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| Rag
Time |
By
Amit Chandra |
| An Indian American
amidst the rag picking children of Mumbai. |
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They say
that the summer after the first year
of medical school is the last real summer
vacation of your life. That seems like
a lot of pressure!
Should
I work in a laboratory to gain research
experience? Should I relax on the beach,
relishing every last moment of freedom?
As an
Indian American with an interest in
international health, I settled on a
third option of my own making: working
with a medical aid NGO based in Mumbai,
India.
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Mumbai
has a population of 10 million people,
of whom over half live in slums. I decided
to work on a project undertaken by Niramaya
Health Foundation and Pratham called Project
Reach Out, which targets child laborers
in Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum,
and Baiganwadi, the site of Mumbai’s
municipal garbage dump, which extends
as far as the eye can see a short walk
away from the Niramaya clinic.
These so called “rag-pickers”
walk barefoot through mounds of trash
and sift through them looking for recyclable
materials, such as plastic and metal.
They earn anywhere from 50 cents to $1.50
per day, but every moment they spend on
the site they risk exposure to dangerous
bacterial and fungal diseases, cuts from
jagged shards of metal and glass, and
a variety of other injuries.
I have visited India many times as a
tourist, engaging in the typical NRI activities
of shopping and visiting relatives in
equal proportions, and I have even worked
as a summer intern for three months in
New Delhi. None of these experiences however,
prepared me for my first visits to Mumbai’s
slums.
Just a short walk away from the Sion
railway station, Dharavi is a sprawling
settlement of two storied buildings located
in Northwest Mumbai. Along the main road,
small-scale industries supply the entire
city with textiles and miscellaneous machine
parts. Deeper into the slum, organized
along a labyrinth of alleyways, live the
people who supply much of the city’s
low cost labor.
Water, sewage, and runoff from decaying
and dying facilities all mix to create
a milky-white stream that flows down small
canals cut down the center of these walkways.
Within this residential maze are the karkhanas,
hidden factories located above the street
level and accessible only via steep staircases.
The children working in these factories,
aged 7 to 14, are sent to Mumbai by their
parents in exchange for cash from the
factory owners and the promise of a better
life in the city. They work 12-hour days
in unhygienic, poorly ventilated conditions,
for daily wages as low as 12 cents (though
a fully trained embroiderer can earn more
than $1 daily).
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The lucky
ones are fed relatively well, given numerous
breaks and a day to themselves on Sundays.
The unlucky ones are tortured when their
work slows down, addicted to tobacco products
that are forced upon them, and fed only
one serving of rice each day. Seeing children
so young working in such difficult conditions,
I couldn’t help but think, “I
can’t believe more people aren’t
talking about the horrible situation these
kids face.”
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Perhaps
that’s why their problems have been
largely ignored by the government and most
development organizations. Despite my clinical
experiences as an American medical student,
the children’s problems shocked me.
They are regularly
treated for conditions such as intestinal
worms, anemia, malnutrition, leprosy, and
scabies, a painful skin infection caused
by mites that burrow deep into the children’s
skin. Though some of these diseases are
also present in America, they rarely progress
to the severity of the cases I saw in the
clinic since most Americans have at least
some minimal access to a primary healthcare
facility.
This neglect was
also evident in other ways. When I tried
to talk to the children in the factories,
their responses were universally brief and
nervous, as they knew they were under the
watchful eyes of the factory-owner. Even
when they visited the clinic alone, I felt
that they lacked the spirit I usually identify
with kids their age. Perhaps that mixture
of innocence and mischief had been sacrificed
to allow them to survive their harrowing
daily experience. This loss was always evident
to me while I looked into their eyes, while
I watched them drift in and out of the clinic,
and while I sat helplessly wondering what
could be done to make life better for them.
I thought that maybe I would feel better
after helping to care for at least one child,
but realizing that he was leaving the clinic
to return to his life in the factory took
away any satisfaction I might otherwise
have.
Much has been said
of the apathy of Indians (both in India
and settled abroad) when it comes to addressing
India’s incredible disparities. India
has world-class private hospitals, for example,
yet most people lack access to the most
basic medical services. Perhaps people feel
overwhelmed by the scale of the problem;
over six million people in Mumbai live in
slums.
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Perhaps
they feel that the situation in the slums
doesn’t really affect their daily
lives. But the slums are an integral part
of the city itself, affecting the labor
system, manufacturing, and health profile
of Mumbai. Despite the many changes India
has gone through over the last decade
of economic liberalization, the poor continue
struggle for the most basic necessities.
The residents
of Mumbai’s slums and the rural
farmers who send their children to work
in the garbage dumps all want the same
things every parent wants. They want their
kids to be healthy and to have an opportunity
for a better life.
Months after returning to the United States,
I still find it difficult to relate my
experiences. I’m still amazed by
the hospitality that was extended to me
in such deprived conditions. When people
ask what they can do to help, I’m
not sure what to tell them. Asking them
to simply donate money to NGO’s
operating in India doesn’t seem
to match the scale of the problem somehow.
For Indian Americans who want to help,
it is important to find organizations
that are operating with local partners.
They can
even visit the organizations in India
during their next family vacation. Ignoring
the issue of poverty in India is to accept
an illusion. Ending our acceptance of
this illusion is the first step towards
making a difference.
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End Of Article..... |
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