Poverty means you have a small amount of money...

You usually can't say that the Dalit people live in poverty. The word "poverty" means they have a very small amount of money. This is usually not the case-- they usually have nothing.

If I were to tell you to think of a homeless person sleeping at night, you would probably think of an older man with a beard sleeping under a freeway overpass with nothing but a shopping cart full of random things. I don't think I saw any Dalit people in the slums with conditions that nice. Most of the slums we saw were people living in sewers and other dirty, horrible areas. Diseases and illness spread through these crowded slums as well as violence and abuse. This is a much harder sight to see than a man sleeping alone with a raggedy jacket on the cement with a shopping cart of useless stuff. I get asked a lot how bad the slums really are. I usually tell people that it's not possible to imagine how bad it would look unless you've seen in first hand. Here are some pictures from a Dalit slum in Mumbai...








I don't have many pictures close-up or of the people in the slums, because I'm sure it's rude to snap pictures in their face. However, one thing you have to remember is that the slums are insanely overcrowded.

One "house" in particular that was actually a nicer one I will never forget. My team of 8 people walked into this house and we couldn't move at all. Actually, only 5 of us fit inside standing. I did not have to duck because there was no roof. It was about the size of a very small American half-bathroom. Our translator told us that this was the wife of the family. The wife goes to work in the early morning and works as a street sweeper. She sweeps us dirt, dead feces, animal waste, etc. The husband works as a construction worker that is "on-call" and hasn't found work in a few weeks. The wife gets paid the equivalent of a quarter per day. Their five children live with them as well as their nieces, nephews, uncle, and aunts. On the walls were a towel, a pot, and a bag of rice (I think). There was some sort of rag in the corner, and that was it. The wife not only works 7 days-a-week, she is also dying of AIDS. And I would assume the husband is HIV+ as well. They talked about their six children and then started crying when they changed their "6" to '5". We were told that their youngest child died last week. When we asked how, we were told that the oldest brother stepped on his little sister and killed her when he was trying to leave the house to pee outside. When 12+ people try to sleep in a house the size of my small bathroom, they end up sleeping outside in the summer or in layers during the winter... and it's not uncommon for disasters like this to happen.

Thinking of homeless people in the U.S., in L.A. for example, many people would say that these "bums" need to stop drinking and do something with their lives. They would say that they probably did this to themselves, and although I feel bad for them, it is probably their own fault they are in this situation. I would not completely disagree. However, this is NOT AT ALL the case for the Dalit people. They are born into this position and NEVER given an opportunity to get out of the "slumdog" lifestyle. That's what needs to change-- the fact that Dalit people are completely oppresses and abused and usually have NO CHANCE to turn their lives around and live a better life than the one they were born with. I will explore this concept later in further posts.

Society...

This video is a nice overview of the types of things that will be covered in this blog.


The life of a Dalit is one of hardship-- that's how many people would describe it. However, feel that "hardship" is not accurate at all. We all face hardships... but none of use have a life even remotely as difficult as the life of a Dalit. One of the main reasons for this, and what I would like to talk about in this entry, is the way Dalits are viewed in society.

The caste system is based on four basic castes- The Brahmins, The Kshatriyas, The Vaisyas, and the Sudras. BELOW the Sudras is a group called the Panchamas, which means the Untouchables, or the Dalits. Untouchables used to also be called the "Unborn". This referred to the upper-caste attitude that it would be best if the Dalits were never born. Animals (all animals, not just cows) are considered to be at a higher standing in society than the Dalit people.

The idea that a chicken is considered to have a higher standing in society than a person does not seem possible in this day and age. I didn't believe it at first either-- it sounds like a myth. When I came home from India, I started getting involved in the largest non-proft working for Dalit rights called Dalit Freedom Network. I formed my own committee that branched off of DFN called the Dalit Liberation Committee (formed of students) and we began raising money and awareness. I worked for a production company that produced short films about the plight of the Dalits. I a now interning for DFN. I'm saying this not to prove how much experience I have, but to show that I have been researching this for years now. What I have found through the research I have done and the experiences I have had is truly unbelievable.

I'm not at all kidding when I say that this is the nicest Dalit slum (village) we came across.

Slumdog Millionaire gave a very small glimpse into the life of a Dalit child and teenager. Although I am very thankful that someone touched upon this issue in mass media, the image of the slums and the "slumdogs", as Dalits are now sometimes referred to, was created to be much nicer than what many slums in India actually look like.

The main change agent for Dalit Freedom is Manmohan Singh, India's current Prime Minister. India's government is very slowly working to change the oppression, but not quickly enough. The PM of India has the most influence and power over the issue.

However, what if celebrities such as Dev Patel and Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) stars came behind this cause and really fought for what their movie represented. Oprah, for example, would also be someone that could inflict a huge amount of change in an issue like this. There are so many possibilities and it is my dream that in my lifetime, the Dalit people will see their real freedom.

Overview

Since the summer of 2007, I have devoted a portion of my life to the Dalit movement. This is not because I am more concerned with social justice issues than most people. It's not because I am typically more prone to philanthropy and community service. I have been passionately learning and spreading the news about this cause since the summer of 2007 because when I went to India, I experienced a world that I didn't think could exist today. I had heard of 3rd world countries, poverty, AIDS, and violence. I had never heard of the type of oppression that I experienced 1st hand in the slums of India, considered to be one of the absolute worst parts of the world.
I'm going to upload at least one picture from my trip to each post so you can hopefully get a feel of India and the Dalit people a little more.

This is a very complex issue occurring in India today and it won't be easy for me to try to clearly convey the severity and reality of the issue in ten posts... but I will do my best.


This blog will cover many different topics and hopefully reveal some insightful things that will surprise you. What I saw in India was astounding, and I hope to share a piece of that experience and what I have learned since then with anyone who will lend an ear.