Stories of our lives in the slum and other marginalized settings
We met Aslam due to his friendship with another foreigner in our city. The two of them had collaborated and been close personal friends for perhaps a decade. From the beginning Aslam was keenly interested in our educational work in the slum and told us he'd do anything to help. Over the years as we …
Please don't read this if you are sensitive. I imagine this account will upset some of my friends. It wasn't easy for me to write. A week after her birthday party, Shakeenah came down with a stomach bug. She started vomiting even from just drinking her mother's milk or water, and by the second day …
Alia passed away on Monday morning at 11:30am. The last time I saw her was the Wednesday before, when I violated the lockdown to give her sisters their salaries and a little extra for Alia's medicine and other needs. She was asleep so I was just in and out. The last time I had spoken …
People collapsing unable to breathe. Hospitals stretched past their limits of space and manpower. Life-and-death decisions over who gets a ventilator and who does not. In the worst-hit countries hundreds of people are dying every day. The West has not experienced this in our lifetime. But here it is familiar. In September I shared Alia's …
I've never posted a video, but there's a first time for everything. More firsts than usual in these strange days. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPIWQE1Gi9A Last night we had been on local lockdown since Sunday when the prime minister ordered a complete national lockdown of 21 days. The order claims we cannot leave our home, though later clarifications …
A post by Peregrine In the face of the ugliness I know is more visible, I ask myself, "What do I find beautiful in our city?" Yes big gorgeous cow eyes everywhere, living with gecko friends on our walls....but deeper underneath there is more, more I believe anyone will see and appreciate and be humbled …
Christmas! It marked one year since we started teaching at the little slum under the bridge. I wanted to try something special for them. We ended up making our way over in the morning with a bag of gifts in one hand and Shakeenah doing her stern Santa impression in the other. It was a …
Watching people's homes crushed to the ground is a horrible experience. Two years ago I saw police officers assemble in a nearby slum. I walked inside to find bulldozers obliterating brick and stick dwellings. Families were crying while a line of 50+ heavily armed officers blocked anyone who might attempt to stop them. I felt …
As I've shared about life in the slum, I've focused on material things: homes, electricity, water, etc. With that stuff it's relatively simple to measure the differences between life here and in the West. But as you may have discerned from the incident with Alia as well as the boys on the train, there are …
Continue reading Capital matters. Social capital matters more.
Maria was clearly disturbed. I asked her what was wrong and she began to tear up. I'm becoming used to seeing her tear up. "Our shop....it burned down in the night." This is the Maria whose sister Alia became extremely ill with tuberculosis last month. Who has had two other sisters with chronic illness. Whose …
