Oh Mayapuri, Mayapuri...

It is hard to conceive of a more desperate environment for human beings to live out their lives than Mayapuri.  It is frankly horrible! It is surrounded on one side by breakers yards with bits of metal and oil amongst the filthy muddy puddles. On the other side is a busy railway track which seems to double as a playground for the kids (there is no other space!)  It is about 1 mile long and contains around 10000 inhabitants.

I am pretty hardened to slum conditions by now but this...

These kids have been out collecting metal scraps and paused to show me the bag that they were struggling to lift between 4 of them:

While these other kids played with their kites on the playground...

...while every now and then one of these invaded their space:

This morning's clinic was completely different from yesterday's - not one antenatal, lots of diabetics and general aches and pains etc.  It was sometimes quite challenging to know what to do for the best!

After lunch I was introduced to this lovely crowd of girls...I was told the boys were out playing!

 Then I met some of the Community Health Volunteers

In amongst the filth of our slum visit I heard so much good news about what this community has achieved with Asha's help:  They told me for instance that despite the conditions, the number of cases of Tb treated this year had dropped from around 50 to 18 cases.  This has to be down to the hard work of these ladies and others finding new cases and ensuring each is treated quickly and fully.  Then we talked about the average number of children per family of 3.4.  This follows years of hard work taking the message of contraception out to each couple. Scenes such as this lass doing her Hindi homework...

...demonstrate the fact that nearly 100% of children attend school. There are 21 College students from Mayapuri with 3 more just admitted for next year.  Of those that fail to be admitted to University, many go on to do degree courses remotely by correspondence and still more do vocational training courses.  So, I was told, around 100 young people who have been brought up in these appalling conditions are in higher education.  One lass is doing a BSc in Chemistry and has said that she chooses to look forward, not back!

Now one last Mayapuri story: Just over 7 years ago a little girl was born.  She was unwanted and was flushed down the toilet of the passing Poojah Express train, and landed on the railway tracks by Mayapuri slum. Her cries were heard by slum dwellers and she was adopted into a family who had 2 boys but no daughter.  Those events happened just a few days before my wife visited Mayapuri at Easter in 2005.  Here is the appropriately named Poojah as a babe in arms then:

I was told that she had gone to visit her village today so I wouldn't be able to meet her.  Then as we walked past her home by the railway track we bumped into her!  She had just returned and I was introduced: