Homelessness and informal settlements

Interview with a homeless youth

Katy Fentress, Nairobi Community Manager

Homelessness in Nairobi is not always apparent to the passer-by. By night the streets of central town are not full of people sleeping rough as is often the case in affluent "developed" cities. Even in slums, homelessness is quite contained, with people cramming into tiny huts but not on the beaten paths outside.

There is, however, one part of the population that makes a living in the shadows of Nairobi's streets. These are youth, constantly on the run from the police, many of whom make a bed for themselves when night falls wherever they can.

The Undugu society of Kenya, a prominent organization in the sector, divides Nairobi's street children into four categories: first there are children who work and live on the street full-time, living in groups in temporary shelters; second there are children who work in the streets by day but go home to families in the evening (this category constitutes the majority of street children in Kenya); third there are children who are on the streets occasionally, such as on the weekends or during school holidays; finally there are "street families", children whose parents are also on the streets. Nairobi's street youth, known as chokora (scavengers), can be seen by day walking through the streets with a sack slung over their shoulder, looking through trash cans.

Earlier this week URB.im photographer Michael Obach went to Nairobi's Westlands neighborhood to talk to some of the young boys who live all of their life on the street. Westlands is one of the city’s mixed neighborhoods in which the rich, the poor and many of those in between coexist in relative harmony. The following are some excerpts from one of his conversations:

MO: What kind of life do you live, how do you get food, where do you sleep and what problems do you face?

Isaac Ogang a.k.a Izzoh: I'm 26 and have lived on and off the streets for 15 years. I live with my friends, my parents are pastoralists in Turkana (Northern Kenya) but they weren't financially strong so I moved to Nairobi when I was eleven, I don't know if I will find my family if I go home.

I make my money by carrying a gunnia (gunny sack) and picking up plastic, paper and metal. This gives me enough to get some food. I also eat what I find on the streets and in dustbins. We all pick out the good food, put it in tins and cook it in the evening on a fire. We try to sleep in abandoned houses or construction sites but most of the time we are kicked out and have to make do with bags and cartons. As time goes by you get used to sniffing glue, everyone on the streets sniffs glue or uses something else. We use this for many reasons: because we get cold, because we don't have shelter, because we are hungry and because the mosquitoes are disturbing us.

I make about 100 shillings a day (a bit more than a dollar). Some of the boys here don't feel this is enough so they end up stealing too. When the police comes we have to be on our toes. They often stop and harass us. Sometimes they arrest us for no reason. In Kenya corruption is real, if one of us goes to prison we come together and go to the police station; we can't go without money though. There we meet the bigger heads and we talk to them nicely and give them some money and they release our friend.

MO: What organizations have tried to help you and your friends out of the streets?

Izzoh: When I came to Nairobi I attended the Don Bosco Boys school. Apart from them, there is also IAfrika, the Undugu society and Jamii Bora. There are also other religious organisations like Made in the Streets that works in Eastleigh and others that try to help youth like us but I have not seen them here in Westlands.

MO: In what way do these organizations try to help you?

Izzoh: At Don Bosco I remember they taught people carpentry, mechanics, engineering, wiring and other skills that would get them jobs. They also wanted to train kids to help other kids out of the streets. I was with them until standard 8 but then I ran away.

MO: How do you feel these organisations could improve the work they do?

Izzoh: I think that for these organizations to improve they must coordinate their work with the government. The NGOs cannot cover all of the street kids of Nairobi (around 60,000).

We've chosen a new government now and we have a constitution. We are Kenyans like other Kenyans and we feel our Ward representatives should register us and start a project. Here in Westlands, we are about 400 street boys. The government should send the small children to schools. Us, we already do so much cleaning and recycling around the city, why can't they make our work formal? We would like to be able to register ourselves as a cooperative, maybe get a loan so we can buy a lorry or carts to collect the rubbish for recycling. We are the main recyclers in this city, if we could just do this in an official way it would be easier to help ourselves instead of having to ask people for food.

