The New Project

Posted in Projects on August 22nd, 2010 by admin
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Saki Naka Slum

Picture 1 of 4

This photo is taken from the main road as you enter the slum. The patch of earth above the pipeline will be transformed into clean public space.

With only a month left in Canada before flying back to Mumbai,  I have started to formulate the fist major project for DWP in the Saki Naka slum community.

DWP’s biggest project to date was the funding and completed construction of the free school and community centre in Saki Naka slum.

I have been in close contact with Ashley of Janvi Trust, the local Mumbaikar that makes DWP’s work in Saki Naka possible. The new school is already having a great impact on the community. Several new classes are offered in the new space, including free-spoken English classes taught by Vignesh of Discover Urjaa, and a new dance class that will begin soon called “Dance Saki Naka Dance”. This class will be for older children with a passion for dance and will be taught by a profesional a few times a week to give the children the attributes to become a dancer.

After completing the school, at the end of June,  BMC officers (local government office in charge of the pipeline that runs through the slum) offered DWP and Janvi unused land in the slum to continue to clean and improve the community. The first patch of land is to the left of the stairs as you descend into the slum from the main road. This land is currently useless and is covered in broken glass and garbage. During the monsoon, water flows over this area creating sanitation issues for the community. The second area of land is 100 mtrs to the right of the school. It’s a long narrow piece of land that is covered in garbage and human waste and remains unused by the community.

While the BMC and other government bodies forbid us to build any buildings on this land, they have given us permission to clean, beautify and relcaim this land for the community. DWP plans on not only cleaning these ares  but to make them useable green spaces, creating parks for the area’s children and gathering spots for the people of the community. For those of you that have not been to Mumbai, green space is hard to come by and rarely looked after. In a city of over 18 million people space is a premium. Slum dwellers live in tiny, cramped, hot  homes and the ability to get out of their small spaces and to sit in a clean, green space would greatly enhance the quality of living. It will also give the hundreds and hundreds of children a safe, clean place to play, instead of muddy, cramped laneways.

While helping the community gain useable land it will also help Janvi and DWP expand our sphere of influence throughout the community. Being a pipeline slum, the slum is approx 20 yards wide by a few kilometres long in either direction. Due to this long, narrow, shape there are many families that remain unaware of our projects and are unable to take advantage of our free services. By cleaning and using land farther away from the school, we will be able to hold medical camps and programs in other areas of the slum, bringing the community together.

This is no small project and may take months to complete but will create jobs and raise the standard of living for a few thousand people who live in and outside the slum.

Below, I’ve attached the e-mail sent to me by Ashley of Janvi Charitable Trust in Mumbai, outlining the cost/benefits of the project.  DWP’s upcoming Dinner Fundraiser will be raising money for this project and I hope to see you all there…P.S. During my last trip to Saki Naka, I taught many of the local kids how to use my camera. They love taking photos and are excited by the results. If anyone has an old digital camera you would like to donate to the kids of Saki Naka, or old prescription eyeglasses (much needed) please bring them to the August 29th Fundraiser in Victoria, at the Ambrosia Event Centre.

Ashley’s e-mail:

The land left to the stair-case: The work that will involve in it:

  1. Clearing the heaps of Garbage and Muck.
  2. Creating alternative drainage for the sewage water from the roadside shops who just leave the dirty water on the land.
  3. Leveling the land and filling it with atleast 2 feet soil.
  4. Building a small boundry wall on the periphery.
  5. Decorative Painting of the Walls etc.
  6. Plantations of Plants and Trees.
  7. Installation of Fence to prevent the plants from getting damaged.
  8. Installation of Benches.
  9. Installation of Swings and Slides.
  10. Providing a Water Tap facility and Tube-Lights.
  11. Installation of a Water Purifier to provide Pure, Safe Drinking Water.
  12. Building a small open study center at one end so the children can gather and study over there.
  13. Providing a Facility of a Free Daily News-Paper Stand for the Community.

How will the Slum Dwellers benefit from this project?

