Transforming the slums of Mumbai
Indu Jaiswar lives in Dyaneshwar Nagar, a Mumbai slum, where Oasis India has been working for some time. Indu became so involved in our work that she eventually took up the responsibility of running our pre-school programme.
Earlier on this year, Indu got married, and moved to another slum in north Mumbai. This area, like Dyaneshwar Nagar, is built on marshy land and lacks clean running water, electricity and proper sanitation.
Indu had seen the way Dyaneshwar Nagar had been transformed through Oasis' education, health awareness, advocacy and micro finance initiatives. Today, Dyaneshwar Nagar has a water supply, electricity and subsidised food ration cards. It has an active Federation which organises events and lobbies local government to improve the community.
Wanting the same transformation in her new area, Indu got in touch with Oasis staff who visited the slum several times to assess the way forward.
Oasis India started talking to several families in the community, inviting them to be involved, rather than mere recipients. Chandrakala, an Oasis Community Worker, said "Initially, when we began interacting with people, they were suspicious of our intentions. The women were wary of joining self help groups. It took about six months to create two groups"
Today, the self-help groups are well established, and the new Federation is working with local governing bodies to request public toilets for the slum.