back to school
today is monday, june 26. A week has passed and i’ve grown amazingly comfortable in my summer surroundings. Mumbai is chaos, but it’s an expected chaos to which one increasingly grows accustomed. in a previous post, i spoke of mumbai’s comfortable heat (at night). let me now correct that statement. mumbai is an oven. at times, i feel i’m in a high pressure steamer slowly roasting to perfection. thank god for ceiling fans.
this past monday, i began to work with a team to help an educational non-profit, door step school (dss), assess its business and determine whether a market and financial resources exist for expansion. after short introductions, we journeyed to ward A (colaba) to visit one of the more permanent tenaments in south mumbai. based on my conversations with dss staff, tenements generally evolve from informal housing situations. ramshakle settlements form and, over time, as they become more established and permanent, will begin to receive water and sanitation services from the government. this process usually takes many years. these communities have few political resources, severely limited financial means, and no to very low educational attainment. it is an understatement to say that the government is slow to respond to their needs.
door step school sees education as the key to economic and social mobility. they seek to serve any and all children outside of the formal education system. most of these kids live in informal housing situations in slums, tenements or on the streets. they begin work at a very young age (5 or 6) to supplement family income. parents, who never attended school themselves, are reluctant to lose this vital income stream by sending their children to school. i’ve heard staff say that poverty is cyclical, that kids who cannot go to school follow in the economic footsteps of their parents. the process then begins again…
door step school works within these communities to establish balwadis (pre-school), primary education classes, and study sessions with the sole goal of transitioning children into the formal education system. while the formal education system may not be much better than the one dss provides (anyone who can goes to private schools), it is vital that kids receive the status/credential that accompanies a formal education in india. this alone will open many doors.
we took a cab to tenements in south colaba to tour some of dss’ classes. as we abruptly came to a stop, i looked out the window and saw somewhat run-down, one to two story storefronts. we hopped out of the cab and walked down a stony path away from the main road. after a few turns, we were immediately within a concrete maze of pathways, each about a meter wide, surrounded by two to three story walls created by the uneven construction of dwellings. to the left and the right of the path were one room homes and the occasional store. women walked by, carrying water jugs on their head. men performed random work, building or repairing structures. kids briskly strode past, helping with chores. skinny cats milled about.
dss classrooms were randomly dispersed throughout this maze, smiling kids learning hindi in the rooms. they were fully engaged and often received individualized attention from the teachers. we sat in on a few of the lessons, removing our shoes before entering. i remember feeling impressed, somewhat amazed that such focused classes were weaved within these tenements. there was organization (not resignation) within the tenements – a sense of community. physical conditions were lacking, but people were doing, being, living, and hopefully progressing, accumulating, becoming better, faster, smarter.
as we left after seeing a computer lab (!!) and more classrooms, my thoughts drifted. i had experienced a bit of a shock. while not inconceivable to me in theory, it was hard for me to digest how people were actually living in practice. i’m sure people in less permanent living situations (without water or sanitation) live much worse. still, i felt uncomfortable in this environment, like an intruder. this discomfort was not so much physical, but moral. i thought about the unacceptable chasm between our abilities and actions. i thought about vegas and disposable income, professionals and exorbitant salaries, our (my) consuming and insulating focus on self. damn, money is a trip. just think if we could carve half a percent off of gambling in vegas. i’m not talking taxes, just a conscious shifting of resources, an investment with sustainable social return in mind.
I imagine some of these thoughts may (!!) seem pompous, ethnocentric, and arrogant in reference to the people I intend to help. for this, i apologize in advance. i am grateful to have had the opportunity to visit these tenements and will not soon forget what i saw there.