  1. Freedom from their cramped and tiny congested houses, they can relax  and rest under the spacious green cover of the Garden.
  2. Children get an opportunity to play in a clean environment and get access of using Swings and Slides.
  3. The elderly and weak have an easliy accessable space to unwind.
  4. Residents can use the newly created Garden for their small functions and meetings.
  5. A clean environment is provided to the residents, free of all the garbage and stench.
  6. Diseases and illness will get reduced. Medical expenses minimised.
  7. Creative workshops for Children, Women and Adults can be arranged for their benefits.
  8. It will help them to change their attitude for the better towards Cleanliness, Sanitation and Environment.

The estimated cost for this Project would be around 1.8 Lakhs.

The longer patch would cost less if the BMC fixes the Broken Grills and builds the broken walls. It would then cost us around One Lakh. But if BMC does not do it then it would cost us around Two Lakhs.

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Between Two Worlds…

Posted in Projects on July 27th, 2010 by admin
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Victoria B.C., Canada, July 2010

Between Two Worlds

After four months of hard work in the slums of Mumbai, India, I have arrived home, slightly tired, but very excited about re-connecting with family and friends and raising funds and awareness for DWP. The toughest part of being back at home is trying to explain how my trip was and how to sum up months of work in a slum in India. India is tough to describe for anyone.  Indian friends describe it best when they tell me, “anything you say about India, the opposite is equally true.” Or, “we live in a country of extreme contradictions”.

That  is how my trip was.  Confusing, amazing, frustrating, stressful, enlightening, sad and happy! DWP puts me in some very interesting and difficult situations, ones that I don’t always feel I belong in. But, I’m a human being and that is what this type of work demands. It’s about creating relationships with people and actually caring. Knocking down the walls of formality and listening to what people need. I know I will not always be in a position to help, but there is a lot to be said for just being interested in another human being’s struggle. DWP is a crazy adventure with no definitive direction other than to help people less fortunate than myself.

I run DWP in India, not like an organization, but as a person just trying to help. I have faced criticism for not going bigger and being more structured like other charitable organizations, but this is exactly why DWP works. One of my greatest accomplishments is that 90% of the people DWP helps in India have no idea that I am a charitable organization.  They just think I’m an eccentric white guy who enjoys learning about them and living in their culture, and who has money to help. Maybe they’re right and I’m OK with that.

DWP is small which enables me to help where other larger charity organizations can’t or don’t want to.  My mandate to” see a need and fill it ” enables me to meet people in need in various situations and to act immediately, without the need to call a board meeting or file paperwork. Whether it is a community or one person who needs help, I am able to give them help that day, on the spot, right now.

Less than a year ago, I travelled just to travel, to see other cultures and to see the possibilities the world had to offer.

Creating DWP has allowed me to change from a witness to someone with the ability to change, however small, the daily struggles of the poor. This is not rocket science and I started DWP with just the eagerness to get dirty and the ambition and energy to keep going.  What I want people to take from from DWP is that “you” can do this too. You just have to start.

This was my second working trip this year and I’m now just beginning my third fundraising drive. When DWP was just an idea, I received support from friends and strangers in my home city of Victoria, B.C. I was able to leave for India with $4000 of donors hard earned money with my promise to ‘see a need and fill it”.  I had no idea how I was going to make this happen but I knew I had too. Fast forward 10 months, DWP has been to India twice, helping thousands of people from Maharashtra to Rajasthan.

DWP and I survived the “not knowing” stage and I am now onto a very exciting future as a non-profit. The beautiful part of this whole adventure is that it is forever challenging and evolving, and 10 years from now things will still be changing. I really enjoy straddling two worlds and being the personal connection between countries and cultures. DWP’s work in India is incredibly challenging and one that demands an 80 work hour week, juggling field work and computer work, keeping the connection going between supporters and the community they’re helping.

