Reality Gives' Press - "it is the people of Dharavi that have touched me the most"

A few weeks ago Jayne Gorman, a UK based travel blogger contacted us to inform us she wanted to blog about Reality. Having visited us during the last four and a half years, which she has spent travelling the globe from Goa to the Vatican, San Francisco to Mumbai, Jayne explained that in that time her tour of Dharavi and exposure to the work Reality Gives had remained a very vivid, unique and important experience and she wanted to spread the word about us. So, without further ado, over to the professionals. Here's her article, 'A Charity Close to my Heart - Reality Gives in the Slums of Mumbai';

When I visited Dharavi, India’s largest slum, in Mumbai back in November 2010 I was struck most not by the disarray of the surroundings but the generosity of the people. Amongst swampy streets and littered wasteland children played with smiles on their faces. Workers toiled proudly in unsafe conditions; women kept the floor of their simple homes spotlessly clean. It was Duvali and celebration cake was being dished out to excitable children. They clutched it in their grubby hands and ran barefoot through piles of human and industrial waste to find a quiet place to enjoy it. Not before they had offered their guests the first taste though, they were exceedingly well mannered about it.

I was visiting this part of the city largely because of the light that had been shed on it by Danny Boyle’s movie Slumdog Millionaire in 2008. Thankfully, though, I had chosen to visit the slum with a company that would both educate me and benefit the residents far more than the film had.

Reality Tours take tourists into Dharavi with the objective of breaking down the negative attitudes that many people have towards people from less developed communities like the slums. The common stereotype – often reinforced by media and popular culture – of idle, passive and often criminal slum-dwellers is something they strive to change. Instead they work closely with these communities and ask the guests who take the tours to leave their cameras behind - a mark of respect for the residents which meant we could meet and speak with them without the intrusion of a lens.

Reality Tours & Travel is a social business, with a model that allows tourists to contribute responsibly to the communities they visit. Since I last visited, Reality Tours has begun offering multi-day tours in Rajasthan and Kerala, and just recently launched city tours in Delhi. The social commitment of the company still stands, as it has from the beginning— 80% of the profits from each and every tour are used to fund projects, run or supported by Reality Gives, that improve the relevant communities. Communities benefit, and visitors get to see how they’ve made an impact. This is a simple and scaleable model, and as travellers, we should hold all of the tourism organisations we support to such high standards.

Reality Gives runs a community centre in Dharavi. We visited it as part of our tour and I got to speak to the young boys who were chuffed about being able to use the centre’s computers to complete their schoolwork. The charity also runs a Youth Empowerment Program in the Dharavi area and provides English language support at a local government school.

No one can explain better what these projects mean to the residents of Dharavi than the people themselves. Nusrah (aged 22) shares what joining the Youth Empowerment Programme means to her:

“I want to impress my father after finishing this course and talk to him in English. I want to work in a hospital – for four or five years I was always going there. I understand the feelings of the people and want to do something for them. I want to encourage them. I have come out of cancer. I want to give them hope”.

You can read more about the projects Reality Gives run as well as those they support by clicking here. A particular focus for the charity at the moment is a project they are working on with their partner, CORP, raising funds for hearing aids for hearing disabled children.

Of all my travels it is the people of Dharavi and the work of Reality Group that have touched me the most. I mention them again now because I would like to ask for your help, to join me in supporting this worthy cause and consider visiting the projects and people they have helped at some point in the future. I’m going to add a button on the site that directly links to the donation page for Reality Gives as this is a cause I feel very passionately about and I hope from this article you can understand why. 

Reality Gives' Programs - "Go Kiss the World"

In February we sat down to interview several students who had just begun our Youth Empowerment Program to understand their motivations for joining the program and discuss hopes and aspirations for where it might lead. 

Now, two months later we caught up with Hajira (who is currently two months into the program) and Shabana (a recent graduate) to take time out to reflect on how the program had changed them and the ways in which they were developing and learning. 

