Ashley Cain’s “shocking” experience in Brazilian favelas

Ashley Cain visited dangerous places around the world – and tried to understand why some young men choose a life of crime.

“It is absolutely devastating. People lose their lives every day,” said Cain on the impact of crime in some of the most hostile environments in the world.

In its new BBC series, the former professional-professional is about young men involved in crime, from favelas to Brazil to Gangs in Sweden. And he also explores other subjects such as poaching of rhinos in South Africa and illegal gold extraction in Colombia.

He wanted to understand why they had chosen a crime life, his “heartbreaking” impact on people and how some found a way out.

Cain remembers having met a mother in a Favela in Rio de Janeirowhose two children had been murdered.

“It hit me deeply,” he said. “To find out how she picked up her son in anything but a bone bag of one of the cartels was devastating.”

The presenter, who faced the Loss of his own childsaid he hoped “at that time, just to make this lady feel comforted, felt heard and felt like she had a voice to talk about everything that is wrong in this area”.

The favelas are informal colonies and there are more than 1,000 in Rio de Janeiro.

Cain shares his shock by entering a favela and seeing people openly sell drugs or walking with rifles “as if it were normal”.

“Crime is around these guys,” he said, explaining that they were picked up in the street and promised that they were going to be taken care of. “In the end, they always find themselves in the same place, unfortunately.”

He adds that many people he met were not happy. “They don’t like to do what they do, they are afraid, they are worried, they suffer,” he said.

Cain went to different favelas, including one where the documentary teams had never been allowed to film.

He spoke to masked men selling drugs in the open air and carrying great weapons – they explained that teenagers as young as 13 were sometimes involved in criminal activity in Favela.

When asked by Cain why they do not choose other ways to earn money, a man spoke of the lack of jobs in the region.

However, Cain says that it was “really shocking” to speak to an armed young man working for a cartel who came from a “relatively middle class” context.

“I think you risk your life every day because of what you think is perceived as a good thing, as a cool thing,” he said.

Cain notes that for many favelas, it is a “reality to see and hear bullets flying every day”.

Cain also spoke to young men looking for other options.

He remembers meeting a man who was directing a musical business, trying to get young men out of the gangs by offering them opportunities to DJ and “teach them skills to allow them to live a much more prosperous and safer life”.

Cain also met a young man in a cocktail course in a favela who had already been killed – but who now chose to learn new skills.

“It shows with the right support, with initiatives and with people who try to make a difference in these communities, you can save lives,” he said.

The main thing that Cain says that he took away from speaking to these young men was to be there to listen to his sons and “lead by the example (to) be the kind of man I would like to see my sons”.

Cain says he hopes the series encourages people to speak to their children.

“Someone could be seated next to her young son, who is the same age as some of these guys here brandishing weapons, and just think:” Maybe I need to pay more attention, maybe I need to pay more time, maybe I need to listen more. “”