Years of travel have made slipping into these two distinctly different worlds easier but never completely comfortable. As a Canadian, I’m always aware of how lucky I am to have been born in a free, democratic country with a high standard of living.  I do feel we can always assist those in the world who were not born in a developed country and struggle to make a meagre living. There are many ways to help and it doesn’t always mean giving up a comfortable life and paid work to live in a slum in India. Since starting DWP, people from around the world have offered donations, their time or their expertise in some way to help DWP fulfill the needs of the people I meet.  Every newspaper in the world is filled with stories about sadness, hate and oppression, but if the last year has taught me anything, it’s that the human spirit is amazing. Most people want to help one another and I’m forever being humbled by both the people who DWP helps and the people that make it possible.

So, to everyone who reads this blog and follows DWP’s adventures, I thank you, because without your help and support none of it would be possible.

Sincerely,

Kane Ryan

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The Little Things

Posted in Projects on July 20th, 2010 by admin
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July 20th , 2010, Victoria B.C. , Canada

The Little Things

While bricks were being loaded onto the school roof and we were searching the neighborhood for building supplies and tradesmen, and fretting over the cost of tiles, DWP was also absorbed with the everyday issues of the people who live in Saki Naka and beyond. Meetings with people desperate for help with medical needs and school fees were never ending. For every person who came to Ashley and DWP for help, there were countless others who stood in the shadows. With Ashley as our guide through the minefield of cultural sensitivity issues, we were able to help those who truly couldn’t help themselves. Sometimes we just brought the fun, added to the noise, and shared a little bit of western culture with people who only travel a few miles from their slum homes. The small things that DWP was able to contribute to enabled us to share the dailiness of the lives of the people at Saki Naka. Feeling the grip of a tiny hand as we led them into their school, waiting with people in Doctor’s offices who were nervous about medical treatments, or bringing the cake to a birthday celebration, we were able to share moments of lives as easily as sharing a much needed bottle of water with each other. These are the stories of the little things, a glimpse into the lives of those people who are so grateful for the donors who allow us to help them. Close your eyes, feel the tiny hand of a small child in yours, or imagine the old, bony hands of the women who just had cataract surgery, clasping your hands together with theirs, so appreciative they can’t convey their emotions with words. These are some of the stories……the little things that we don’t always have a chance to convey in words.

Rojer and his Ninth Birthday Party (600 INR or $14 CAD)

Rojer has a megawatt smile and is freakishly strong. He weighs maybe 50 pounds, and can carry his weight in bricks. During the building of the school, he insisted on helping by carrying construction materials to and from the site. As a thank you for all of his hard work, we wanted to help him celebrate his birthday. He waited all day for us to finish our work, constantly smiling, accepting birthday wishes from the other kids, anxious to get his party started. We purchased a chocolate layer cake from a nearby bakery, had his name written on it and dotted it with nine candles. Rojer, dressed in a brand new yellow shirt, pranced down the laneway into Sheela’s home. Loud party poppers were set off outside and children danced in the lane way, while mothers cleaned up squished cake from the cement floor. Rojer never stopped smiling.

The Cancer Patient (15,000 INR or $349 CAD)

Two men, serious, despondent, with a mission, entered the Balwadi where we meet with people who need help. We all sat in plastic tub chairs in a semi-circle. The men quietly told Ashley that they needed money for cancer surgery for a 28 year old male relative. They only had a few more days to raise money for a deposit, or the surgery wouldn’t happen. They had already raised 25,000 rupees but needed another 15,000 rupees for the operation. They described their needs methodically, with the tired, stricken expression of men who were exhausted from trying and failing to get the needed funds. Ashley looked at us, translated their story and gave us his opinion of their situation. Although DWP doesn’t usually just hand out money, preferring to be part of a project or situation, we didn’t hesitate long before deciding that giving them the money they needed was the right thing to do. The operation was a success and the young man has DWP donors to thank for extending his life and giving him some hope. The two gentlemen visitied Saki Naka after the surgery to thank us in person.

