Taking on the slums

This week was our first week in the slums. I’ve heard the term slum used in the states before when referring to something that isn’t very nice or when talking about an apartment or a room.  In India there are different levels of poverty. Some live on the streets, some live at work, some live in tin shacks, and the lucky live in apartments and houses. In India, a slum is a place where there is overcrowding, lack of sanitation, toilets, and access to things we consider to be part of civilization. One realizes what poor means and what the term slum refers to  after visiting a slum in India and I can tell you that I have never in my life seen the level of extreme poverty and the lack of resources needed to survive. I don’t know how so many people can survive living in the conditions I am about to discuss.  In my previous post I mentioned Dharavi slum which is a commercial slum. Dharvi slum seemed to provide a better quality of life compared to the slum we will be working in for the next few months.



Outside of Kalwa Train Station

 Kalwa slum is our slum. I call it our slum because we will be spending the majority of our time there.  I also call it our slum because having been there for only a few days, I already feel a part of the community in Kalwa.  Each day we are greeted by numerous children who are pleased that we are there. Before entering the slum, we were given sensitivity training and to mentally prepare for the conditions we were going to be exposed to.  I was nervous on the morning of the first day we entered the slums. I never grew up with poverty and I didn’t really know what poverty was. In the states poverty is relative.  I had been told of the conditions in Kalwa but I didn’t know what to expect.

REAP office

Every morning Monday-Friday we wake up at 7am to catch an 8am train to Kalwa. The train ride is about 40 minutes north of Bycalla which is the neighborhood we live in.  The trains are extremely crowded. You cannot move inside the trains because there are too many people cramped into one car. The train system here in Mumbai is the most commonly used method of transportation and each morning hundreds of thousands of people use the train for their morning commutes. The trains do not have doors and often people will hang outside of the cars, sit on the roofs, and they will jump into the cars as the train is leaving the station. Having taken the metro in D.C. several times, I have learned that life is more valuable than getting onto an overcrowded train and I always wait for another one to arrive. Luckily, we travel in the opposite direction of rush hour going to the slum so we have plenty of space in our train.  At least 3 people are killed each day here in Mumbai from train incidents. We always make sure we push ourselves into the center of the train so that we don’t risk falling out. Trying to sleep on the train is a lost cause due to the loud noise of the tracks and the cramped cars and I was happy to finally arrive at Kalwa station. We are accompanied by 2 security guards and 2 GPM staff each day in the slum. The security guards work for the Indian Jewish Security. They are both trained in Israel which is very comforting.

 

Kalwa Slum

When we arrived in Kalwa we headed over to the REAP office to help prepare meals for the children in the classes we will be teaching in. REAP is an initiative that allows women in the slums to cook healthy meals for the children in the classrooms.  These women work 10-12 hours each day preparing meals for these kids. The women get paid for cooking the meals.  Children are often malnourished in the slums due to lack of nutritious food and lack of food in general. Providing them with one healthy meal per day is a huge deal. Not only does the meal provide nutrious value which is needed for development, but it also encourages the children and parents to attend school. Children are motivated to come to school if they know they will get a free meal and the parents see this as an advantage. Some parents force their children to work and not go to school to make ends meet. Our hope is that with REAP and our teaching initiative we will motivate more children to attend school and parents will see the value of education.

Helping REAP women prepare lunches for children

After helping REAP, we headed over to the slums to tour the classrooms. Walking through the slums was not easy both physically and mentally.  Entering the slums was probably the most challenging part.  At the entrance there are piles of garbage everywhere and I mean everywhere. Garbage is burned to make more room as there are no dumpsters and no garbage trucks available.  It looks like a landfill. In addition, there are wild animals such as pigs and goats rummaging through feces and the garbage. There are no toilets in the slums so those who live there must use the bathroom outside in the open.  A dusty old mattress is used as a gymnastics mat for the children to play on. Watching unclothed children having to use the bathroom outside with no sanitation was heartbreaking for me.  After walking through the beginning of the slum, we met our first classroom.  Homes are used for the classrooms and they do not have A/C or lighting. They are very cramped and only have a chalkboard and a clock available to use. 

Child playing in the slum

The classes are a mix of all ages so we must develop lesson plans that are simple enough for all of the children to understand. The reactions of the children when they met us was incredibly heartwarming. As we entered the first class the children stood up to greet us saying “Good Morning Teacher!” These children have nothing in the slums and for foreigners to interact with them and to teach them is a huge deal. The children have something to look forward to when we visit them every day. All of the children are eager to learn and we inspire them to continue to learn. I was so impressed with their level of knowledge. Many of them know all of the numbers, the alphabet, and can carry on basic conversations in English.

