Another day in the life of a volunteer

Today was an exciting day for the Foundation as we opened another site from which to do more great work. (New readers: I volunteer for a charity that will remain nameless for now but educates and treats women and children suffering from malnutrition, read more here... http://bombayjules.blogspot.in/2012/07/if-food-be-music-of-lifeeat-on.html). This new 'clinic' is close to the two existing clinics, in the drying area ("Sukhawni") of Dhobi Ghat - the largest outdoor laundry in the world.

Dhobi Ghat drying area - "Sukhawni"

So this morning, I traipsed with my colleagues through muddy groundwater and down a few alleyways to get where we were going (note to self, buy some plastic shoes, do not wear your shiny silver ballet pumps when you visit sites).  When we got there, there were already loads of staff, volunteers, friends and members of the community awaiting the grand opening.  Everybody was cramped into a small area with local people trying to go about their daily business, squeezing past us the whole time with bundles of laundry.  I am sure most of those around us must have wondered what on earth was going on, especially as half the crew had 'white' faces and were carrying huge cameras.



Some of us may have had designer handbags, but someone living here has a designer dog!

The new "site" - where people from the community will be able to visit the Foundation's doctors, nurses, nutritionists and social workers - is actually just one room that is about 12 square feet.  So therefore probably about a third of the size of your sitting room (for most of you back home reading this).  In fact they were lucky to get this room at all - in a city where space is at a premium and people are living on the pavements with no cover over their heads, this 12 ft square box could be a home for a family of eight.  But instead the community has turned it over to the Foundation (for a small rent) because they have heard of the work it does in improving the lives of so many and helping children to reach their full potential.  Seriously...lives will be vastly improved, if not saved, from this box. 

After managing to cram the whole crew into the alleyway, the ribbon across the door was snipped, the coconut was smashed and everybody attempted to get into the tiny room, leaving their shoes at the doorway (20 Indians, 2 Brits, 1 Canadian and 2 Americans). Mithai (sweets) were handed around and there was a lot of a laughter. (There always is in India, no matter what).  A great day for the Foundation.

I ended up taking so many photos of the amazing kids that came to see what was going on, so there are loads of pictures here.  Thanks for looking.

Waiting for the main event - this little girl has got her Sunday best on

I just thought this girl was so beautiful!  probably 14 or 15, sitting on the floor sorting out laundry

Everything has a use - this old rice sack used as a roof covering

The scissors that would be later used for cutting the ribbon for the opening ceremony.  Beautiful "Mehendi" hands

There's that beautiful girl again.  So photogenic...

A very grumpy looking community activist.  She's the one responsible for helping to get the third site open.

The cocunut that would later be smashed at the opening ceremony

Two proud schoolgirls enlisted to hold the ribbon for the opening ceremony

Love this cheeky looking fella!

The crowd trying to squeeze into the alley outside the new site just before the cutting of the ribbon

The ribbon cut! (didn't manage to get a good photo of that).  Everyone is smiling.

So funny - this little girl wearing shades - she looks like a Bollywood star being papped!

Everyone inside, everyone's shoes outside

How many people can you squeeze into a 12 sq ft room?  Oh, about 25!

One smashed coconut

Handing out of mithai (sweets) to celebrate (where's the champagne darling?)

These are the people living above the room.

A view of the street on the walk back - see all the ladders leading to the homes above homes (also note the satellite dishes!)

They wanted me to take their photo...little rascals!

Another day...Another Slum!

Actually this is not really a post about a slum, rather what I get up to on a daily basis and why I visited a slum area today.  I am sure a few people are wondering what this 'volunteering work' is that I do.  In fact, I am not supposed to talk about the NGO (Non Government Organisation) that I am working for on my current three month agreement so I will not.  Instead I will talk about an amazing experience I had today that was associated with what I am doing.

In short, I work for a Foundation that promotes the importance of good health and nutrition to impoverished mothers and children in a particular slum in Mumbai.  I am working on various projects and surveys.   When I was placed with the Foundation, I envisaged working in a back office somewhere, plugging away at figures and telling people to pull their fingers out and raise more money.  However, it hasn't quite worked out like that.  I am operating at 'shop floor' level much more than was envisaged and this has involved getting down and dirty in the community to see what is going on.  And it's been fascinating.

