urban poverty in bangladesh - Gtz

For many of the urban citizens in Bangladesh,people living in slums arenearly an invisible phenomenon. Thecommon presumption amongst thesecitizens is that slum dwellers only residentin the slums for a limited periodof time and are permanently engagedin the rural agricultural sector. Consideringthe dense living conditions inmost of Bangladesh’ cities and hugeslum areas, I have been wonderingwhether this image reflects the realityof the urban poor. Thus, I visited oneof the biggest slums in Jamalpur, in thenorth of Bangladesh. The slum whichis known as Sarpur comprises of about300 households. The housing structureof the small shanty homes in this slumis similar to those of other slums inother developing regions. Despite itsstatus as a ‘slum’, the area gives methe impression of being a fairly brightand green neighborhood, with littlegardens, open places here and there,and small lakes that are surroundedby palm trees. Like many other slums,this slum is already an established partof the city. The inhabitants of Sarpurhave lived there for more than four tofive decades, and no longer have anylinkages to the original agriculturebusinesses of their grandfathers.The main reason why the first migrantscame to the slum was the lackof agricultural land ownership, dueto hereditary partitioning or land losscaused by flooding. Working for otherlandowners does generally not providesufficient income to sustain a familyon a long-term basis. Thus contrary tothe common belief, the people of thisslum established a permanent livingenvironment and social networksaround their area, which permit themto follow their occupation and to earna living.I met an elderly lady, Panmuti, in asari, cooking in front of her house.Panmuti is about 60 years old andcame to the slum with her parentswhen she was a girl. At that stage,her family had a low income, resultingfrom their occupation as basket carriers,beggars and other minor roles.Panmuti got married to another youngman living in the same area, who obtaineda job as a grave digger workingfor the whole town. Together they raisedfive daughters and one son. Herson and two of her divorced daughtersare still living with her. Her house hastwo rooms and is located nearby thelake. Her handicapped son uses oneroom, while she shares the other roomwith her two adult daughters and theirchildren. Both women work as domesticassistants in different householdsin the town. With their combined income,they can easily survive and sustainthe family.The elderly lady seemed very surprisedwhen I asked her if she ever wanted togo back to her village. She said “No,what would I do there? We don’t haveany land for agriculture, so how wouldwe live there?”. Even the adolescentgirls who gathered around us, alongwith other interested neighbors, said,they would rather stay in Sarpur thangoing back to rural areas, and wouldnot even consider returning for marriageoffers. Many of the girls around uswere well educated, attending higherclasses of the local secondary school,and had basic knowledge of English.One thing is subject to common agreement:None of the residents wants tomove back to rural areas and changethe opportunities which the city offersthem for a life in a village where theyhave no income. According to Panmuti,people here have adapted to the life intheir neighborhood. Most of them havenot been back to their original village41