Will creating "cities within cities" help Mumbai's homeless?

Carlin Carr, Mumbai Community Manager

This week we speak with Abhishek Bharadwaj, founder of Alternative Realities, an organization that advocates on behalf of Mumbai's 200,000 homeless. We discuss who is homeless, what the barriers to housing are, and some innovative solutions that include creating "cities within cities."

How do you define homelessness?

Homeless, according to me, are people who do not have a roof. For our convenience's sake and for policy people to understand, we have defined homeless very simply as people who are living in the open and the place where they live does not belong to them. It's important to have the correct definition, because in urban scenarios, you have slum dwellers who are living in slums, and you also have people who are living on the pavement but who have built some structures and have been officially recognized by the local government.

You make a distinction between the pavement dwellers and the homeless. Does the government make this distinction?

The government has only one distinction: people who are census households and people who are not census households. So people who are not census households are homeless, according to the government. With this definition, unnotified slums would not be considered as census households, and, therefore, would be considered homeless. If you take this definition, the number of homeless increases a lot.

What is making people homeless in Mumbai?

One thing is clear, the change in use of land and the price of land is making people homeless in terms of evicting them multiple times.

I'll give you one example from Navi Mumbai: there are around 60 families who have been living there for the last 25-30 years, and now there is a flyover where these people had been living. When the flyover was being built, their structure, which was semi-permanent, was removed. They went from a semi-permanent structure to being homeless after three evictions, which never gave them the opportunity to build any structure. This is happening all over the city, and the difference in Mumbai — compared to Delhi — is that there are many families who are homeless in Mumbai.

What are some solutions?

The Mumbai Municipal Corporation and the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation are suggesting to build self-sustained satellite locations, or a city within a city. For example, there's a theater, multiplex, restaurants in Bandra, so you don't have to go to Colaba. This is very interesting. For these self-sustained cities within cities, you also need labor. If you have a big apartment building where there are 100-150 apartments, you need 50 domestic help in that location. And that help is coming from the homeless. So why not create high income, middle income and low-income housing right there. Unfortunately, no low-income housing ever caters to the people who are earning low in the city. The first thing to be done is to do an Income Census for the homeless, which has never been done. See their capacity to pay. Second thing is that the government is saying we don't have land. But in Navi Mumbai, there's a huge railway station that's three or four floors. They upper levels have been given to offices, but you could take railway stations in Mumbai — Dadar, Victoria Terminus, Churchgate — and build up to create a couple floors of homeless housing. It would also be a revenue generator for the city.

What is the city's relationship to the homeless and what is the biggest thing the city can do to have a positive impact on the lives of the homeless?

When the city is getting built — big infrastructure like roads, flyovers, buildings — it's the homeless that is doing the work. They are the foundation of the city. Once the people settle into these newly built areas, they need other services to be in place; then, again, homeless come into play. Then, again, we demand them. They move from the foundation to the lifestyle of the city.

That's why the authorities will never be able to be able to drive them out of the city. It's a demand of the city, that's why they are here. Mumbai Municipal Corporation has been trying to push them out for years by doing so many raids, but they can't push them out, and this is important. They can't drive them out simply because the city wants them.

Rumah susun sederhana sewa solusi untuk kampung kumuh?

Widya Anggraini, Jakarta Community Manager

Jakarta's poorest residents live in shanties in the city's open spaces, like under bridges, on riverbanks, and on railways. Jokowi, Jakarta's new governor, is launching a slum-reduction program to build new affordable housing for the homeless. These new settlements have been designed with the community's participation, and will include schools, sports centers, and health centers. This program is a collaboration between the government, private and state companies through their CSR programs, and the slum dwellers themselves.

