Dan Brummert back from Mumbai

Our dear friend Dan Brummert just finished another epic trip with his camera, and he made a little write up to go with the photos. As per his style, he continues to show us some graphic and intense imagery. We thank him for this little holiday gift, and want to remind everybody that the world is a very complex place, and that we are all fortunate for the chance to enjoy art around us everyday.

From Daniel,

“I recently had the opportunity to travel to Mumbai India with a group of photographers to photograph the slum communities that dominate the Mumbai landscape. Once on the ground we hooked up with, and worked hand in hand with, the ngo Coro. Coro works in each of these slum communities to promote and educate the residents on everything from women’s rights and domestic abuse, to sexual health and disease prevention. As well as general welfare, and drug and alcohol abuse prevention and treatment. Our goal was to, in return for their guides and translators and access to the communities, provide them with images they could use to help improve their causes and the lives of the slum residents. From the moment we stepped onto the tarmac at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, the overpowering stench on smoke, urine, and feces hit us, this was a combination of smells that would only intensify as the midday temperature would rise. It was a smell that will not soon be forgotten. The majority of residents do not have proper plumbing, so anywhere there is flowing water is fair game to urinate or defecate. Hence to constant and over powering smell.

We stayed in an area of the city called Chembur, which is about a 30 minute train from “downtown” Mumbai. Through out the course of the week we would meet our guides and translators in the morning ( some days before sunrise) and head out into their communities. I want to say straight off that I have never, any where in my life, felt more welcome and invited than I did in the slums of Mumbai. These people wake up everyday and the first thing they have to decide is, who is going to miss school or work and wait in line for water. You see, most of these communities do not have running water. In some of the communities there are water pipes that run through the community to a communal tap, and for about 2 hours a day the water flows from this tap. So the families must decide who will wait in line, at times for over 5 hours, to get their water. Most of these communities have well over 5000 people living in them, so if you do the math it’s not hard to figure out that a lot of the families don’t get to the front of the line before the water is shut off. This causes a “black market”, if you will, of water within the community. It is not uncommon for a family to go for days without any fresh water. The typical home is one room about 10‘x12’ that hold anywhere from 4 to 15 people. There are no beds or sinks (families sleep on thin rugs or mats a top the concrete or dirt floor, and wash dishes in large pots used for storing water). Food is cooked over a small gas stove, most families have one or two lights powered by pirated electricity, These people truly have very little beyond their four walls and their family.

The biggest shock to me wasn’t the conditions that these people live in, but their will to survive and to adapt to what the world has given them. These residents have literally built communities, complete with DR’s, schools, and businesses, out of absolutely nothing. They don’t feel sorry for themselves or their neighbors, they figure out a way to survive every single day. These people have no idea what a recession or a bad day on wall street is. They have no idea what its like to have a dead cellphone battery, or for the internet to be down for a few days. Most of them will never know know what its like to have a bad day at the office, or to get a flat tire in the rain. For the people of these slums, a bad day means not being around to see tomorrow.

Work from this trip can be seen at dbrummertphoto.com