The Mumbai Slums

Shocked and awed. We're shocked at what we saw, and awed by the resilience and fortitude of the people there.

Fran's comment was "I'm embarrassed about anything I've ever complained about in my life."

We went into the Dharavi slum in Mumbai today. There is a "no photos" policy, and I didn't take my camera.  The pictures shown here are from the National Geographic as well as other sites on the web. We had a superb guide, and he answered candidly every one of the dozens of questions we asked.

Covering 1.75 sq. km., it's about the size of our neighborhood (which is perhaps 250 houses). 1.1 million people live there. Think of the size of your house and lot: here 18,000 people live on one single acre (and no building is taller than 3 stories). There are several hundred thousand jobs, and a $600+ million economy in a little more than one square mile.

This is only one of some 2,000 slums in Mumbai. (That's not a typo; there's one across the street from The Four Seasons Hotel, 25 metres from their driveway). A "slum" here is a place where the government owns the land and the people are allowed to rent (or simply live in) some structure on it. It does not have the same connotation we might think - here it's simply a place with few services, but a less expensive place to live and work very hard. Only 36 slums are "legitimate," including this one, meaning the government provides electricity and running water (for 3 hours a day) and collects trash once a month. Only 1% of the people have a bathroom in their residence; there are public toilets (1 for every 1,500 people; not a typo), but they must bring their own water. And the guide explained that conditions in the other 99% (not legitimate) of the slums are much worse.

Most people here are migrants from elsewhere in India who come here from rural areas to make more money. At $4 to $5 per day (more than some places we saw in the North), that's not encouraging. And the people who own the businesses and pay the workers peanuts live elsewhere off the rich profits these businesses make.

We toured parts of the industrial, commercial, and residential areas. We saw recycling industries (plastics, cardboard, cooking oil cans), garment making, leather making, pottery making, and a host of other industries. We saw purses (and the raw skins from which they start) that will be labeled "Versace" or "Gucci" and sell for $250+ in London or New York or Tokyo. You could buy them here, as soon as they're made, for $20. We saw a neighborhood grocery store that was no larger than our laundry room.

It's 90 degrees here, and close to 100% humidity (thank goodness it's almost winter - it's 115 degrees in the summer). Nothing ever seems to dry. But these places go far beyond any concept I ever had of a "sweatshop." Rows of workers sat in individual spaces smaller than 16 sq. ft. I'm no labor expert, but I could easily recognize a dozen hazardous risk factors, including especially the air they breathed, in every workspace.

Child labor laws here require that employees be at least 14. We saw some that surely weren't, but not a lot (there might be thousands we didn't see), and they looked at least 12 and were not doing physically strenuous work. Everywhere, almost the only workers we saw were men.

In the residential area, we went through (“streets”) alleyways that are no more than 15" wide. Stairways to 2nd and 3rd floor dwellings go up at 70 degree angles, through 20” openings, people come down them backwards. Everything, everywhere, is wet (it hasn't rained in weeks). The living conditions are . . . appalling. From 3 to 8 people living in 400 - 900 sq. ft. rooms. Many migrant workers sleep on the floor in their workplace.

There may be water in one corner to cook and wash. Toilet facilities are outside, somewhere, especially in the public toilets. Many women, in particular, work inside the home, caring for the family and sometimes doing some kind of commercial work, but they are also "prisoners of the daylight," and wait eagerly for the darkness for personal functions.

Health conditions, in general, are deplorable, and polio and TB still exist in these areas. Remarkably, most children are born in a hospital, and the public hospitals, for all their faults, will treat everybody.

The population in the slum is about 50% Muslim, 40% Hindu, and 10% Christian. There are Muslim, Hindu, Christian, other private, and public schools. The Muslim school we saw teaches everybody who pays admission fees, including girls. It addresses all subjects, not just memorizing the Koran, and there's one teacher (often female) for each 10 students. The kids (there are a LOT of kids!) appeared bright, eager, and enthusiastic.

Indeed, almost everyone did. This is simply a way of life. Many people came a long way to live and work here, and hope someday to bring their families here, sometimes for generations. We sensed little or no resignation, discouragement, or hopelessness, and surely no sense of entitlement. This is life, and people simply accept it with determination, every single day, and proceed to make the best they can of it.

We left, overwhelmed by the poverty and appalled by the living conditions; but incredibly impressed with the resilience of the people who live there.

For more info:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/05/dharavi-mumbai-slum/jacobson-text
(click on Photo Gallery)