Daerah kumuh atau permukiman miskin merupakan fenomena umum di kota besar dunia terutama di Negara-negara miskin dan sedang berkembang. Akibat tingginya urbanisasi dan terbatasnya lapangan perkerjaan menyebabkan tingginya tingkat kemiskinan di kota. Mereka yang tidak mampu mencari tempat tinggal layak hidup sebagai tunawisma yang berpindah-pindah dan menempati bantaran sungai, pinggiran rel kereta api, bawah jembatan tol, tanah-tanah kosong baik disekitar pabrik maupun di pusat kota dan membangun gubuk liar yang kerap menggangu ketertiban umum dan pemandangan. Minimnya pengawasan dari pemerintah di masa lalu menyebabkan kian merebaknya jumlah pemukiman liar dan membentuk perkampungan kumuh. Berdasar hasil Survey RW Kumuh 2011 oleh BPS DKI Jakarta terdapat 392 RW yang dinyatakan kumuh di wilayah DKI Jakarta.

Banyak hal yang harus dilakukan untuk menata Jakarta salah satunya adalah penataan daerah kumuh sebagaimana tercantum dalam RPJK Tahun 2005-2025 yang diarahkan untuk mewujudkan Permukiman Tanpa Kumuh tahun 2020 yang juga merupakan fokus kebijakan Gubernur DKI Jakarta Joko Widodo (Jokowi). Untuk itu dalam rangka mengurangi bencana dan pemulihan fungsi saluran air seperti sungai dan waduk maka pemerintah DKI berencana memindahkan warga yang tinggal di pinggiran Sungai CIliwung dan Waduk Pluit. Kedua rencana tersebut masuk ke dalam dua program besar pemerintah DKI Jakarta yaitu Jakarta Urgent Mitigation Project (JUFMP) dan Program Normalisasi Sungai Ciliwung.

Kedua program tersebut dipastikan akan membawa dampak besar bagi puluhan ribu keluarga yang tinggal di sekitar waduk dan sungai. Bantaran sungai Ciliwung misalnya telah dihuni lebih dari 30.000 KK yang sudah bertahun-tahun menetap dan mencari nafkah diwilayah tersebut. Tidak berbeda dengan mereka yang tinggal di sekitar Waduk Pluit yang ditempati sekitar 10.000 KK. Lokasi strategis merupakan alasan utama mereka menempati sekitar waduk dan sungai ditambah keterbatasan akses terhadap hunian yang terjangkau merupakan faktor pendorong mereka menempati wilayah tersebut.

Rumah Susun Sederhana Sewa atau Rusunawa dengan konsep kampung deret merupakan upaya baru penataan permukiman kumuh di Jakarta. Sebelumnya pemerintah menggalakkan rehabilitasi kampung yang dikenal dengan program Perbaikan Kampung atau MHT sebagai solusi penataan kampung miskin saat itu yang dievaluasi dan diubah menjadi Program Perbaikan Kampung Terpadu atau MHT Plus sejak 2006. Program ini menitikberatkan pada keterlibatan dan upaya penguatan masyarakat melalui pendampingan dan pembentukan kelompok swadaya masyarakat yang hasilnya ditungkan dalam Community Action Plan (CAP) yang didasarkan pada kebutuhan masyarakat.

Pembangunan Rusunawa nantinya akan dibebankan pada APBN sedangkan anggaran relokasi warga berasal dari APBD Jakarta. Pemprov DKI juga secara aktif merangkul perusahaan swasta dan pemerintah melalui program CSR-nya untuk ikut serta dalam penanganan pemukiman kumuh di Jakarta beberapa. Lebih lanjut, berdasar keterangan Menteri Permukiman Rakyat, Dian Faridz, konsep Rasunawa tidak akan seperti rumah susun terdahulu namun akan diperbaiki dan dilengkapi dengan sekolah, ruang terbuka hijau, puskesmas dan fasilitas sosial lainnya seperti lapangan olah raga, sanggar tari dan tempat beribadah. Nantinya masyarakat yang menghuni di Rasunawa tersebut juga akan di subsidi oleh pemprov DKI.