Since its inception in November 2009, 292 students have graduated from the program

Hajira Shaikh (22) joined the program with a high level of English but a desire to develop this further and to improve her conversational English. It was her hope that this would enable her to better compete with privately educated students when applying for jobs. Hajira writes:

This class has encouraged us not only to learn English but to improve our other skills. The Youth Empowerment Programme also includes computer education and soft skills, which helps us develop basic etiquette and our personality.

I enjoyed because there is no particular age limit. People have joined also with different backgrounds, religions, castes, etc. Some people are married, unmarried; students, workers, etc. Everyone has different ideas and experience to share. We share thoughts and beliefs and family situation. All are one and everyone shares their problems and help each other.

The main challenging task was managing the time. It is not so hard but sometimes we face little time problem but thanks to the faculty and management we find it very flexible to attend. The faculties members are like friends, teachers and parents. We never do hesitation to share or ask any difficulties and they are always ready to help.

They changed my life, my thoughts. They encourage me and it also boosts my confidence. Now I don’t have stage fright. It encourages me to think much broader and innovatively. I wish I could also be a part of Reality Gives as it is an NGO I would love to work in.

Reality Gives means a lot to me. In this class only we come to know how people come from different countries to see Dharavi, where everyone wants to help each other out. I noticed one thing that they don’t go to other places but to visit Dharavi. It means they are very interested to see such places rather than go just for holidays.

Hajira and her classmates marked International Women's Day by writing and performing a play

Shabana Ansami (21) is a recent graduate of the program. She is now training to be a teacher, and has just passed her penultimate exam. Shobana writes:

I have learned personality development, hence how to present our self, how to communicate with foreigner as well as Indian personality.

I enjoyed more game with friendly atmosphere. I not only enjoyed game but also learned more things such as leadership quality, quick decision making etc.

Trees can’t stand without timber, just like that ‘YEP’ was a big challenge for me. I had to face lot of challenges to be like a competitive pupil, not a comparative pupil. I always encountered my hurdle smoothly and happily. I have changed in my professional life. Just like bird flies in the sky singing a song, twittering – same as it is also for me.

"Go and kiss the world"

My aspiration is like ‘well begun is half done’ – I would like to do innovative work for Reality Gives always. Reality Gives means to me to achieve real knowledge with the help of a creative mind. According to me Reality Gives an ‘Ocean of Knowledge’ and we are a drop! The beginnings of all things are small. I always follow ‘KISS’ – Keep It Short and Simple.

Reality Gives Programs - New Computer Lab opens in Chamda Bazaar

While an overwhelming amount of respondents to Nieck’s interview questions (see here for a quick reminder) were positive, we also received some feedback about areas in which we need to improve. The people of Chamda Bazaar, Dharavi (a poorer area of Dharavi inhabited mainly by Muslims who work in the leather industry, skinning, shaving, equalising, dyeing, embossing and texturing the animal hides) told Nieck that they didn’t feel they benefitted from the effects of our Reality Gives programs as much as others.

“The company should develop this area and they should help the children get a better education. I think that since the last time that [they] came here, they stopped with all of these development projects.”

In response to this, in February we opened a new community Computer Lab in this area where local children are now learning IT and English skills.

Computer classes run daily from 8:30-9:30am and the same students are also given a further hours English conversation class on Monday and Tuesday from our UK volunteers, Matt and Joe (that’s right, those guys again!). Classes are taken by Youth Empowerment Program graduate, Ravi, who is in training to be the sole Computer Teacher.

Visiting the class early one morning, we greeted 12 bleary eyed, tired boys coming in for class. The change that ensued thereafter was striking – as soon as the computers were turned on and they were presented with their worksheets they were engaged, focused and had a twinkle in their eye (the fact that this was almost perfectly synchronised with the all too familiar windows start-up sound signature made it all the more remarkable). The boys are clearly really enjoying themselves. 

