Habitat For Humanity India

Home Partner

Building a House of Dreams

Stephanie Anderson and Hannah Newby, Division of Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Media, Department of English, College of Arts & Sciences, University of Kentucky.

It is nothing short of a battle to push through the busy streets of the Bawana slum in New Delhi, India. It’s only 9:00 o’clock in the morning, and the main road, wide and dusty, is already crowded with people.

But weaving away from the center of town, the roadways narrow and the crowd disperses. Clothes-lines full of brightly colored saris and a rug or two are tied low over the path. Two young women sit on concrete steps outside their simple homes. With small children curled lazily in their laps, they are enthralled in conversation, unconcerned with the steady stream of passersby: men departing for work in the already stifling heat, sons making their determined way to family shops, and women heading to the market stalls along the main street.

This routine now belongs to more than 7000 families who have been

relocated to the Bawana slum area since 2004. Moved as part of a New Delhi city beautification project, these families were abruptly uprooted from their homes and livelihoods on the banks of the Yamuna River in the heart of the city. With an almost two-hour commute back to the city, most people relocated to Bawana found it impossible to keep their previous jobs as rickshaw pullers, house cleaners, and unskilled daily wage workers. With no home and no job, these families were forced to depend on government support and accommodations.

Unfortunately, both of these sources of support have proven less than adequate. Every day, the government sends water trucks throughout the community and runs electricity into Bawana through a few loose power lines. Though a step in the right direction, these government services do not satisfy one of the most basic needs of the displaced families: shelter.

When the families initially came to Bawana, the government permitted some to purchase a small plot of land, depending on how long the family had lived along the banks of the Yamuna River. Costing around 7,000 rupees (a mere $170 in the U.S.) for barely 12 square yards of undeveloped land, these plots often wiped out the

Bawana families’ savings completely. Even after securing land, they could not afford to build a home. As a result, many families threw together small shacks; trash became a substitute for sturdier materials. Living in huts constructed of scrap wood and tarp, families in the Bawana slum were in constant fear of theft, disease, and devastating fires.

Habitat for Humanity India came to the aid of these disadvantaged individuals in 2006, when the organization began constructing the first 150 of a proposed 2,000 Habitat homes started in the Bawana area. Partnering with Chetanalaya, a Catholic social work organization, Habitat for Humanity India began the process of building sturdy homes of concrete and red clay brick. The homes, confined to the plot size of 10x12 square feet, are smaller in their entirety than most American living rooms.

Though small, the Ojha family’s Habitat for Humanity home has opened their hearts up to bigger dreams than they ever before thought possible. Although sad about leaving their home on the

banks of the Yumana River, both wife Bimla Singh and husband Anil Khumar Ojha were excited about coming to Bawana. “I was so happy because we were getting the land for the house,” Bimla explains. Upon arriving, however, the overgrown weeds and large trees made life outside the city a very difficult adjustment. “It was like a jungle,” she says, shaking her head at the memory of the family’s first years in Bawana. But with the construction of their Habitat for Humanity home two years ago, the Bimla Ojha family has once again found stability and a place to build their lives. “In Delhi, [our home] wasn’t a hut; it was a concrete house, but not like this. This is better,” says Bimla.

With the family’s stability came the chance to enjoy life and to dream of the future. Having a home has meant different things to each of the family members. For Viveek, 14, it has meant having a better place to study, so that in the future, he can become an engineer. “I want to make something extraordinary that other engineers have not made. I want to explore new things,” says Viveek.

The opportunity to explore new things is something that Paspha, 15, also finds the house has brought to her family. A shy, soft-spoken girl, Paspha says that with the added privacy and space within the house, she has been able to explore her interest in music and singing. “I’ve been singing for about a year,” she explains. Taking lessons from a local voice instructor that lives nearby, Paspha has been able to use her new home as a place to entertain family and guests.

None of the children, though, is happier with the new space than Chandula, 18, an aspiring choreographer. Thinking back on his life before the Habitat house, Chandula explains, “Forget about dancing - just trying to live a good life was the hard part. You have to think about that first.

Chandula used to have to walk one kilometer away to an empty lot to practice his moves. But with the construction of his familly’s house and the added floor space of the second story, Chandula has been given the oppurtunity to dream bigger dreams. His hair, long and parted down the middle, covers his eyes as the thin teenage boy describes his love for dance. Chandula learned his choreogrpahy by watching Bollywood films and dance videos on his family’s small television. He has pursued his passion for dancing despite the lack of support for the creative arts in Bawana. “People here don’t have the same kind of ideology that I have. Mostly people think about having a house, having a place to hide their faces in, having clothes, having two meals a day. They are content with that. For me, enjoying life, and thinking of the future - that’s what I feel,” he says.

As for his future, Chandula plans to first train in break-dancing and hip-hop by continuing his lessons at a local dance studio. Then, provided that money is available, he hopes to use his training to open his own dance studio in Bawana, a place where he believes the love of the arts will slowly spread. With the help of one Habitat house, Chandula is expanding the horizons of Bawana, and inspiring other teens in the community to take an interest his passion. “I was made for dancing,” smiles Chandula, “It comes from within.”