Sri Lanka & India 23/24

We were pretty hesitant to do a slum tour even though we had been told it was okay to do, especially the ethical one. We did a little research and felt there would be benefits to the local community in providing money from tourism so we decided to go.

The Dharvi slum is home to approx. 1 million people over a 2.39 square km area. It is said to be the largest slum in the world and certainly has one of the highest population densities in the world.

We had no idea the extent of industry that occurs within it. Our guide, who herself lived in the slum, showed us all the activity that goes on, including recycling of all sorts of materials but especially plastics, garment manufacturing and of course laundry.

We visited the shop and bought some bags. Certainly what was shown to us was not abject poverty but rather positive industry. We were shown a local school and it was very much just like any other School and community.

Around the corner was a river that was full of rubbish and smelt pretty bad. Our guide explained the locals put their rubbish there and it was hard to stop. Once a year the government would clean it out only for it to get full up again.

Fair to say we weren't so enamoured with the treatment of animals.
Interestingly when the local government attempted to 'clean up' the slum they built apartment blocks and gave them for free to the slum residents. Rather than living in them the residents elected to stay living in the slums and rented out their new apartments! Certainly that story is consistent with the industriousness we saw but also the strong sense of community that was very apparent from the people we met.Read more