Cataract Operations (6000 INR or $139 CAD)

Sleeping under a tarp on the hard, uneven ground was not the only issue facing this lovely, quiet, reserved, subservient woman. She doesn’t know how old she is, maybe she is 55, or maybe she is 45. Her husband died and her only son refuses to look after her as he makes a meagre living from selling limes on the pavement. Her right eye with it’s milky white film was limiting her vision and causing her some pain. We made arrangements for cataract surgery for her at a private eye clinic. The doctor at the clinic reserves spaces for charity cases and is a generous, calm woman who is aware of the needs of the slum communities that surround her office. We accompanied her and another elderly woman from the slum whose eye was completely white and often just sits outside her home on a raised, webbed cot in the searing sun, to the clinic. Both women emerged after their operation, wearing thick sunglasses courtesy of the clinic, into what will be a brighter, less painful world. Although we couldn’t see their eyes for days, hidden behind the dark glasses, they never missed a chance to grab our hands between theirs and offer us a grateful smile. One other woman had her eyes tested to determine if she had the beginnings of cataracts. Thankfully, she was found to be fine.

New Glasses (1200 INR or $ 28 CAD)

Two middle aged men from the slum were also candidates for cataract surgery, however after a complete eye examination from the doctor at the clinic, it was determined that they wouldn’t benefit from a simple cataract surgery. The doctors recommended we get each of them prescription glasses to improve the eyesight they still have. DWP paid for new prescription lenses to be inserted into frames that were donated by customers of Sally Bun Cafe in Victoria, B.C. Canada. The men are impressed by their new glasses and are thankful for the opportunity to see more clearly than they have in years. They are both labourers and the glasses will allow them to work more often.

Getting Away ( 2000 INR or $46 CAD)

While DWP was in the middle of construction on the first floor of the school, we were also reconstructing the small living space (150 sq. ft.) that Suresh, Shalu and their three sons occupy which is also part of the school building. The family temporarily moved into a relative’s slum home, just down the lane way, which meant eight people would be sharing an even smaller space. Shalu wanted to attend a wedding in her village, an eight hour train ride from Mumbai. Because two families were enduring extremely cramped living conditions with no end in sight given the set-backs we encountered while building the school and their home, DWP decided to pay the return train fare for Shalu and her sons to travel to her home village for a brief stay. She was also given a small amount of money for other expenses during her trip. They returned after a brief stay to reunite with Suresh and were able to move back into their home which was almost put back together for them. The family’s living conditions improved with the new build. They still live in one room, but the ceiling is higher, two window’s have been installed to let in light and air, and a shelf has been built to hold her cook top. A two foot square space with a new blue curtain has been added to give Shalu privacy while she bathes. The family is deserving and resilient. Suresh has both AIDS and TB and the family struggles on Shalu’s small salary as an assistant at the Balwadi.

Care and Attention (1500 INR or $ 35 CAD)

Although many people who live in the slum are aware that DWP is there to assist them when needed and know to ask for help, others don’t ask, or don’t want the attention. We respect that we can’t knock on doors, push curtains aside, or ask personal questions unless we are asked to help someone. While we go about our day in the slum, we notice people who don’t come to events or celebrations or bring their children to the Balwadi. Everyday as we enter the slum from the street, we noticed a very young mother and her two small children who live in a cave-like dwelling at the top of some stairs cut into the small hill under a bridge. We make eye contact, wave, say hello, but her mood was always sombre and her children seemed listless. Recently, Kane and Ashley had the opportunity to talk to the young mother. Upon close inspection, the children seemed more than listless. They have gigantic, bulging eyes and under their dirty t-shirts, their bellies were huge and distended. The mother, who was just twenty years old, was also pregnant and said she had taken poison in an effort to abort the pregnancy. Within an hour, Ashley and Kane took the family, including the young father, to a private hospital where a doctor declared the children extremely malnourished, calcium deficient and infected with worms. The doctor was angry about their condition, but was convinced that if the medication he prescribed (protein supplements, de-worming medication and calcium supplements) was taken as directed, the children would survive and hopefully thrive. DWP paid for a three month supply of this medication as instructed. When DWP returns to Saki Naka, the children will be taken back to the doctor to assess their progress. Within a week of taking the medication, the children appeared to have some energy. The youngest child, a little boy of almost two years old, but who is half the size he should be, was breathing better and moving more than just his big eyes.The little girl, who is four, started to play near the Balwadi with other little girls within a few days of taking the medication. All we can do is hope.