Banyak harapan agar pembangunan Rusunawa akan benar-benar membantu mengurangi terjadinya bencana banjir dan adanya penaatan ruang yang lebih baik untuk Jakarta. Jika selama ini pembangunan rusun dan pebaikan kampung kumuh lebih mengarah pada pembangunan fisik dan infrastruktur maka program-program selanjutnya harus mulai merambah pada pembangunan komunitas (community development) secara seimbang dan berkelanjutan untuk menciptakan pemukiman yang aman nyaman dan tenteram.

Falta de vivienda = asentamientos irregulares: Ciudad Perdida

María Fernanda Carvallo, Mexico City Community Manager

One of the principal problems in Mexico City is the lack of housing. Miguel Hidalgo, one of the wealthiest municipalities in Mexico D.F., contains an area called the "Lost City," where 170 families live in overcrowded homes built with cardboard and scrap metal, without proper sanitation. The government has proposed an infrastructure development project for this area, but paperwork, soil studies, permits, and local government transfers remain to be negotiated. Given that the last four local administrations haven't solved this issue, civil society organizations like Techo may be better suited to provide land tenure, enhance social capital, and empower poor communities in Mexico City.

Una de las principales problemáticas de la Cd. de México es la falta de vivienda, pues si bien es mucha la demanda por parte de los habitantes, el uso de suelo para el desarrollo habitacional es muy escaso.

De acuerdo a Vigila tus derechos D.F. "en el Distrito Federal, la realización del derecho a la vivienda presenta limitaciones y obstáculos de diversos tipos; [...] Hace falta una política de vivienda con enfoque de derechos humanos y de sustentabilidad, que promueva la coordinación interinstitucional para encontrar soluciones apropiadas a los desafíos del desarrollo urbano, la vivienda y el medio ambiente en la ciudad, incluyendo la situación de los asentamientos irregulares."

Una gran proporción de habitantes viven en asentamientos irregulares puesto que no gozan de la seguridad de la tenencia de la tierra y tienen que hacer frente a la necesidad de tener un techo para vivir. Este es el caso de la "Ciudad Perdida" en Tacubaya, ubicada en un predio propiedad del Gobierno del Distrito Federal en la Delegación Miguel Hidalgo en donde 170 familias hacinadas viven en casas de lámina, cartón y algunas construidas con cemento, pero ninguna de ellas cuenta con drenaje. En el centro del laberinto de Ciudad Perdida se encuentran baños públicos que no tienen la infraestructura necesaria para el saneamiento, por lo que la gente acostumbra a defecar en las coladeras de las calles, que en tiempo de lluvias se inundan y se desbordan. Cuando el sol se mete, la Ciudad Perdida hace alusión a su nombre, puesto que es una manzana que no tiene alumbrado público, como un "hoyo negro" dentro de la gran metrópoli.

Ciudad Perdida es evidencia de altos niveles de marginación que a falta de oportunidades, orilla a sus habitantes a convivir con la delincuencia, alcoholismo y drogadicción.

La administración saliente de la Delegación Miguel Hidalgo en el 2012 propuso al Gobierno del Distrito Federal (GDF) el desarrollo de infraestructura para una unidad habitacional con todos los servicios en Ciudad Perdida. El proyecto buscaba que el GDF transfiriera recursos al Instituto de Vivienda del Distrito Federal (INVI) para que este fuera el responsable de llevar a una constructora y otorgar créditos a las familias asentadas para que pudieran adquirir su vivienda; la cual costaría aproximadamente $300 mil pesos y podrían pagarlos a 30 años. Mientras se construye la unidad habitacional se planea instalar un campamento temporal que aloje a las 170 familias. Con el cambio de administración del gobierno delegacional y local, el estatus del proyecto se mantiene en negociaciones con el INVI y con el Jefe de Gobierno del DF actual. El proyecto que está gestionando el gobierno delegacional puede tener un gran impacto, sin embargo hay que esperar a que los trámites, estudios de suelo, autorizaciones y transferencias del gobierno local sean autorizadas.