One of our classrooms

 Some of the children are sickly and it is evident that they are lacking nutrition. Many of them are stunted and weak and the fact that they dress up formally for school and make an effort to come each day no matter how bad they feel is truly inspiring. The first day we played introductory name games with the children to break the ice. The last activity we did with the children involved having them draw three things that were important to them. Many of the children drew flowers, fruits, houses, and stick figures. These children are incredibly artistic and I was very impressed with their artistic abilities.  My partner Emily and I will be developing a curriculum that teaches the children the world continents. We feel that it is important for them to learn about different parts of the world so that they understand there is life outside the slums and that the world has so much to offer outside the slums.

One of our student's drawings

I love the children in both of our classrooms. They are so motivated to learn and so inspired simply by our presence. The conditions in the slum are terrible and it’s difficult to describe how bad it is without seeing it firsthand. However, walking from the slums to the classrooms can be compared to walking through a rain storm and seeing sunlight in the distance. The children’s excitement to learn and to be with us overshadows the darkness of the slum and each morning I wake up thinking about the children and how much of an impact we will have on them.

Teaching the children about continents

The hardest part of this project I think will be facing the reality of leaving the children at the end of the program. I know we will become very close with them and they will want us to continue teaching them. My hope is that we will make a lasting impression on them and that we will inspire them to continue to learn. A little knowledge can go a long way and if these kids can learn about different parts of the world than maybe one day they can see the brighter side of the world, outside the slums. Well, I can write a book about the slums, but I guess I will end on this note. Working in the slums has made me feel so grateful for what I have back at home. We really have it made in the USA, and being here in India has made me understand why everyone wants to come to the USA.  Life is very difficult here, and people seem to just scrape by the survival line. Interacting with the people in the slums has made me really appreciate the simple things in life and has opened my eyes to the meaning of a real community.  Stay tuned for future blog posts.

The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent the positions, strategies, or opinions of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.

 

Indian Adventures: Week 1

My last bog, I left off feeling jet lagged, a little lost, and eager to begin my new adventure here in India. So much has happened, since I landed in this fascinating country, and I am going to try my best to sum everything up in the most simple and brief way, although I could write a book about everything I’ve experienced so far. First let me say that the 3 other participants in my program are amazing. 2 are from New York City, and 1 is from London. The beautiful thing about out group, is that we are all in the same stages of life and around the same age. Our common passion for giving back to the community, has established a strong sense of family amongst us. I know I will be friends with them forever.

Ben, Emily, Tanya, and I at Leopolds. Yes, that is a "pint" of beer.

 This week has been intensive orientation week, where we are meeting with key figures both in the Jewish community, and within the Gabriel Project. We have also begun training on how to teach the children in the slums, and in addition, have started Hindi classes. Our program director Jacob has been showing us the ins and outs of Mumbai, and his hospitality and passion for our success here in this foreign land, has been incredible. I mentioned the chaos of the traffic in my previous blog. There are no lanes here, nor road rules to follow. Basically this means that people walk in the middle of traffic all the time, and cars nearly scrape each other. It may seem like there would be numerous accidents, but there isn’t. I have become adjusted to walking in the middle of traffic, and riding comfortably in a taxi without feeling like we are going to crash. The loud honking and chaos of the roads, has almost become white noise to me now.

I also mentioned the severity of the poverty here in Mumbai, and sadly I am becoming less affected by it, on a daily basis. There are lots of beggars here, that will follow you asking for money, food, and anything else. I have learned it is best to ignore them, because many of the beggars do not directly receive the money. The money often is given to the higher up people the beggars work for.  Children will stop you in traffic, and women will rent babies, to make you feel guilty into giving them money. The best thing you can do, is give the beggars food because, they are likely to keep it for themselves.

Daharvi Slum

 While in the topic of poverty, I will discuss our trip to the largest slum in Asia, and one of the largest in the world called Daharvi slum. Dharvi is a commercial slum, where products are developed there and exported into the city. Many workers in the slums, come from rural areas of India, where literacy and education is not needed to complete the work. Workers in this slum must work 10-12 hours each day, and make roughly 1,000 rupees per month which is equivalent to 16 dollars. Those who live in houses, must pay rent, and taxes which ends up being half their salary with little left to put food on the table. The government provides electricity and water to the legal slums. Workers will often sleep in their working quarters, because they can’t afford to live in a “home”, and they cannot afford to miss any hour of work from transportation.  Some of the raw materials produced at the slum include plastic, leather, breads, pottery, and cloth.

