so then… i saw the slumdogs, not the millionaires (mumbai, india)

Prior to departing for my India trip, I had been in touch with a Canadian woman,Tania, and her mother who founded a non-profit organization called One! International, targeting street children and their families living in Mumbai. They work in the central Mumbai areas between Bandra and Andheri, where there are numerous pockets of slums, and run two schools for the children. As we had a baggage allowance of two checked bags of 50 pounds a piece each, my friend and I offered to take along an extra suitcase of supplies from the mother (who lives in Edmonton, Canada) to Tania in India.

 

On our fourth day in India, Tania came and met us at our hotel and kindly agreed to take my friend and I down to one of the slums to see first-hand the homes and lives of the children she works with in her schools. She picked us up in a rickshaw and when we arrived Lali, one of the boys from Tania’s school, greeted us. Lali had the highest grades in his class (they were on summer holidays), and was starting to learn some basic English. He introduced himself to us, and asked us our names. He also entertained us with a rendition of “ That’s Not My Name” (by the Ting Tings), which was taught to him by some volunteers from England, replacing the names in the song with those of his classmates, as well as parts of “Yellow Submarine” and “Jingle Bells”! Tania and Lali led us through the slums where many of her students live, and we had the chance to go into some of the homes of residents that were around that day. We met Lali’s mother, who was doing quite well compared to many of her neighbors; she buys bulk garlic and acts as sort of a wholesaler, splitting up the garlic into smaller batches to sell to others. We also met a lady named Parvati, who was not doing as well – her husband has two other wives and is not often around, and she did not have much of a roof, which will be a major problem when monsoon season starts. Portions of the slums completely flood during the monsoons, especially when they coincide with high tide, but many of the residents have no choice but to just wait it out in their homes. We stopped in to visit another student of Tania’s, a girl named Rani, who made us chai while we sat and chatted with her mother (with Tania acting as translator from Hindi to English).

 

Read the rest here.

 

Written by Kristan for Life Out of a Suitcase. Read more stories by 20 something woman expats and travelers at Life Out of a Suitcase.