Algunas otras alternativas de solución para dar acceso a las viviendas en la Cd. de México surgen por parte de la sociedad civil. Por ejemplo, la organización TECHO, que busca superar la situación de pobreza en los asentamientos precarios, a través de la acción conjunta de sus pobladores y jóvenes voluntarios. En la fase inicial de intervención se insertan en los asentamientos y desarrollan un diagnóstico en el que se identifican y caracterizan las condiciones de vulnerabilidad; al igual que un primer acercamiento de los jóvenes voluntarios que promueven la participación de la comunidad. En una segunda fase se gestionan soluciones, entre ellas en el ámbito de habitabilidad; se construyen viviendas de emergencia que responden a una necesidad prioritaria, la vivienda de emergencia de TECHO es un módulo prefabricado de 18 metros cuadrados que se construye en dos días con la participación masiva de jóvenes voluntarios y familias de la comunidad. Este proceso se realiza con un enfoque comunitario, que promueve la organización y participación de la comunidad. En una tercera fase, se promueve la implementación de soluciones definitivas en los asentamientos precarios, como la regularización de la propiedad, servicios básicos, vivienda, infraestructura comunitaria y desarrollo local. TECHO articula y vincula pobladores de asentamientos organizados con instituciones de gobierno para exigir sus derechos.

Desde el gobierno o desde la sociedad civil, brindar el acceso a la vivienda es fundamental para garantizar el derecho humano a una vivienda digna y adecuada de todas las personas.

Photo 1: La Jornada, María Luisa Severiano

Photo 2: TECHO

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Assistance to the homeless population in Rio

Catalina Gomez, Rio de Janeiro Community Manager

According to the National Survey of People Living on the Streets carried out by the Ministry of Social Development (MDS) in 2009, Rio de Janeiro has around 4,585 homeless people. Unfortunately, this survey only counts adults 18 years or older, thereby excluding homeless children. What we know about the homeless population is that although it's quite heterogeneous, it shares common characteristics including poverty, fragile family bonds, and the absence of permanent shelter.

According to Rio de Janeiro's local government, the main reasons people become homeless include alcoholism and drugs (26 percent), family conflict (24 percent), unemployment (18 percent), and work related to the street (10 percent). The local government estimates that only 20 percent of this population has basic citizen documentation, and that 80 percent has suffers from a drug or alcohol addiction.

The MDS established the National Policy of People Living on the Streets in 2009 in order to better assist this population. The MDS also carried out the national survey to learn about the homeless population's specific conditions and needs, and has been fine-tuning its service protocols based on its results. Specifically, it has strengthened the Special Social Assistance Reference Centers, known as CREAS, so they can assist the homeless population and refer them to the network of social protection services available in their city.

In order to benefit from these services, the homeless population must register at the Unified Registry of Social Programs, known as Cadastro Único. This registry is done by social workers from the CREAS, and includes key information like place of origin and family composition.

Rio's Municipal Social Development Secretariat currently operates 14 CREAS and coordinates about 25 initiatives to assist the homeless population, including shelters and centers that offer psychological support, food, training, and temporary adoption services for children. Many of these initiatives are offered with the help of various NGOs. There are additional services offered to children and adults with alcohol and drug dependency, especially crack cocaine. Rio de Janeiro's State Social Assistance Secretariat also offers complementary services to treat addictions, including free clinics and an assistance center specialized in drug addiction treatment located in São Cristóbal, in Rio's north zone.

The various services for Rio's homeless population still need to be expanded and consolidated. But it is worth recognizing the local government's work and coordination efforts with the State Government and with several local NGOs to provide good quality services to a usually ignored and misunderstood population.

