NGOs hold out hope for slum dwellers

Twelve-year-old Kelam wants to become a doctor when she grows up. Not an uncommon ambition. Except that Kelam lives near a rubbish dump in a small tent, which she shares with her siblings, parents and a calf.

She is one of the 5,000 people staying in the slum colony in Rangpur Pahari near Mahipalpur in South Delhi. The slum colony is home to migrants (Singhi and Rewari communities), the Sapera (or snake-charmer) community and kabadi-wallahs or rag pickers.

The odds are stacked up against Kelam and the others in the community. But thanks to the intervention of NGOs Bal Vikas Dhara and Child Rights and You (CRY), there is a flicker of hope.

Most of the people in the slum colony try and scrape together a living from collecting firewood and garbage, polishing shoes and even begging. The rag pickers are relatively better off financially but they are also the most vulnerable to harassment at the hands of the police. It is a precarious existence.

When Bal Vikas Dhara began working there two years ago, things were worse. Bharat Singh, the founder of the NGO, started with the idea of educating the children there but he soon realised that for people who did not have the basic necessities of life like water, education was not a priority. And so he decided to work on a bigger canvas.

"We needed to spread awareness among them about their rights "" that they too have the right to safe drinking water, health facilities and identity cards. We had to make them understand that they had to voice their demands. We would give them the platform," said the 49-year-old founder and former Ayurveda doctor.

The NGO has conducted immunisation camps for the children there and managed to make the people start going to the primary health centre in the area.

The women are now confident enough to go by themselves to a hospital "" a huge step for people who, two years ago, would not even consider the idea. Maya, a rag picker who lives in the slum colony, said Bal Vikas Dhara had also helped them by organising mahila panchayats, a forum for the women to speak out and discuss their problems.

The other major step was changing the attitude of the people towards education. "We had to make them understand that education equals employment. That was the only way to make them realise the importance of it," said Singh. The NGO runs non-formal schools in the area, a stepping-stone to formal education, a process referred to as "mainstreaming".

Each session or class has around 30 children, who enthusiastically recited numbers and tried to outdo each other in wishing the visitors ("Good afternoon, miss; Aap ka naam kya hai").

After the children and parents become familiar with the idea of education and have learnt some basics, the NGO helps the children get admission in the local MCD school. It also organises bal panchayats, a forum for children. So far, the NGO has been able to work with 400-odd children.

Bal Vikas Dhara has also organised two public hearings, in which people from the slum colony were given a platform to air their grievances to representatives from the government like the local councillor and the police.

The idea is that the people will be able to voice their needs best, rather than a third-party doing it for them. The most recent hearing, on July 30, saw the authorities promise a computer in the councillor's office, so that affidavits for school enrollment can be done in the area itself, gloves and slippers for the rag pickers, and an assurance to raise their issues in Parliament.

The road ahead for Bal Vikas Dhara and for CRY, which supports it through various ways like funding, links to other NGOs and project planning, appears rough and long.

But they have made a beginning by, among others, getting children like Kelam and 10-year-old Jalevi (who wants to become a policewoman) to dream about and aim for a life beyond the garbage dump.