Vox Populi

On a recent trip to Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, members of the Project Sammaan team from Quicksand and CFAR visited slums with the intention of recording a series of interviews with community members. These conversations are part of an initiative to build off of the user-experience theme that governed Potty Project in the past and guides Project Sammaan both today and going forward.

Whereas previous visits to these communities and interactions with those living within them were focused around gaining insights that will help drive specific aspects of Project Sammaan, these visits were intentionally devoid of such parameters. These conversations were intended to afford people a platform in which they could share thoughts and opinions on their daily lives, their communities, and their aspirations for the future.

The interview guide for these visits reflects this, with only a handful of basic questions being asked:

1. What is your name?

2. How long have you lived in this community?

          a. Are you originally from Bhubaneswar/Cuttack? If not, where did you migrate from?

3. How many people live in this community?

          a. How many people in your family?

4. What is it like living here?

          a. What sort of jobs do people in this community do?

          b. What are some of the challenges faced by this community?

          c. What is the sanitation situation like in this community?

5. What are your aspirational goals/hopes for the future?

6. What does the term “better health and living” mean to you?

7. What do you most like / dislike about your slum?

8. Please share anything else you would like to about life in this community.

The interviews are being transcribed into Oriya, and a short video is currently in production, to share these “voice of the people” segments. However, in the meantime, we felt it valuable to share some highlights from these conversations:

Sarojini Majhi, homemaker

Her family cannot afford to live outside the slum, which would mean paying rent in the Rs. 3,000 – 5,000 per month range; living in the slum allows them to be free from the pressure of paying rent to a landlord. However, that is really the only advantage. The slum is not planned, so it is haphazardly organized, there is no drainage system creating unhygienic conditions, and it is very difficult to construct a personal toilet due to spatial and financial constraints. This last point is especially poignant as the community toilet is frequently in disrepair or in poor condition in terms of cleanliness. Additionally, due to the growth of the community and neighboring properties, the fields that were once used for open-defecation either no longer exist or are no longer an option to use.

Rajini Das, homemaker

She is happy to be staying in the slum she lives in, where she has spent the past 25 years, because it has allowed her the resources to educate her two sons: one a dancer, the other a painter. However, as she is not originally from Bhubaneswar, living there keeps her away from her extended family, which can be challenging.

Biranchi & Manasi Moharana, carpenter and homemaker, respectively

This husband and wife pairing was interviewed together. They stressed that their primary concern in life is the betterment of the lives of their three children. The slum they live in gives them access to amenities like education and that is important to them. That said, when their children’s educations are complete, their wish is to see their children move far away where they can be settled and happy. They do not want their children to have to face the same challenges and difficulties that they’ve faced.