Close to pipe line road in Saki Naka, Andheri (east), lie hundreds of slum houses, running parallel to the very systems that drain our homes off its dirt and grime. Ten years ago, an NGO by the name of ‘Janvi Trust’ took up the cause of this society and quietly but painstakingly went about their business of doing good. Two years ago, a young Canadian man by the name of Kane Ryan decided to help out and started the ‘Dirty Wall Project’.
With the intention of staying two weeks, it has now been 2 years since Kane’s involvement with this community of men, women and children, bringing to them all aspects of overall development. The name ‘Dirty Wall Project’ makes a lot of sense when one walks into this area. After clearing up a large garbage dump – a mammoth challenge when you hear about what went into it – the community and its children were involved in the beautification and graffiti adorning its walls. http://dirtywallproject.com/blog/?p=2033. Today, this area is used for cricket tournaments, ganpati madals, weddings and all such community binding events, space which most of us cannot boast of having close to our homes.
Apart from giving piggy-back rides to the children and twirling them on their arms, Kane, Ashley and the others members of the DWP, are involved in all their day to day care. A small open terrace on top of one of the homes has been converted into a junior and senior kg classroom. It also serves as an art and dance class workshop amongst other activities and below this, is a computer lab teaching children and adults of all ages, the basics of computers. A recent project undertaken by them, ‘Girls Can Be’ will see the women at work, designing and producing products which will then be sold in shops around Canada and India. The same room where these women earn their wages, doubles up as a facility for regular doctor and gynecologist visits. 90% of the funds for DWP come from Canada, where Kane returns every 6 months for fund-raising programmes.
It is difficult to sum up DWP’s activities for they are helping in the overall running of a community, just like yours and mine, but one without much basic support. From paying a child’s school fees to assisting critically ill patients to government and when needed, private hospitals calls for heavy use of time and monetary resources. It is indeed heart warming to see a foreigner, if I may now call him that, to be involved knee deep in the cleaning up of the filth of this city, resulting in another inspiricon in the book of small changes that go towards making large differences.
Dirty Wall Project: http://dirtywallproject.com
Kane Ryan: dirtywallproject@gmail.com
Ashley Pereira: ash_pere@hotmail.com
How you can help: http://dirtywallproject.com/blog/?page_id=2013
Foot Loose in India 