Green oasis rises in heart of Rio slum

RIO DE JANEIRO: The stench of rotting dog corpses used to waft through Mauro Quintanilha’s Rio slum home. Outside stood a towering mound of detritus of every size and shape.
It took a decade and lots of help from volunteers, but Quintanilha moved that stinking mountain. Now, where all the rot once piled up is a park with birds, butterflies and even monkeys.
For his trouble, he has won a top international prize for urban renewal. “At the start, people thought I was crazy. They made fun of me,” Quintanilha, a 55-year-old percussionist, told AFP. “I had to clear 16 tons of trash which people had piled up above Vidigal,” he said, referring to the slum that is home to some 25,000 people.