Overview
India has been a victim of poverty and homelessness for an excruciatingly long time. Despite being the fastest growing economy in the world, a huge population of India still lives below the poverty line and barely affords a meal a day. An overwhelming number of people in India are slum-dwellers, with no concrete roofs over their heads.
Aasha is the Hindi word for ‘hope’, and The Aasha Build is our chance to contribute to the community. The Aasha Build aims to bring hope to the lives of several slum-dwelling families in India by helping them and at the same time, generating awareness among the Singapore youth about the poverty housing and income generation; and about how they can help.
The Aasha Build is a community service project led by a youth team, that will take place over a period of 14 days, in a village called Devanahalli, on the outskirts of Bangalore. The project is being organized in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Singapore and Habitat India, both non-profit organizations dedicated to eliminaing the issue of poverty housing.
Addressing the need
The current scenario of housing in Devanahalli is as follows:
- Temporary roofs with palmyra thatches, straws and dilapidated tiles
- Inadequate space and lack of privacy owing to joint families in small ancestral homes
- Lack of space and lack of privacy owing to joint families living in small ancestral homes
- Lack of space to store grains from agriculture
- Thick mud walls with cracks, unsafe doors and poor ventiliation
- Recurring cost of temporary repairs on the house owing to lack of large capital
- Adverse weather conditions posing a threat to health of slum dwellers
- Lack of toilet and proper sanitation facility is a common scenario in most households
- Women and children vulnerable to abuse and exploitation owing to unsafe shelter
