I live near a slum. This little city has the most slum areas despite calling itself a resort. So it's like Rio perhaps. Can I call our little city, Little Rio? Nope, nobody speaks Portuguese and no Brazilian here. But this post is partly about football too. Soccer.
Living near a slum can be a hell, but living in a slum is HELL! Let me tell you why.
Living near a slum is like hell because crime rates are higher, Fortunately most are petty crime, such as stealing and vandalism. Weekends can be a hell to when they decided to get drunk and make noises. No big deal? Well, try having a drunkard singing to karaoke at full blast, MIDNIGHT! No. I'm not kidding. As hell it is to us, it's even hellish for them.
Bear in mind, not all are troublesome. Some do an honest living in this expensive city. They resort to squatting as a transition to a better life. They might be slum dwellers but they are still my neighbours. My bestfriend Zuan told me in Islam, 40 houses to your left, right, front and back are your neighbours. So in Islamic view, squatters or not, they are still my neighbours.
Some, even go to church regularly. Wearing their Sunday best, waiting for a van to bring them nearer to God. So not all are troublesome drunkard. They just need a home while earning more money to a better life. Some of them now have a proper house with proper amenities.
By proper, I mean with proper sewage, municipal water piped into homes and proper waste collection and electricity. In the slum, there's no proper latrines, about 50% pooped into the river (Rio), Some have septic tanks but not properly maintained. Water is connected into houses with rubber hoses. Waste collection? nope! 50% goes to the river. There's a big refuse bin but some resort to throwing into the river. The refuse bin is far to some and there's little awareness. Electricity is generated from the genset.
I don't encourage squatting but I do pity some of them, especially the youngsters. In this region, our favourite pastime is football (soccer). There used to be an open space for them to play their favourite sports. But it turned into a construction site. So they resorted to play on the road. Although it's not busy, it is a blind spot. And next to our house. I admit that sometimes I feel angry when their ball hit our fence or when they are shouting. But again, it's not their choice to play on the road. They have to make do with whatever is available.
Yes, I am angry. But I reasoned myself. That's not the case with my mother though. She's not happy with them, sighing and complaining.
I have a lot of bananas and I don't think I can eat them all. My mother is away. So, I decided to show some kindness to them. I gave them 2 bunches of bananas. Nope. I'm not racist. I'm not mocking (Dani Alves, I'm not mocking you, I just happen to have a lot of bananas) At first, I thought they are just ungrateful, boisterous youngsters living in the slum. I was proved wrong when I have the biggest thank yous. Turn out, even though they look like urchins, deep inside they are grateful people.
I'm not showing off my kindness by writing this post. I'm not Ananias. Nobody reads my humble blog anyway. I just want to emphasize that, despite rough and brutish appearance, the youngsters are still young and innocent. It's just their living circumstances.
I wish I could help them more by voicing up their need to local government or the youth ministry. All this while, there are not much playground and fields in our neighbourhood. Yes, this city has the most parks but not in our neighbourhood. Or at least, ask them to put a speed limit sign near that stretch of road. But I am just an ordinary person. Maybe, just maybe if somebody up there reads my post.
Sometimes I wonder, why don't the government help by making a high density dwelling with proper amenities. If land value is high, build a taller building. Kinda like Singapore HDBs. Cheap but equip with basic amenities like water, proper waste management, play area/recreational centre and public transportation. Maybe, make it greener by installing PV cells and Wind turbine and rainwater collection system and town gas. Those could help reduce the cost of living. Maybe limit the tenancy to 10 years. 10 years as a grace period for them to buy a proper properties. These low cost housings are just transitional dwelling. It may cost more to construct but in the long run, it helps beautify the city and reduce the negative impact to the city. Less river pollution, thus cleaner river and cleaner beaches. We need to protect our reefs, beaches and natural treasures if we still want to market our city as a resort city. And less mozzie breeding ground too.
If this is a success, these steps could applied to help the vagabonds too. Our Canadian educated psychiatrist told us once that in Canada, the vagabonds (most are having psychiatric illness) are given a proper dwelling like hostel. And those hostels that he showed us are way better than our student's hostel I would say.
In my opinion, this is more beneficial than giving free handouts.
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