Sitting with the boys we we’re proudly told by Sayed (12) “I was the first in my class to know what www was at school…before we were sleeping ‘til 10am, now we’re getting up to come here…I am top of the class in computers at school. I always finish quick”, whilst Asif (14) comments “At school I attend class but it is not good. The teachers do not teach. Now the students ask me ‘how do you do that?’. Everyone is shocked”.

It’s great to see the vast improvements these boys have made. Mayur (who is currently supporting Ravi with the class as part of the latters training) tells us “when we started they could not handle a mouse. Now look at them! What they are doing!” With time, having established trust and a dialogue with the local community we hope to increase the number of classes being offered, and to start to work with girls in the area too, who typically have less free time to attend such programs. 

Finally, with the number of computers we have now standing at 38, we'd like to take this opportunity to extend our thanks to the people at CORP, CapGemini, Rachel Teo, Gavin King, Idar Meling and Patrick Zickler for the generous donation you made, without which, starting this centre would not have been possible. We're truly grateful.

Reality Gives Events - “a woman has so many things in her heart, but does she ever get to share it?”

This previous Saturday people across the world came together to mark International Women’s Day and here in Dharavi it was no different.

At the Community Centre our Youth Empowerment Program students presented speeches, posters and plays about influential women (ranging from hockey players to astronauts and politicians), on the football field the Dharavi Girls Football Program got together to send a message out to the world and the Reception Centre hosted an exhibition of photographs taken by five women from Dharavi, whom were unequivocally, the stars of the day.

Can you work out what the Girls Football Team is spelling out? Keep in mind the acronym of the day and kindly forgive Marketing and Fundraising Director, Joe, for not climbing a higher wall to get the picture!

These five women, Amrita, Anuradha, Kaveri, Nirmala and Shobha, are graduates of ‘Ladies Only – Stories For All’, a five week photography workshop by Dharavi Art Room which is a collaboration between Reality Gives and Bombay Underground. This workshop was conceived when on a field trip one of the young students told Bombay Underground social worker, Aqui Thami “my mummy never leaves the home”. From this offhand statement, through in-depth interviews with women in the community an idea percolated and a program was born with the aim of showing Dharavi through a woman’s perspective. 'Ladies Only - Stories For All' was charged with ‘celebrating womanhood and claiming a space not just for surviving but for being’. With Dharavi so often shown through an outsider’s or a male’s point of view, this program aimed to show an altogether different side by giving the women the skills and the forum through which to tell their own stories.

Jyoti (left) our Community Centre Manager introduces the women to the audience

Reflecting on the program, Kaveri says “I come to the art room to learn photography and it’s also an escape from all the work at home” whilst we’re also told “when I see my friends here and when I hold my camera I forget all the pain, all the bondage, feels like I am young again”. The affect on the women has been palpable.They stand tall, shoulders back, head up. They're confident and engaging, enthusiastic and hopeful about the future. This newly realised sense of purpose is also affecting their families as they tell us, “I could not go to school but why should that stop me from sending my daughter to school. She will learn. As long as I am here she will go” and that “If worse comes to worse I will sell off all my jewellery but will not stop sending my kids to school”.

So, as they stood with in front of 40 members of the community (including many of our YEP students), people listened. Comfortable in front of this crowd of community members they spoke passionately about their experiences and how the program had empowered them. They told us how they are now pursuing other opportunities to develop their skill sets and learn. With determination and focus they asked us, “when can we do more!?”.

Reality Gives Programs..."You believe in me and I will be the best thing"

On 6^th February, 2014, 31 new students became the 25^th and 26^th groups to participate in the Youth Empowerment Program held at the Reality Gives Community Centre in Dharavi. This program spans 15 weeks, with students studying English, Computers and Soft Skills.

One week into the program, some of the students sat down with us to share what had motivated them to join the course and where they hope it can lead them in the future. As many of their stories are deeply personal, some of the YEP students interviewed have had their names changed to protect their identity.

