A Visit to Dharavi

Today I had the privilege of visiting Dharavi, the largest slum in Asia. There are about one million people living in 3 squared kilometers. There is only one bathroom for every 1,000 people, which is mainly used by the women and children. People from all over the country come to Mumbai looking for better employment and living conditions, but many end up living in the slums. In Dharavi though, instead of these poorer people just laying around waiting for someone to support them, many have taken up jobs in order to make a living for themselves. Dharavi is essentially a city within Mumbai. The small streets are lined with many working people working from small rooms and stalls. 

I learned that the people who live in Dharavi make money by recycling all of the garbage that Mumbai creates and manages to sell these materials as raw goods to factories. An example of this are the paints cans: they collect used paint cans, beat them back into shape, clear away all of the labeling and coloring on it, and then sell it back to the factories for a very small price (about 50 rupees). The same is also done for plastic, cardboard, old appliances among other things. These people collect what we would consider to be garbage, sort it, turn them into re-usable raw materials (melting and moulding) and sell it back to the factories. They give the literal meaning to "one man's trash is another man's treasure". Due to the large amount of people working and living in these slums, there are also barber's and people who sell food and other services (for example, hospitals and pharmacies).

When I first started walking down the small streets of Dharavi I felt incredibly sad for the living conditions that these people have. There are no actual streets, there is just dirt, meaning that during monsoon season there is a lot of dirty, muddy water, that can go up to your knees. Seeing as it is a slum, their own garbage is not collected and nothing is cleaned up for them. Our tour guide told us that this was the best option for the people with little schooling and no skills though. Most of the people working in Dharavi were working arduously every day of the week in order to put their children through school so that they do not have to go through the same experiences. After learning this I looked at all these men and women, not as poor unfortunate people, but rather hard working entrepreneurial people trying to change the opportunities for their family. This definitely made me feel a lot more respect for the residents of Dharavi. Going into the slums was a fascinating experience, one that will not be easy to top in my life. 

Emalisa xo

Part of Dharavi is along the train tracks.

The blue covers over the structures and cars are to protect them from the monsoon rains.

An ironic "Welcome" sign painted onto the aluminum sheets. Being international, I don't think we were as welcome; we were being followed and laughed at.  

Rather than a toothbrush and toothpaste, the locals in Dharavi chew on these plants to clean their teeth. Our tour guides told us that none of the children ever get cavities because of this.

This man fixes what ever is wrong with your umbrella. He just waits along the street for potential customers.

Right beside him, there was another man doing the same thing. I guess during this monsoon season, there is enough demand for competition to be a few feet apart. 

Because of Ramadan, most stalls sold fruit. I found it interesting how they cut up the pineapples. I had never seen this before.

Deeper into Dharavi, there were various tasks being done. These are tailors, embroidering pieces of material. I believe all of the materials was recycled.

Here they recycle the aluminum that is used to scrub pans, and turn them into aluminum bars that they then sell back to factories as raw materials.

The men and women working in these slums work very hard to be able to send their children to good schools. These two girls were just coming back from school.

These men we beating recycled paint cans into shape and removing all the labeling from the exterior. 

There was a goat casually hanging out in the slums! And he was so friendly! I love goats so much; it was incredibly difficult resisting the temptation to run out and hug him, haha. 

During our tour we were actually very lucky not to experience the rain, but towards the end it suddenly began raining! Everyone knew we were tourists because we immediately started reaching for our rain coats and umbrella's as soon as a little rain started to fall! 

Please disregard what I previously said about the traffic not being all that bad in Mumbai. Clearly I did not know what I was saying...it is horrific.

The trash in Dharavi is everywhere, bringing animals like birds and dogs around these areas.

Even the bakeries recycle in Dharavi. This bakery uses a wood-fired oven, and so they collect furniture that people throw away, and re-use the wood to make bread.