We decided to book up 2 tours during our stay here, the Dharavi Slum Tour and the Bike Tour. 80% of all the money collected from the tours goes directly to the Reality Gives foundation, so we were happy to sign up. The foundation has provided children in the slum an NGO-funded school, English language learning classes, sports activities such as girl's soccer and boy's cricket, skills training for older students who dropped out (they can at 14 to work), a pre-school that has teachers who are from Drahavi and trained to teach, and various other programs to better the citizens of the slum. To learn more about this foundation, check our their webpage.. The people who run it are so passionate about their work, and they are doing some really great things.
http://realitytoursandtravel.com
The Slum Tour began at 10:30, so we hopped in a cab and went across town to the train station that is on the perimeter of the slum. I really did not know what to expect... I had seen Slumdog Millionaire a while back, and this particular slum was where the movie was set. I had anticipated seeing lots of blue tarps and oil drums, with people walking around shoeless.. because that's what we see in the media. When we entered the Slum, it was very chaotic, with people (mostly men) going about their morning business. Our guide informed there are 2 parts to the slum.. the industrial area and the residential area. First we would walk through the industrial, and then head to where the people live... Who knew they had an industry? What could they possibly make in a slum, you ask?
Well, I had the same questions going through my mind. I thought these people were just homeless and had nowhere to go, so the slum was their home. Boy was I wrong. For some, the citizens of Dharavi had been there for generations.. The slum itself was dates back to the 1700s, when Koli fisherman inhabited the swampland. Then in the 1800s when India was under colonial British rule, and the natives were segregated and basically driven into the area and called it home. Later, after India received independence from Britian, the land was used as a dumping ground for waste. Now, almost 60% of the population of Bombay live in slums, Dharavi being the largest at around 2,000 people per acre.. And the slum now spreads over 500 acres. It's like a city within a city.
We entered the industrial area of the slum and I had to watch my step as trash and puddles dotted the path. Many migrant workers live in the industrial area, and since they only have running water from 6-9 AM, many men were finishing up their morning wash outside their places of work, so the dirt path was pretty muddy. We were dodging people walking around, pushing carts, carrying loads on their heads, and walking single file to our first stop, the plastic recycling facility.
The workers in the plastic recycling facility had created a full blown process to gather, sort, break, file down, melt, and create new plastic products. They had created machines within the slum to chop up the plastic materials into small pellets to be used to create items such as plastic chairs. We walked through the "plastic factory" and saw each step of the process in full swing. We even got a birds eye view when we climbed up a ladder to the top of a factory buiding (a 2 story shack with a reinforced corregated metal roof) and saw piles of yellow, blue, white, and green plastic stacked and sorted ready to be crushed up and made anew. It was mindblowing to think that these people created a process to take things that could be found all over the city and make new items to sell within the market of the slum and to other areas. Bombay has no public trash cans (from what I can tell, at least) so finding plastic items would be an easy task. Not only are these workers picking up waste, they are using it to create job and products. But, it's not a "factory" when you think of the Western concept of a factory.. the working conditions are pretty unsafe, and I did not really see anyone wearing any kind of safety gear, or shoes for that matter. It's not an ideal working environment, but it gives these citizens of the slum a purpose and a skill.
After the plastic recycling factory, we headed to the metal recycling area. Now this is where things get dangerous.. They find aluminum products, put them in a furnace to melt, and then create new materials from the recycled materials. I literally could not breathe, because of the toxic fumes created in this process.. Our guide told us that the average life expectancy of someone working in these conditions is around 42.. I can see how.. They do not wear masks, nor is the air filtered through some kind of exhaust pipe..they just breathe in toxic fumes day in and day out.. It's no wonder they don't live long, especially when they are living among trash and squalor.
There is also a leather factory within the industrial area. Workers use every part of the animal in Dharavi.. They remove the skins and fur, salt the skins in a room and then send them off further south to to the tannery. Then, the leather returns to Dharavi, where workers make purses, wallets, belts, etc. that are sold all around Bombay. It was not nice for me to see this process, but it was interesting nonetheless. I just could not get over how hard these people work, for basically couple of dollars a day. They really have dedication to provide for their families, in the hardest of conditions.
There were also people who worked in textiles, and I saw lots of men hard at work on sewing machines, making shirts and other items. There were vegetable vendors, people giving law advice, hardware stalls, meat markets, and a number of other merchants down at the main market. Women in the Hindu section were busy making jewelry, pappadums, pottery, and other crafts. The women in the Muslim section were confined to their homes and raising children, as that is part of their beliefs. Or guide told us that often in the afternoon, when the men came home from their job, you could often see the Muslim women out and about.
We walked through the lively industrial area and market, and then made our way to the residential area. On the way, we saw the "playground" where the Dharavi children play...It was an open area, with layers upon layers of trash. The smell walking past was almost unbearable.. I do not want to think about what kinds of things these children step on as they play, or the vermin that live nearby. The alleyways we walked through were so narrow, and you had to watch your step to ensure you don't step into the open drainage system. Luckily, I only saw soap bubbles drifting down, but I don't want to know what that system looks like during monsoon season.
The residential area houses a public shared bathrooms for all the residents, both in the Hindu and Muslim sections.. I did not go inside, but from what I have seen of typical "washrooms" here in India, it is probably a hole in the ground. We were advised to find a restroom in the cafe across the street before the tour began, so I am sure the conditions in there were pretty dirty. I could not imagine having to get up, walk across the village and use a hole in the ground every day to do my business.
The homes themselves were very small, and the people take pride in them. We actually got to look inside as we walked through, and some of the residents even had cable TV. I am guessing the exposed wires we had to duck under while waking through the alleys provided electricity and cable.. Or maybe they had a satellite dish? The homes were also clean, as Muslims and Hindu alike both revere cleanliness in the home as a top priority. I just could not imagine squeezing 6 or more people into a home the size of a kitchen.. The small one room homes are used as a living, sleeping, eating, and recreation area..I would get cabin fever for sure.
It was interesting though, to see a few 3 story homes within Dharavi. The Hindu section is older than the Muslim, so there seemed to be more space there and a few larger homes. Our guide explained that even in the slum, there is inequality between the people and that you could find a larger home next to a tiny shack. Kind of like outside the slum, where you have a big fancy high rise next to someone living under a blue tarp.
I could explain everything I saw here in this post, but it would be more like a book. The 2.5 hour tour through this area made a huge impression on me.. Mostly because these people endure so much hardship, and their work ethic and sense of community is inspiring. Here is an article from the Daily Mail featuring a video created by Reality Tours to give a visual of what Dharavi looks like.
My next post will entail the bike tour adventure.. It was awesome and exhausting at the same time! Bombay you are one crazy crazy place.. But so far I love it.
*** Our bike tour guide informed us yesterday that only illiterate people call Bombay "Mumbai". So from this point on, I will use the pre-1993 name, Bombay.
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