So today we were invited (as representatives of our organisation) to Jari Mari slum in Andheri to visit another NGO operation which is concerned with empowering girls by teaching them English and teaching them important life skills that will enable them to become mobile (ie give them the power to reach beyond their current situations). This was with the intention of swapping some ideas and skills with my NGO - by exchanging classes on nutrition for information on their community programmes.

My colleague and I were allowed to sit in on one of the life classes which was specifically about 'what it means to be Indian'.  My colleague introduced herself and the big scary lady from England and then each in turn, these adorable girls introduced themselves back, in English.  It was amazing when you bear in mind that these girls have come from utterly impoverished and degrading living conditions and have been educated by this incredible charity, via these community based classes, to articulate themselves so well to outsiders.  Out of the fourteen or so girls, only three were married, only two had children (a remarkable statistic in itself I think), one wanted to be a Bank Manager, one wanted to be a Fashion Designer and several wanted to be teachers.  I honestly felt quite emotional when they were expressing such aspirations! 

After the class (much of which was conducted in Marathi), my colleague pointed out that we were very impressed by their language skills and I also said thank you so much for welcoming me - they all waved and said goodbye in English and I left feeling very uplifted and inspired with ideas for my project (anyone who knows cynical me knows this is a fairly rare occurrence!)

Note I have not gone on about the conditions of just getting to the slum or the slum area itself but from the pictures you will see the kind of place I am talking about.  Very little facilities but a good enough room to get a sizeable group of people together who could learn and expand - all I saw (as usual) were smiles and laughter.  And I had a very nice cup of chai!

The entrance to the slum (thankfully the driver dropped us off and collected us later!)

The entrance to the community centre where the classes are held.  From my short experience in Mumbai I can tell you that these are fairly normal working and learning conditions for NGOs!

But once inside, there is a great atmosphere with lots of chattering and lots of laughing amongst the girls

The girl second from the right is the one who aspires to become a bank manager and the girl in the middle is the one who would like to be a fashion designer.  I came away believing that they have the determination to succeed!

The one mother who brought their child to the class.  He was so beautifully behaved (although our host was distressed that he was being given junk food to eat...our classes on good nutrition are definitely need here!)

Notebooks and pens to the ready

Above and below: Evidence of the English lessons held in the same room. Note the "I want to become a teacher" - so many of these girls are themselves inspired to go and teach the same methods to others.

A snatched photo outside the classroom - it always amazes me the amount of fabulous fresh vegetables that are available everwhere in this city!

See : Today I Slummed It

I did it.  I did a tour of the biggest slum in Asia, Dharavi.

Mahim station in the heart of Mumbai is where I met the rest of the tour group and the tour guide from marvellous Reality Tours & Travel. Prior to my arrival I made sure I was well prepared for a very long walk (being the start of the monsoon season), with covered waterproof shoes - (I knew I would freak out if I got 'ick' on my feet), a long anorak and a big bottle of water. It was going to be a long one.

Reality Tours and Travel, provides educational and fun tours in and around Mumbai and 80% of the profits after taxes from these tours go towards funding the work of Reality Gives(sister NGO).  You may think that it is voyeuristic to do a tour of a slum but by doing it this way, you get to see what really goes on in an organised and safe way whilst financially contributing to the community.  We were not allowed to take pictures once inside the slum in order to preserve the dignity of the inhabitants but I did take the two below just before we went in.  The first is of Ganesh, our enthusiastic and interesting guide and the second is a view of the entrance to the slum from the footbridge just down from Mahim station.



Ganesh, our Guide from Reality Tours & Travel




View of one of the entrances into Dharavi.

