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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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