The Mother (685 INR or $16 CAD)

As instructed, we took the mother to a gynecologist. Her general health was assessed and the doctor was happy to report that she was relatively healthy. However, a sonogram was required to check on the health of the unborn baby. DWP paid for the mother to have a sonogram the next day. It was determined that she was almost five months pregnant and the baby was healthy and growing, despite the desperate mother’s attempt to end the pregnancy with poison. At the sonogram clinic she was offered the choice of aborting the baby after the sonogram, but chose to continue the pregnancy. Ashley and DWP will continue to assist this young mother and her family when needed.

Try Them On (free of cost)

Generous donors from Victoria, B.C. Canada donated over 40 pairs of gently used prescription eye glasses to the people of Saki Naka. From vintage 1970′s large metal brass frames to glasses held together with a bit of tape, to fabulous, current styles of designer frames, the choices were abundant. When the box of eyewear was brought to the Balwadi, a few people tried the glasses on, mostly for fun ,but soon, as word spread, more people arrived to sort through the box, trying glasses on, looking around the room for objects to become clearer, checking out words in a newspaper, the excitement of being able to see clearly for maybe the first time building with each pair that was tried on. Within a few hours, ten people found a prescription that worked for them and left the Balwadi wearing their new glasses. Thank you to all the people who donated eyeglasses.

Teach Me (850 INR or $19.75 CAD)

DWP purchased educational English/Hindi DVD’s and books for the students and teachers to use at the Balwadi.

Needing Help (700 INR or $16.25 CAD)

A young woman stopped Kane and Ashley as they entered the slum and asked for assistance regarding her twenty year old sister who had just arrived in Saki Naka from a village north of Mumbai. The sister had taken the advice of several doctors from the area surrounding her village, but nothing could stop her involuntary urination. She arrived in Mumbai, as many people do, hoping for better medical treatment and relief from her embarrassing and uncomfortable situation. DWP paid for her visit to a gynecologist for tests, which in turn led to DWP purchasing the prescribed medication. She is currently taking the medication and hopes for a better outcome. This condition prevents this young woman from being able to leave her home for even a short period of time.

Health Camp (2000 INR or $46 CAD)

A new Marriott Hotel recently opened near the Saki Naka slum. Janvi Charitable Trust approached the head of Corporate Social Responsibility at the Marriott to ask for financial assistance with programs at the Saki Naka slum. Two employees of the Marriott came to Saki Naka to look around and have a meeting with Kane and Ashley regarding holding a health camp at the slum. Within a few days, DWP organized the event, informed the people of Saki Naka, briefed the Marriott people regarding medicine required for the day, and set up the tents, tables and chairs for the doctors. The Marriott Hotel offered volunteers to man the event, paid for two doctors to attend, and paid for the medicine which would be dispensed free to patients. 154 people from Saki Naka attended the health camp. DWP paid for the rentals of the tents, tables, and chairs.

Summing it Up

Mumbai is an enormous, sprawling city with over 55 percent of it’s inhabitants living in slums. The Saki Naka Pipeline Slum is home to thousands of people with a myriad of problems due to extreme poverty, cramped living conditions, only three squat toilets, garbage issues and an over all lack of hygiene. The problems and serious issues that confront the people of the slum inhabit every lane way and every tiny home, like drops of water finding a way into every tiny rip in the plastic tarps that cover the roofs. The renovated new school with it’s beautiful, airy, new second floor allows DWP and Janvi to meet with people who have problems, while the other part of the building is being used for classes. The addition of a second floor allows more room to hold new programs aimed at literacy, computer skills, and the possibility of using the space as a workshop to provide income for the women of the slum. The problems within any slum are endless and the living situations are daunting, but there is always room for hope and improved conditions, allowing the people in the slum to move forward and improve their lives, even marginally.

Sincerely,

Kane & Cindy Ryan

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