urban poverty in bangladesh - Gtz

time. Eventually, in 1979, the communitywas divided and one group settledin Dhalpur Ward in the southeast outskirtsof the city. Ironically, this Telugucommunity settled on top of an oldgarbage collection site where for yearssweepers had been dumping the wastethey collected. Despite the fact thatthere were no written agreements withthe authorities who had brought themhere and promised them housing andfood, their employer, the DCC, providedthem with simple dwellings ofbamboo and tin, as well as toilets andaccess to piped water. The Telugu didnot have access to basic infrastructuralfacilities, however: sweepers weredenied education on the basis that itwas extraneous to the work they did.An NGO fills this gap since the 1980s.At the beginning of 1996, the Telugucommunity had little access to electricityin their settlement. Candles wereused to provide light to huts of tinsheet with wooden roofs. That year,most likely as a result of the fragileconstruction of the houses, a fireburned down more than half of thesettlement. Fortunately there were nohuman casualties because almost residentscame together to watch a movieat the only TV place at that night.Left homeless, they approached theirlocal elected Ward Commissioner forsupport, recognizing their importanceto the city’s authorities. The Commissionerused his influence to lobby theMayor of DCC for the construction ofsuitable low-cost housing, from bricksto avoid that another fire can be thatharmful to the settlement again. Thisargument combined with a pointer ontheir importance for the city’s maintenanceconvinced. Over a period of sevento eight months, new houses wereconstructed for over 120 families. Eventhe NGO-run school was rebuilt. Someimprovements needed to be made bythe families themselves later on, butthe basic houses and all services wereprovided free of charge.Nowadays the situation for the Telugucommunity is changing. Since the systemof pots was replaced by a sewagecanal system in the late 1970s thedirect contact with faeces was reduced.This slightly attracted other partsof the society. Also Muslims are nowworking as sweepers. Their attitudetowards this job seems to change: tobe a sweeper is not longer seen only asnasty but also as secured business.As under the British and the Pakistanirule, until today the agreement hasalways been in place. However, importantto mention is that these promiseswere only made orally and were neverwritten down. The aim had never beento integrate them into society, but touse their disadvantaged place in it.The community never got the legalownership of the houses and the landthey are living on is still DCC property.Therefore the danger of eviction becomescurrent. Life can change rapidly, ifthe authorities once feel that they donot need the Telugu community’s serviceanymore. “Still at least one memberof each family is working for theDCC and we hope that we can going onworking with them. But we also recognizethe increasing importance of ourchildren’s education for their futureperspectives”, says John Sander.Cleaning their own place: most members ofthe Telugu community are still working asSweepers. >>8