Visit to Dharavi

For those of you who don't know, Dharavi is the largest slum in all of Asia, and it is a 10 minute rickshaw ride away from our apartment.

A little background: the land was originally a marsh. Builders threw their construction waste into the marsh, eventually making it solid enough for people to start living on top (this is as far back as the late 1800's). Now, over 1 million people reside in the 1.7 square kilometer area. The land is actually quite valuable (situated between the highest priced living neighborhood and the highest priced commercial area in Mumbai).

There is an NGO that runs tours through Dharavi. Their hope is to dispel the negative connotation that people have of a "slum". There are legal and illegal slums. Dharavi is a legal slum, where the land is owned by the government, rented by the people.

There is a surprising number of industry, mostly involving recycling (plastics, leather, aluminum, paint cans, cooking oil cans), but also in textiles (luggage, clothes, pottery). There are a couple schools, mosques, churches, temples, even a bakery. They have running water, and even some of the higher end apartments have AC and satellite TV.

They stress the focus on community and peace. It is one of the safest places in Mumbai. If the community finds out you are a criminal in anyway, you would get forced out. The people are very proud to be from Dharavi, and love their community very much.

As we walked through, many of the children were super excited to say hello or practice their English with us. One teenage girl even had our friend Twyla hold a baby. In that same group, a younger girl insisted I share her bag of cheetos (how did she know I love those?) An older woman came up to us, with her hands in the prayer position, touched her chin and forehead and bowed. It was clear this is a loving community.

And yet, walking around, there was plenty to make you not want to drop everything and move in. It was extremely dirty. Open sewers, dead pieces of rats, standing water, trash, chemicals. Most of the living areas are so crammed, walking through the extremely narrow alleyways is dark and wet. Some of the industry there is not exactly health or environmentally friendly (melting down aluminum and plastic, the workers don't wear masks or protective gear and the fumes flow right into the air). The chemicals and waste flow right into the river (the smell is indescribable) which flows out to the ocean (no wonder there is a 7 mile dead zone around Mumbai).

There is talk of demolishing Dharavi, clean up the area, build high rises for the residents. What's the right answer? The living conditions are tough. And yet, the people are happy, hardworking, and love their community. The industry there employs thousands of people. Those exact living conditions have created that special shared human experience. And that would be a tragedy if lost.

Picture taking is not allowed, but, if you really want to see the ins and outs of Dharavi, our friends Matt and Drew shared with us a documentary called "Slumming It" by Kevin McCloud. It does a much better job of showing the extremes of this place. There really is no good way to write about it, but, I hope I've shared a little of it with you.

Rachel