A happy ending

Kalshi Takerbari slum in Dhaka was an amazingly inspirational place to end our trip. This slum has received intervention from WaterAid through the local partner, DSK. The community that we met talked about how the partnership with DSK had evolved over time because they were initially sceptical about the help that was being offered. This was due to the number of times that they had been offered help by people who had collected money off them, and never delivered what they were promised. Although I realised how naive it was not to consider this, I found it really upsetting to realise that people would take advantage of a community which has so little in the first place. Thankfully DSK took the time to build up the trust with the community and work really successfully with them.

Before DSK came to work with them, the community's water supply was illegal, so it went through many lines which had various cross connections in them. This made the risk of contamination really high, so despite the water looking clean, it frequently made them ill with diarrhoea and skin diseases. In order to combat the quality of the water supply, the community needed to get the supply legitimised. This was easier said than done though. The water authority were concerned about the slum community being able to regularly pay, so they refused to recognise the slum. DSK however, stood in as security for the slum, ensuring that that they always paid the full amount on time. Once the water authority realised that the slum paid regularly, they finally recognised the slum and made the water supply legal - I've never seen people look so proud to receive a water bill!

Again, I was struck by how much the community were looking to the future. Their plans were to build a new road in the slum, but more importantly, they were in the process of lobbying the government so that they could buy the land from them and not live under the threat of eviction. They also wanted to legalise the supply of their other utilities, such as electricity, and have these set up in the same way as their water.

Meeting Ruma really summed up the whole story of the slum. She used to work in the garment industry, and was forced to collect her water at night. The supply is restricted by the water authority overnight, so it took her 2-3 hours to collect the water she needed, and she then had to cook, clean and do all her washing for the family. Since she has had access to a water pump providing clean, safe water in her slum, it has freed up enough time to enable her to leave the garment factory, and set up her own tailoring shop on the edge of her slum. What an amzing story - someone donating just £15 to give her a water supply turned her life around 180 degrees. I felt so proud to realise what a difference we could make to people who are so much worse of than ourselves.