Stories of our lives in the slum and other marginalized settings
It’s been a long time since we explained our lives here. Peregrine, Shakeenah, and I live in a one-room concrete-and-brick home in an average basti slum in north India. We’re lucky enough to have our own tap and no shared toilet (for just the second time in a decade), though of course we still take …
The trouble started with a head cold. Then an allergic reaction to mold in the room, causing rashes and fatigue. Then came the pinworms. Two weeks after we arrived, I slipped in a drainage ditch in the dark during post-rain flooding and cut my shin to the bone in two places. Despite all the care …
Shakeenah and Shadia Our first day back to the slum I was days behind on sleep after too many plane and train legs. Thankfully there was an empty room waiting for us. After a frantic morning clearing out grime and cobwebs, we unpacked just enough to attempt a 2pm nap in 90-degree weather....when the power …
Early in the lockdown I expressed hope that the difficulties we were going through were sparking a new level of altruism. This is part of what I wrote: The most striking aspect was seeing how many others had the same idea as us. We found that the neighbors helping our efforts had done their own …
It was past 9pm, past curfew, shops closed and streets dark as I returned from distributing snacks to the rickshaw drivers. The only people outside were others sneaking home from "essential" tasks and small groups of men hanging out near their doors to take advantage of the cooling air. I don't remember what I first …
The woman stopped Peregrine in the alleyway. "Save my daughter! Please, someone has to save my daughter!" Her daughter, a good friend of Peregrine's, had gone into labor that day. They had tried four different hospitals and been turned away from each one, either because of overcrowding or COVID fears or just excuses. Their fifth …
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 …
Stranger in a Slum 