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 …
Friday, August 30th "Alia is really sick. She's been having some trouble breathing, and now she doesn't even know what's going on around her when people come in." "That's serious. You should take her to the hospital right away. How long has she been like this?" "Since last night, but only the worst since …
Four years ago I met a young girl named Alia. Alia was 13 the first time she came to our literacy lab. She was mentally disabled and had been attending a special school for the disabled for four years. Though she was not literate and in fact could only recognize a few letters, it was a …
I would have found out sooner if I hadn't been out all day. Turning down the alley I could see that something was up. People were out of their homes, disturbed, grouping. I started towards them but then they rushed to me instead. "Four boys! They've been missing since 3pm yesterday! It is your kids …
The tiny girl in front of me was learning to read with incredible speed. Though she only knew three letters when she started, by the second lesson she could identify ten letters and combine them to form words. By her 16th lesson she had memorized the entire alphabet (there are more than 50 letters in ours) …
Pooja was a late addition to my literacy class, not asking to read until a month after her brother had started. As a 15-year-old who had never attended school, she wasn't accustomed to academic work and had a lot of home responsibilities which took her time away. But from her first lesson she was hooked, …
The funny aspect of the whole thing was when she came over and started beating my students, my initial response was to shrug and continue with the lesson. Let's back up. Two months ago I started a literacy class in a poor community next to the bridge. Makeshift huts climb the river's banks and line …
For the fourth year in a row I had been invited to speak at an education conference. In previous years I had given a short, impassioned plea for adopting an ethic of service and working towards literacy for everyone. As far as I knew, there had been little meaningful response. This time around, a group …
After a 13 hour journey that was only supposed to be six, my coworker and I get off the train, freshen up, and enter the poshest club that's ever let me inside. We have been invited to present our education program to wealthy business people in a service organization. Their focus for the year is …
Hamza was in the middle of a crowd of boys outside of his door. They were watching something advance along the ground under its own power. Hamza turned to look at me and said, "This is my car, I made it." I was impressed. The above photo shows his first working motorized car, made entirely …
Stranger in a Slum 