Some of the Youth Empower Program Students post for a group photo with Adina
after their 'Speech Day' on Saturday 22nd February

Attending the morning class are Afia and Kiran. Kiran is an aspiring DJ and Afia, a housewife. “My mother died in my birth and father re-married. My stepmother doesn’t care for me so I have to work in the morning to earn money and work in the evening too” explains Kiran. “I have all to do the household work also. She does not take care myself”. When asked why he was so motivated to attend this program when he was already so busy he replied “I look up to my uncle. He struggled. He has inspired me. I want a family and I want a better life for them than myself. I will struggle to do better and this will help me achieve something. I want to become a good person who can speak with any person. To be confident to speak with him or her”.

Afia, 23 is also from a complex family background, having had a ‘love’ marriage into a family that does not like her, something she says has been exacerbated by her not having had a child within the first four years of marriage. “I want to improve how they see me and impress, earn their respect. I think this (Youth Empowerment Program) will help me get some work and be important to the family. I too want to improve my English so I can teach my son and daughter”. Afia is currently living with her mother and will join her husband’s family in a few months. “My husband would not allow me to come here – but I am not telling him” Afia confides “After 3 months I will show him how I can speak English. I want him to be proud of me”.

Nusrah and Isa attend the afternoon class. Through the translation of Jyoti, the Community Centre Manager, Nusrah (22) shared how she has battled to recover from cancer in recent years and revealed that as she does not have a brother she wants to make her parents happy; to be independent and to “stand on her feet like a man”. “My parents didn’t want me to come here for my health. I wanted. I feel like I have an opportunity. After a long time I am studying again. This is the best decision for myself” an emotional Nusrah said, “I want to impress my father after finishing this course and talk to him in English. I want to work in a hospital – for four or five years I was always going there. I understand the feelings of the people and want to do something for them. I want to encourage them. I have come out of cancer. I want to give them hope”.

Isa (23) has a good level of English but feels that it is not good enough to compete with well educated, privately schooled students, “Being in the slum area, I don’t get good companies and good chances”. Isa shared that she really had to fight to attend the classes, “being a muslim girl nobody allows you to study further but my mum has been supportive. Inside I have a lot of pain. My mum is uneducated and has suffered at her in-laws house. She wants me to stand independently. I have two brothers but she treats me as an equal. She trusts me a lot but I want to show her that I can meet her expectations. I want to show her - you believe in me and I will be the best thing” her hope is “My mother will be proud. We should not think like we are poor we cannot do anything. Go and try your luck. I am searching for a good job. Good English will help me get a good job in customs and HR”

As well as learning the syllabus, the students are also already beginning to form an important support network with one another. One student explained “Everyone has a different problem. No one is here from a good background. We are low level and struggling and it encourages us to study and learn and we will do anything. Now I feel like we all have different problem and we have to tackle jointly. Different stories from different people. Everyone has a problem but it helps us be happy to share them. We can support”.

The Reality Gives blog will revisit Isa, Nusrah, Afia, Kiran and some of the other YEP students as they progress through the program to see how they are developing and what their prospects are for the future.

Reality Gives Projects..American School of Bombay come to Dharavi!

Neil takes the group through some warm up exercises

On the last Sunday of January in the late afternoon, students from Reality Gives programs sit hushed in a room watching intently as their peers strut  their stuff upon the stage that is the Reality Tours and Travel Reception Centre, their expressive faces lit by a sole beam of light. The room is packed with onlookers; the students themselves, teems of children drawn in from the street eager to witness this spectacle and Reality Tours and Travel guides, there to see more of the social work that the tours they run help to fund.

The onlookers are watching these young adults seize this opportunity to express themselves, to make their peers laugh and to explore worlds of their own imagining. To understand how they got to this moment you need to go back to that very same morning as two teachers and three students from the American School of Bombay arrive in Dharavi carrying a large, somewhat out of place stage light through the streets. Here’s their run down of how the day unfolded.

