some women were pouring through the garbage looking for edible meat.
2:14.7	They claimed it was only for dogs. That's what I say. It's only for dogs.
	...

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