Problems

Life in a slum is hard to imagine. Overcrowding means that privacy is impossible. Water supplies and sanitation are virtually non-existent - to have a tap with running water would be a luxury; a toilet simply a dream. Makeshift shelters provide little or no protection from the heavy monsoon rains or the soaring heat of Delhi's 45 degree summers, and so houses that were crude to begin with often degrade over time.

The immediate environment also has serious disadvantages. Very few lanes between the houses are paved and so any rain quickly reduces the surface to a quagmire, and people have to wade through mud and water overflowing from drains. There are no facilities for refuse disposal and rubbish builds up around people's homes, where pigs and flies delight in the heaps of rotting waste.

Unsuitable land for settlement

Slum colonies usually settle on unwanted land and the reasons for the land being unwanted soon become apparent. Drainage is poor and the land can easily become boggy and covered in mud. The monsoon season causes floods which heighten other problems, including the spread of disease.  

Shortage of clean water and sanitation

Slum dwellers face long journeys to fetch water, and to reach a communal latrine. Water pumps are sometimes available, but regularly fail to work and people are unwilling to take responsibility for fixing them. Latrines are also often unhygienic, in poor condition and shared by a vast number of people (around 25 households, or 125 people), a fact which combined with distance makes people reluctant to use them.

Lack of motivation for change

Many of the people who lives in the slums have always struggled to make a living and to find somewhere to live and so the natural reaction to the difficult environmental sitations is acceptance. The authorities often try to avoid acknowledging the squalid surroundings faced by the slum dwellers and ignore the basic requirements that are so obviously present.

How Asha slums are different

When Asha was founded its initial aim was to provide medical assistance to disadvantaged people living in Delhi's slums, and healthcare remains crucial to the organisation's work. A sophisticated 3-tiered approach to healthcare has been developed, resulting in greatly improved health for the slum dwellers and a significant growth in their awareness of healthcare issues.

Thank You Asha

At one time we had hardly any access to water - we had to walk long distances to water pumps that didn't always work, or had people fighting over them. Now we are able to join together as a community and have convinced the authorities to install water pumps and latrines. People's health has improved and life is better now that we are involved with Asha.

Parvati

Community Health Volunteer

Savda Ghevra