Slumming it...and Getting Educated

(Slum street scene, Dhaka.)

My last stop in Dhaka was a particularly enlightening one. I wanted to see projects by BRAC (originally short for Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee but now is simply known by its initials), the largest NGO in the world with over 100,000 employees. Founded in 1972 by an economist Fazle Hassan Abed with a mission to alleviate poverty and empower the poor, BRAC is now so well-established and successful that it now runs BRACBank, BRAC University, BRAC Insitute of Governance, 50,000 schools, offers comprehensive healthcare to 31 million people, runs Aarong which sells high-quality handicrafts made by poor rural women and is now doing work in other countries in Asia and Africa.

Early one morning I went with BRAC staff to one of Dhaka's slums to visit one of their schools and a safe delivery centre. It had rained the night before so the slum's streets were muddy. No cars can navigate inside it because the 'streets' were simply not wide enough. The solution was to walk or ride a rickshaw. Since I wasn't wearing the right walking shoes, I got to ride in my first ever rickshaw since probably the beginning of time...

You don't realise how lively a slum can be until you explore one. This slum was like a small city, full of shops selling everything its dwellers may need. There were grocery shops, fruitsellers, barbers, coffeeshops, clothing stores and a myriad other small businesses. Vendors also ply the streets selling their wares; I bought some well-crafted kitchen wooden utensils from one. They cost 14 thaka (about 50 sen) in all.

(The BRAC schoolroom)

After riding through several streets, we finally came to the BRAC primary school (there are other schools run by NGOs in the slum too). About 50 children sat on the floor in a one-room schoolroom, brightly lit by the sunshine outside. These girls and boys, aged between about 6-12, spend about 4 years in this school, learning the same curriculum that would take 5 years in regular schools.

But the difference is that this school is informal. They are geared to the children's situation, is interactive and fun and aimed at getting the children educated enough to eventually join regular mainstream schools. And the amazing thing is this: when they do join the mainstream schools, they do better than the kids who had been there longer.

The kids I saw were certainly happy to be at school. They began with a game where, as the whole room chanted, each child took turns to name a different country. Perhaps for my benefit, 'Malaysia' came up twice. They then all sat in their places on the floor ( there are no desks), their small pile of books stacked neatly in front of them. Asked what their favourite subjects were, some answered, " Bangla", "Maths", "English!" Indeed, they were not shy in the least to speak in English, shouting out " howarrryouuuuu??", "Whatisyourrrrnammme???" gleefully. They asked me questions about where I came from, where did I go to school and what my favourite subjects were and were just delighted to host a visitor who was in turn delighted to meet them.

(Kids getting cosy with their visitor)

And to think, BRAC runs 30,000 schools like this all over Bangladesh!

Regretfully leaving them, we then went on to visit a small healthcare centre. Many of the slum women deliver their babies at home which can be unsafe for both mother and baby. So BRAC started a system where trained midwives visit homes, identify pregnant women and encourage them to deliver babies at birth centres they set up in the slums. These birth centres may not be as modern as what we are used to but they are clean and there are trained female birth attendants. If there should be any problems, they know how to refer to the nearest hospital. In this way, both infant and mortality rates are lowered.

Even more interesting, the midwives have an opportunity to make some money by selling medical supplies to the households such as over-the-counter medicines, sanitary pads, vitamins. This is generally the excuse to visit the homes and they then take this opportunity to make note of the general health of each household, including whether there is a pregnant woman or not. These midwives are also from the slum community so they are very well-accepted by the people there. and they also educate their community folks about hygiene and prevention of illnesses and family planning.

It reminds me of the early days of our own country when we used to have more community-based health workers who know their community folks very well. Perhaps we still have these in our rural areas. I wonder whether squatter settlements have access to such facilities.