Photo: Ministerio de Desenvolvimento Social e Combate a Fome

Escaping the informal sector on the streets

Howaida Kamel, Cairo Community Manager

The concept of being homeless in Cairo doesn't follow the traditional patterns seen in the Western hemisphere because of the prominence of Ashwa'eeyat, or slum villages within the city. Most often these are unfinished buildings in which entire families live squashed together in one or two rooms, with hardly any furniture or access to electricity, gas, or running water. The lack of basic services and an adequate standard of living places significant strains on the family. It is common that the children not only perform many of the household duties, but also are left beaten and neglected as their reward. Their only escape from this lifestyle is to run away and find refuge on the street.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime wrote the first comprehensive report on the issue of street children in Cairo and Alexandria. Their report illustrated that homelessness in Egypt is multi-dimensional, and cannot be attributed to one specific cause. The most common reasons included abuse, both in the home and at work, neglect, peer pressure, sensation seeking, and existence of other family members on the street. The report also indicated indirect causes that lead to children fleeing home, such as low income and low education levels in the family, family breakdowns, being forced to drop out of school, large family size, unplanned rural-urban migration, and the declining role of extended families and lack of other social safety nets.

The issue of homelessness in Cairo is not because of lack of physical space, but because of the lack of communal space and social understanding. The National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM) implemented the Strategy for the Protection and Rehabilitation of Street Children in Egypt in hopes of addressing the needs of the children living on the street, as well as building the capacities of their families and the institutions working in this field. This strategy follows a rights-based approach, which has helped change the perception of these children from criminals evading the law to victims of harsh conditions.

The NCCM has successfully reached approximately 5000 street children and even more practitioners that deal with the medical, psychological, legal, and social manifestations of this phenomenon. The total number of street children is unclear, as the number varies in reports from tens of thousands to 3 million. Estimating these numbers is especially difficult due to the fact that there exists almost no legal record of these children from before they were on the street. In a way, this effectively turns those living on the street into nobodies, compared to their second-class status while living in informal settlements.

Some initiatives have been successful in giving these children an opportunity to reclaim their lives and their futures. The most prominent so far has been the Hope Village Society, which has been in operation for almost thirty years. The organization has three temporary shelters, four permanent shelters, and four reception centers all around the city, located near informal settlements. These centers not only provide shelter as a physical space for basic needs, but also provide supportive programs and productive workshops that develop the children's skills and capabilities. Their mission is to reintegrate children with their families and to help the children cope with the difficulties they faced while living at home.

Organizations like the Hope Village have concluded that the issue of homelessness in Cairo can be addressed by working on the conditions the street children face. However, greater impact could be achieved by addressing the root causes and difficulties in the informal settlements that drive the children to the street in the first place. The informal sector itself is a fallback when the standard channels aren't available. When adequate safety nets are not available in the informal sector, the streets become the last resort.

