Urban Slums: 5th Segment of Poverty
As families settle into urban life and stop migrating in search of jobs, they move into urban slums, small communities within the city.
Field Visits - Summers of 2015, 2016, and 2017
In 2015, students visited a slum community in Chennai.
They visited a government-funded preschool; there was one small room with about 20 children inside. They sat with the kids and asked the teacher about her work there. She had been working for over 20 years in that same small school, and although the resources seemed very limited compared to what is normal in the United States, she stressed that it was a vast improvement over what they had in the past. Students explored the small alleyways of one-room houses and learned about the river behind the houses. Trash filled the river, and residents had raised their doorways to keep out the dirty water when the river overflowed. Students learned about the struggle for jobs, the subsidies from the government, and the better lives residents wanted for their children through a focus on education.
Unfortunately, Fall 2015 brought heavy flooding to Chennai, and the community visited in the summer was destroyed as the river rose and swept away the poorly constructed homes. There was no disaster warning system, and the community had been unprepared for the floods. Students on the 2016 trip were unable to visit this community.
By 2017, some families had returned, so students visited and spoke with them, mostly about the impact of the flood. Since there is no garbage collection service, there was a pile of trash behind their homes. They said they had attempted to clean the trash, but other people would come and dump trash there again - they were powerless to stop it.
They visited a government-funded preschool; there was one small room with about 20 children inside. They sat with the kids and asked the teacher about her work there. She had been working for over 20 years in that same small school, and although the resources seemed very limited compared to what is normal in the United States, she stressed that it was a vast improvement over what they had in the past. Students explored the small alleyways of one-room houses and learned about the river behind the houses. Trash filled the river, and residents had raised their doorways to keep out the dirty water when the river overflowed. Students learned about the struggle for jobs, the subsidies from the government, and the better lives residents wanted for their children through a focus on education.
Unfortunately, Fall 2015 brought heavy flooding to Chennai, and the community visited in the summer was destroyed as the river rose and swept away the poorly constructed homes. There was no disaster warning system, and the community had been unprepared for the floods. Students on the 2016 trip were unable to visit this community.
By 2017, some families had returned, so students visited and spoke with them, mostly about the impact of the flood. Since there is no garbage collection service, there was a pile of trash behind their homes. They said they had attempted to clean the trash, but other people would come and dump trash there again - they were powerless to stop it.
