rough draft

Guillermo San Miguel

Section: 3A/B

10 November 2011

Onerous slums of despair

Today there are 7 billion people on earth. It is sad that about half of those 7 billion people live in bad conditions of poverty in a broken down corner of a city; the houses in these areas are usually tightly packed and broken down. These areas are called slums. Other than a bad appearance what other negative effects could slums have on human environment? Well, slums have lack of sanitation; they are a depressing environment, and are just plain bad places to live. How do these factors contribute to problems in the environment of humans?

            For starters, the poverty of the lands known as the slum is very depressing to children dwellers. Many children in the slums are so stricken by their depressing lives “they’re sniffing glue” (Nils. “Mumbai’s slum life poses world problems”) and doing other drugs. Why would young children be doing this very dangerous drugs; glue is an inhalant and one of the most dangerous drug families, and could kill the child the very fist time the user inhales. one of the evident factors would be their trying to escape from their problems. These children are suffering and looking for a way out of their suffering. What other factors could be harmful to humans and found in slums?

            Slums lack sanitation and this could result in the spreading of disease. Although it is true not all slums lack sanitation, the ones that do have poor sanitation.  Some like Dharavi the largest slum in Mumbai has “public toilets and water taps, but sanitation is poor with open sewers” (Nils. “Mumbai’s slum life poses world problems”). Most slums not have sanitation and are forced to use “flying toilets” (Nils. “Mumbai’s slum life poses world problems”). What other problems are present?

            “A jumble of rusted metal roofs” (Nils. “Mumbai’s slum life poses world problems) is how Fink describes the slums from over a hillside. Slums are dangerous settings and not very good places to live. Some who call this place home disagree and say that “there is a sense of belonging” (Nils. “Mumbai’s slum life poses world problems) that they say “I’m not the only person who’s maybe poor” (Nils. “Mumbai’s slum life poses world problems) these people are just use to the thought of never getting anywhere and that in the slums they belong to a brethren or a family. What does this mean in the end?

            Overall slums are terrible places where the innocent are try to forget just how little their life is worth in a slum. Slums are depressing, dirty, and just bad places to live but people that live in a slum often have little or no choice that to live there and take on the suffering; although that is true people who call these slums home see light that is not really there, an illusions of  some sort. Are the slum dwellers really happy the? Have these people gotten so use to walking in darkness that their eyes have gotten use to it?