Mumbai, the commercial and entertainment capital of India, is also its richest city. You can have a five-star experience in Mumbai. It’s a magnet, attracting people with the possibility of a better life.
Not surprisingly, it is India’s most populous city and is one of the dirtiest. Dharavi, the slum which inspired the hit film Slumdog Millionaire, is no longer the largest slum in Mumbai –not because it’s shrinking; because other shantytowns have grown and merged. This is where our microfinance partner Annapurna Parivar is providing hope and changing lives.
Annapurna is led by Mrs Medha Purao Samant, an ex-banker of interesting parentage. Her father was a bank employee and a trade union leader. His photo adorns the office wall and carries the caption, “A true Marxist”. Her mother was a freedom fighter.
Anjali (see photo) only heard about Annapurna recently. We visited her single-room home in one of these slums. About the size of my kitchen, it contained the family bed; a stove, fridge and metal cooking pots. There was no running water or sanitation and no cupboard for what few clothes they had.
Fifteen women were sitting on the floor of her home learning about the small loans they would soon be taking. With the loans, life and health insurance would also come for their families. When Medha started Annapurna, there was no health insurance for the poor. She came across story after story of people dying unnecessarily through want of medical help. Today she has 90,000 members being served by 280 health workers. But these women were focusing on what it would take to be traders, food venders or tailors. The room in the slum was full of hope.
Next we visited Gayatri whose family was relocated from a slum into a two-room flat in a housing project five years ago (see photo). We met Gayatri with her daughter Aishwarya, who is finishing high school. Gayatri was very proud that we came to her home. They still don’t have their own bathroom but it’s a big step up from the slum.
Gayatri is a client of Annapurna – and just as well. Last year her husband suffered a heart attack on the bus. He was rushed to a nearby hospital and admitted because of the family health insurance policy. The original cost ($250) would have been well out of reach; the situation would have been hopeless. But because of Annapurna and its insurance, he lives.
(The housing project where Gayatri and her family live.)
Mumbai’s slums can be overwhelming. India’s poverty can be overwhelming. But across the country, Opportunity’s partners like Annapurna are changing lives and bringing hope.
Robert Dunn
CEO
Opportunity International Australia
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