The working conditions in this slum are very dangerous as toxic fumes, unsanitary water, and lack of toilets, are rampid.  1 toilet is shared by hundreds of workers. These conditions are why the life expectancy in the slums is very low. The workers, report to the owners of the business within the slum. The organization of the slum is similar to a city within city, and it’s amazing how consistent and proficient the slum workers are in producing the raw materials. While the conditions of the slum are horrific, there is a strong sense of community and belonging there. I think the idea of a common struggle to survive, creates a commitment to keeping a community safe and prosperous. There are high rise apartments being built, for slum workers, which is a little better than the residences inside the slums. However, the expense and lack of community, convinces slum workers to remain in the slums. It’s fascinating, that a family would rather live in a cramped room, in a dark narrow alleyway with no privacy, no sanitation, than to be upgraded into an apartment without a community vibe.  The slums are divided between a Muslim and Hindu section. The Hindu section is “nicer” and more colorful than the Muslim section. This is due to religious constraints towards Muslim women, who are not allowed to work outside with men, and are limited in their roles within the slums. Many of them have lots of children, which makes living situations more difficult; I could write en entire book on slums, but I will switch to another topic that is less heavy and more uplifting.

Typical Indian Food

I am becoming obsessed with Indian food. Indian food is amazing, and quite spicy. I can’t recall the names of each kind of food I have tried, but generally Indian food is vegetarian. Flat breads, rice, spicy sauces, and yummy beverages have spoiled our taste buds immensely. I have loved every kind of food I have had here so far, and all of your senses literally light up, when eating Indian food. It’s an amazing feeling. Walking the streets is an experience within itself, when smelling the aroma of the open air cooking and blending of Indian flavors. We have walked quite a bit these last few days, touring the landscape and architecture of the city. Mumbai is a city of diversity, both ethnically and religiously. I have seen Hindu temples, mosques, synagogues, and Victorian architecture. It is important to remember that India was once colonized by Britain, and therefore many aspects of British style, can be seen throughout the city. In addition, I have noticed that when Indians speak English, they sound a bit British. Most Indians speak English.

Hindu Temple

The city of Mumbai is beautiful, despite the wealth gap and prevalence of slums. The wealth gap here is defined by modern million dollar buildings, being constructed on top of and next to slums. The Caste system can still be recognized, as higher classes separate themselves from the lower classes.  Higher classes believe that there is no need to give charity to the lower classes because of the concept of Karma. Karma means that your current life situation is determined by your past life, and one must work hard for a better life in the future. Being born into a higher class, means there is no need to worry about the lower classes and there is a feeling of entitlement.  In modern India, the separation of castes is more of a result of the importance of belonging to a community where everyone is the same. There are so many different kinds of communities, here, each with their own traditions, and values. The beautiful thing I have seen here within the varying communities is the common importance of community and family.

Mumbai Skyline

I am so impressed and inspired by the Jewish community here. While the community here is small and dispersed, there is still a strong commitment to bringing Jews together. The Jewish Community Center of Mumbai, has Hebrew school, Adult education classes, holiday celebrations, youth camps, and social gatherings just like any other JCC in the world. This is all thanks to American Joint Distribution Committee, which strives to sustain Global Jewish life by providing funding and aid to Jewish communities worldwide. Most of the Indian Jewish community in India has made Aliyah to Israel. But those who are still here are actively engaged in Jewish life ranging from Tikkun Olam, to attending Shabbat services, and spending time at the JCC.  This past weekend, we attended services at a Baghdadi Synagogue and had dinner at Chabad which was very interesting. I recognized some of the prayers but most were orthodox style. The Shul was absolutely stunning. Having Shabbat dinner at Chabad with Jews from all over the world was rather comforting, many of whom were Israelis. I would have never imagined there being a Jewish community in India, and I am very impressed and inspired by their initiatives in helping to sustain Jewish life here in Mumbai.

Jewish Community Center of Mumbai

 

 

We had the privilege of volunteering with GPM volunteers, all of whom are Jewish youth. We helped to teach children from the slums, the importance of eating healthy fruits and the health benefits associated with the fruits. In addition, we played games with them in a beautiful park by the sea. These children have never seen an ocean before, and were amazed and excited over things as simple as an airplane, and, helicopter. It was moving to me, to watch these children so eager to learn the English language and to be engaged with us foreigners. There is a high level of respect and admiration for foreigners here, and Indians have honestly been some of the most genuine people I have ever met. Their passion for education, and their hospitality, has impressed me so much. Following the volunteer session, we headed over to the JCC to learn some Bollywood dancing. Bollywood dancing is so much fun. We absolutely loved, it, and let me tell you, we worked up a sweat. I guess I will end this blog here, by saying that this experience has already been very eye opening, and life changing for me.  The people, the culture, the land of India, have already found a special place in my heart, and I can’t wait to see what the next 2 months will bring. Shalom for now.

 

Teaching the children about healthy fruits


 

The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent the positions, strategies, or opinions of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.