your trash lines their streets

08.04.11

Our journey this day sent us to Dharavi - the largest slum in Asia. Consisting of 1.5 million inhabitants, mostly male migrants forced to leave home in search of money to help them and their families survive. I'm still not sure my thoughts from this mind-boggling day.

I am going to try to sort through my thoughts in a different way than normal - beyond words. I feel like images are more powerful than any description I can provide. Given I am still not sure my thoughts on Dharavi, perhaps it is best to stay impartial.

Acorn Foundation India and their Dharavi Rocks project are phenomenal - without a doubt. But the reality of life in Dharavi presents many questions for me: what are human rights, government rights, land rights, occupational health hazards, public health nightmares, child labor restrictions, sex worker rights, drug usage realities, expected crime rates - and of course - environmental concerns of waste management? Not to mention the piercing question still ringing in my mind: has India become desensitized to poverty? Are the inhabitants of Dharavi endowed the right of land and a space to work in in order to survive, or are they merely squatters on government property intruding and refusing to cooperate? I don't know.

For right now, I will leave you with powerful photos shared by my colleagues Brooke Stein and Jenn Queen. In an attempt to show respect to the community (aka not treat them like a tourist attraction) some of us students left our cameras on the bus so there'd be minimal stop.click.flash moments. Thank you ladies for letting me reflect upon my impressions of Dharavi from behind your lenses.