Healthcare for the homeless in Dhaka

Raiya Kishwar Ashraf, Dhaka Contributor

ঢাকা শহরের রাস্তায় প্রতিদিন শত শত গৃহহীন মানুষ রাত কাটায়। বাংলাদেশ সরকারের নির্দেশ মতে ফুটপথে কোন বাসস্থান তৈরি করা নিষিদ্ধ, তাই তারা সারাদিন পথে পথে ভ্রাম্যমাণ থাকে। এসকল নিরাস্রিত মানুষ জীবিকার সন্ধানে জীবন বাজি রেখে বিভিন্ন ঝুঁকিপূর্ণ কাজ করে থাকে, যেমনঃ রিকশা চালান, দিনমজুর, গার্মেন্টস কর্মী, গৃহকর্মী ইত্যাদি। এসকল ঝুঁকিপূর্ণ কর্মক্ষেত্রে তারা প্রায়শই আহত হয়ে থাকে, কিন্তু তাদের চিকিৎসার তেমন কোন সুবাবস্থা নেই। এমনকি তাদের নিম্ন জিবিকায় তারা ন্যূনতম প্রাথমিক চিকিৎসাটুকুও পেতে পারে না। কর্মক্ষেত্রে আহত হওয়া ছাড়াও অনেক সময় তারা অসুস্থ থাকে যা তারা সামর্থ্যের অভাবে চিকিৎসা করাতে পারে না। তাই এসকল গরীব ঝুঁকিপূর্ণ পেশার মানুষদের জন্য বিভিন্ন এন.জি.ও চিকিৎসা এবং জীবনবীমার বাবস্থা করছে। বাংলাদেশে বর্তমানে “গণস্বাস্থ্য কেন্দ্র” এবং “জাগো” নামের দুইটি এন.জি.ও বিভিন্ন ভাবে এসকল গৃহহীন মানুষদের সাহায্য করছে। গণস্বাস্থ্য কেন্দ্রের কর্মীরা কয়েকটি ভ্রাম্যমাণ চিকিৎসালয় তৈরি করে এসকল গৃহহীন মানুষদের চিকিৎসা সেবার বাবস্থা করেছে। এই ভ্রাম্যমাণ চিকিৎসালয়ের ডাক্তারদের অনেকেই এই এন.জি.ওদের কাছ থেকে অনুপ্রানিত হয়ে তাদের নিজেদের ক্লিনিকে গৃহহীনদের জন্য বিনামূল্যে চিকিৎসাসেবা প্রদান করছে।

On the streets of Dhaka you'll find many like Sriti, crouched by her precious shanty, packing up the single blanket she and her mother use to make a tent at night. They cannot leave this behind as they set out to beg for the day because of the government's law against informal settlements on sidewalks. There are 3.5 million slum-dwellers in Dhaka, and thousands more who are undocumented and homeless, lacking the resources even to live in slums. This extreme poverty leaves them without assets or services to call their own. While the government tries to confine slum dwellers within certain areas of the city, these travelling homeless, living hand to mouth, find themselves unwanted, without support, and in crisis. The most acute crisis is that of access to basic healthcare. Their lives on the streets and in makeshift shelters are not located near hospitals, which are usually prohibitively expensive. Engaged in professions as rickshaw pullers, day labors, garment workers, domestic workers and office clerks – these people have the highest chances of injury and the lowest chances of being treated properly, if at all.

Fortunately, free medical services brought to them by various NGOs and government bodies give them a chance to benefit from this luxury. Programs like the Urban Health Program, run by Gonoshasthaya Kendra (GK), The People's Health Center, a non-governmental community healthcare center, directly serve the needs of the homeless living at high risk. Services are charged according to people's incomes and clinics are located all over the city, with sub-centers in Dhaka's slums. The hospital has a wide network of referral hospitals, specialized clinics, and preventive healthcare programs. When the government evicted slums where GK operated because of gang violence and drug trades, they launched mobile clinics that continued to provide primary healthcare for slum residents. GK also introduced health insurance for their patients – a concept novel to Dhaka's poor.

Another NGO, the Jaago Foundation runs health campaigns for the students of their volunteer-run, free school. Students come from Mohammedpur, which has the largest slum population in Dhaka. Dental care is one of the most expensive medical services in Bangladesh, normally reserved for the wealthy. Jaago's A Healthy Child, A Healthy Smile program brought in two dentists, who conducted dental check-ups for all 473 students. On International Women's Day, free health checks and medicine were offered to the entire slum. With the collaboration of student volunteers, corporate banks and private doctors, Jaago has been successful in ensuring that the small population they reach are encouraged to follow a strict dental hygiene regime.

These organizations have started a movement where more well-off citizens can contribute beyond the scope of the projects themselves. The doctor leading the A Healthy Child, A Healthy Smile has offered to provide free dental check up at her own clinic for the children she served through Jaago's program. In a way, these programs have created a snowball effect, involving the private sector in making private medical care available to the homeless. Jaago's annual fundraiser on Children's Day involves student volunteers selling fruit and flowers to raise money and awareness about street children. As these projects expand, hopefully more private practitioners will be encouraged to open their doors to this altruistic movement.