Misery and tears every day...

By Jamila Najmuddin 

As we make our way through the narrow, dirty lanes in the hot burning sun, the people around us stare with sad expressions. Around a dirty gutter, just ahead of us, we spot about eight children playing with dirty stones and sticks, pretending that what they have in their possession are valuable toys.

As we stroll ahead, through these dirty streets, several people surround us, questioning us as to where we have come from and what business we have in 'their area.'

We look around in pity at the awful living conditions these people are faced with, and thank God that we are not in their position.

This is the forlorn life faced by the people living in the 'shanties' behind the Beira lake. With little houses made from broken wood and space barely enough to accommodate three people, these people struggle everyday to make ends meet. With barely a proper meal a day, the men go out in the morning to search for odd jobs so that they could take back a decent meal for their children.

We approach an old lady seated outside a tiny shack with a blank expression on her face. Her name is Umu Raleena and she has been living in these shanties for the past 20 years.

Utterly helpless

"I depend on my son for a decent meal. I survive on his money and he too earns something by doing odd jobs. There are days when my son does not find any job and we go to sleep starving. I am an old and sick woman nona. I have been having diabetes for the past 10 years. There are days when I am in severe pain and I have to be in bed the whole day. Other than my son, I have nobody today."

"My husband left me when my son was a baby and for a long time my son and I are living in this shack. Although we have been living here for the past 20 years we do not know when we will be asked to vacate. If this happens we have no other place to go."

As Raleena talks to us with tears pouring down her cheeks, the onlookers plead with us to help her.

"She is a very old woman nona. This is not an atmosphere that she can live in anymore as diseases are always on the rise here. She would be very grateful if somebody helps her as she has nobody," tell the onlookers.

Not living but existing

As we leave this woman we enter a tiny house where a man greets us with a welcoming smile. This is the house of D.U. Gomes. With space barely enough to accommodate five people, Gomes tells us that seven people live in his tiny house, including his aged parents.

"We all live in this tiny house and in the nights we have to move our sofa and table on to the road to enable us to make some room for my wife and parents to sleep. We live in such a dirty place because we cannot afford to live in a better place. I work for the CMC and have been living in this shanty for the past 11 years. We were promised a house by the government three years back but up to date nobody from the government has approached us. I have only one child madam and sometimes my wife cries that our son has to be brought up in such a terrible and dirty environment. From the very small salary I earn, I try to save a little for my son's education. But sometimes things are so difficult that the little I have saved for my son is spent on our meals."

"We do not own this house and although we have been living here for the past 11 years, we are not sure as to when we will be asked to vacate. If this happens my family and I will be on the streets as we have no other place to go."

 As we move ahead we approach a shy old man starring at us through curious eyes. M.C. Sukurdeen is an unemployed man in his late 60s.

"There are three members in my family including my 20 year old daughter. My wife is a sick lady with a broken leg and we are currently depending on my daughter's salary. We are completely ignored by the government as nobody ever visits us to see what hardships we face. Life is terrible in this shanty as someone or the other is always falling sick due to the dirt collected in the lake. We have approached the government many times but all our complaints have fallen on deaf years as nobody has helped us yet."

'Dirty toilets'

As we speak to Sukurdeen, a young man points towards the dirty overflowing pipes from the toilets.

"See these toilets madam. These pipes are always overflowing. Nobody from the CMC ever comes to clean these toilets and when the toilets become very dirty, a few of us get together, pull out the money and get it cleaned by a drug addict. There is no point telling this to anybody as nobody cares today madam. We are only sad that our children have to be brought up in such a dirty environment," tells M.F. Imtiaz.

As it is time for us to leave, we say goodbye to these people and they look at us with hope in their eyes, praying that help will approach soon and the authorities responsible will finally wake up and provide a better environment for these people and their children.