Dharavi of course was made famous by the film Slumdog Millionaire but what a lot of people do not know is that it generates $665 million turnover every year, mostly created by huge recycling activities, leather making and food production.  Over a million people are packed into 1.75 square kilometers of land and many of its inhabitants are educated enough to work for multi-nationals companies.  In fact I was surprised to learn that many of the original slum-dwellers actually rent out rooms in the slums once they are able to get out!! In a city where rent is sky high, some of the dwellings can achieve 1,500-2,000 rupees a month (£20-30).

The main emphasis of the tour was to show us how self supporting the slum is and that everybody is working hard to better their lives and the lives of their children.

We wound through tiny alleyways, up ladders and through rubbish dumps to see daily life.  From a roof top we could see the amount of recycling materials that are brought from all over Mumbai, as well as other parts of the world such as the USA and China.  Items such as fridge interiors, plugs & sockets, old phone handsets, plastic toys, paint tins and oil cans wind up here. The plastic items are all processed in machinery mostly made in the slum itself and comes out as tiny pellets that can be later melted and moulded into any plastic object you want.  We saw a massive warehouse full of huge vegetable oil tins that would be cleaned in boiling vats of water for reuse later and aluminium items that are re-processed in large grossly hot furnaces with deadly aluminium dust flying around and no type of breathing protection for the men tending them. The health and safety aspect of this tour will leave you speechless when you see what kind of conditions these people have to work in when it is already so hot and humid outside to begin with.  There are no gloves, no eye protection, no overalls, no NOTHING!

We also saw ladies making poppadoms (papads). Ganesh explained to us that someone came up with this idea to empower women in the community and give them a way of generating income for themselves.  They are given large bags of special dough and they spend the day rolling it out into thin discs and them drying them on huge upturned baskets in the baking sun.  These are then collected up by the 'poppadom dealer' who in turn sells them to large national and international companies.  Next time you eat a poppadom, perhaps you can think of where it may have come from!!  No comment on Food Hygiene either....

Nearly the most exciting moment of the tour came for me when we arrived at the leather processing area where I was told they made leather handbags....not just any old handbags but handbags for Gucci and Dior and a host of other designers.  I was nearly apoplectic with excitement with visions of being able to buy heavily discounted leather items and that my money would go to directly help this poor community!!!  Alas, we were not shown any 'samples' or anything remotely like a designer handbag. I am sure if it is true that such luxury goods are made in a vicinity that the 'Designer Police' would want to keep it well under wraps. Sigh...

Wondering through the residential areas, we got to see the tiny cubes that families of up to nine or ten sleep in.  They contain a small tub in one corner for the ladies to wash themselves (the men and children have to clean themselves outside in the alley) and nothing else.  There are no cupboards or anything that could take unnecessary space and everyone sleeps on the floor.  Most have electricity and access to water but most people have to use the government supplied latrines to go to the toilet. In India it is a well known fact that only about 30% of people have access to a toilet but yet most people (at least 60%!) have a mobile phone. It amazed me to see so many people in the slum, sitting around chatting on their cellphones, when they otherwise have next to nothing.    

Some of the units were fully equipped with televisions and satellite TV (a bit like your English Council house then) and refridgerators. The communities have access to schools, English lessons and womens' groups.  There is even a women's football team which is very popular with young students.

The children that we came across in the alleys, up ladders and in the rubbish dumps were extremely delightful. They all want to say hello and cling on to your hand.  I never once saw a child crying or without a smile on its face (except when I tried to play ball with a little toddler boy and ended up throwing it at his head by accident!).

Apart from being utterly exhausted by the Mumbai heat, I did come away from the tour with my preconceptions of what a slum should be blown out of the water (although we are told Dharavi is unique in maintaining its own economy). I would highly recommend that anyone visiting the city gives it a go. And I would also highly recommend that you use Reality Tours & Travels (Reality Gives) as the tour fees will be reinvested into the Dharavi community. 

See the link here: http://www.realitytoursandtravel.com/ 

Never missing an opportunity to buy a new bag.....

We paid 500 rupees for the 2.5 hour tour (about £6/$9.50) and there is also an opportunity to buy picture postcards, T-shirts and canvas bags at the Reality Tours office at the end of the gig. (I of course never miss an opportunity to buy a bag - which I did for 500 rupees).