Slums in Mumbai

Mumbai is one of the great cities of the world. As a world class commercial and financial centre, with great and historic architecture and many facilities for tourism, it a city of which India is rightly proud. But there is a deeply tragic side to Mumbai also. Its vibrancy and wealth attracts millions from the countryside onto this crowded island and the social facilities are incapable of handling such numbers. As a result there is vast and almost imaginable poverty for those who are unable to take hold of the opportunities.

The Swarga Dwar (which means “a Gateway to Heaven”) Ashram is dedicated to making a difference for some of these people, in particular those suffering from leprosy, and giving opportunities to many local women who have been expelled from their families as a result of contracting Aids.

The Swarga Dwar Ashram lies to the east of Mumbai on the old Pune-Mumbai highway. It has a plot set aside for the building of the hospice. Carers will be trained in modern medical techniques and standards and will be drawn from local women who have been rejected from their families. The patients will be sufferers who have been left to die on the streets. At the moment some of these take up offers to die in yards on “beds” of cardboard. After death, their organs are often sold by those offering this minor solace.

The ashram already cares for lepers who are not yet in this state. Leprosy kills the nerves leaving sufferers with no sensations in the extremities, therefore not feeling knocks or pain so the flesh gets damaged, the fingers and toes or even whole limbs drop off. The face is affected, especially the ears and nose. Other physical problems arise and an ongoing problem is the ulcers that form due to lack of sensation. Leprosy is totally curable and treatable with antibiotics but due to poverty and ignorance, the disease has been left to run riot in these individuals.

If you want more information on slums in Mumbai visit the following websites:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/05/dharavi-mumbai-slum/jacobson-text

http://www.macalester.edu/courses/GEOG61/espencer/slums.html

http://business.rediff.com/report/2009/sep/04/every-second-person-in-mumbai-lives-in-a-slum.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/world/06/dharavi_slum/html/dharavi_slum_intro.stm

http://www.ourplanet.com/imgversn/144/sharma.html

These photographs were taken recently on behalf of SlumAid by Lynda Laird.