On Sunday 2^nd February we (Fenella, Neil, Ben, Parth and Madhav) conducted drama workshops and devised original theatre with a group of 38 young people in Dharavi, in collaboration with Reality Gives. From the outset there was a buzz of excitement in the air and everyone was willing to mix, take risks, try out new ideas and listen attentively to all the instructors. During the skills based workshops (that included posture, projection, tableaux, expression, sequencing and blocking) the students were focused and asked relevant questions. Being flexible and open to new experiences they were eager to present their work and give helpful feedback to others. By the time we broke for lunch everyone was comfortable working with all the leaders and with each other.

(From left to right; Ben, Madhav, Parth, Neil and Fenella)

The afternoon sessions were even more rewarding. The morning sessions had been in English but during the devising process, creating their own theatre, participants spoke in Hindi. This allowed for a more creative buzz, and more freedom of expression in their work. Given the stimuli of pictures of life in India, including rituals, people at work, traffic accidents, domestic life and scenes from childhood, small groups of 5-6 students set about using these images to create their own short plays, while applying the skills they had learnt from the morning. The two workshop leaders commented to me on how quickly the groups worked together, and how creative they were with their ideas. The community spirit and sense of support enabled each group to produce a piece that was meaningful for them and relevant to the lives of the audience.

In performance each group was motivated, focused and disciplined, with the audience being excited, attentive and supportive. The final presentations covered such themes as disloyalty in relationships, equality for women, corruption in politics, arranged marriages, harassment in the work place, and other issues that were clearly close to the participants’ hearts. Although the short plays nearly all addressed topics that were serious and relevant, the atmosphere was not weighed down by the intensity of the issues, as there was a good balance of drama, comedy and discussion. One group asked questions directly to the audience about justice, and this sparked a lively discussion, again reflecting every participants’ willingness to be involved.

We ended the day by handing out participation certificates and congratulated everyone on their hard work. Everyone left on a high, and I am sure many of the participants would like to repeat the experience, as do we also hope to one day. Matt and Joe were wonderfully supportive throughout, and we are so glad that we got to meet them and to know them during this eventful and rewarding day.

Reality Gives Volunteers...Matt and Joe get some drama in!

Matt (left) and Joe (right) with our Girls Football Team

This week we would like to introduce you to our current volunteers Matt and Joe who joined our team in January for five months to work on some activities for our communities. But we thought they can explain what they do and how they enjoy working for Reality Gives much better: 

We’re Joe Callanan and Matt Aldridge, we’ve just recently moved to Mumbai and joined the Reality Gives team as volunteers. We’re mainly focussed on teaching English and Drama but since arriving we’ve enjoyed getting involved with other projects such as girls’ and boys’ football and chess. We’re both ‘gap year’ students from Newcastle, UK.

Joe
Being my first visit, India was an initial shock, but I was soon overcome by the community spirit of India and its people. Being involved with the local Bombay Gymkhana football team really helps you to feel local; after teaching a small drama workshop at school in Newcastle I really look forward to trying to inspire the next Bollywood actor and hope they have some fun along the way! After my ‘gap year’ I am going to study a Business degree at York st John University and I hope to return to India soon afterwards.

Matt
I’m very much enjoying living in Mumbai and sampling all of the local food, my favourite of which is ‘pani puri’. In my spare time I play rugby for Bombay Gymkhana and research the other places I’m traveling to before starting a Biochem degree at University College London. I’ve always loved acting and, although I’d taught some short English projects in Dharavi whilst at school, I’m really looking forward to working with our drama students over a longer period.
We’ve both found the Reality Gives team a very friendly and positive environment and are really enjoying working here. We are both passionate about the potential for acting and theatre to be a really positive impact on people’s lives, and an important educational tool. The students we’ve been teaching so far are really keen to learn and full of energy and the next four months is sure to be a fantastic experience.