Friends of DIR

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Friends of DIR

 

It is wash day for this family in Janta Colony (Punjab State).  That bicycle is probably the family's most valuable possession.
The debris piled on the roof holds in place the fragments of corregated roofing (probably collected from a dump).  The lack of building acumen has meant that there is nothing to nail, or otherwise attach the roof material.
While sunny, this is a cold winter day in Adarsh Nagar as evidenced by the heavy shawl.
\"Do it yourself\" building goes on apace, in an earthquake zone.  Lack of knowledge and skills causes the home builder to often build brick home walls less than five inches thick, with low grade mortar and no reinforcing.
A typical family.  Literally tons of clothes donated (from Europe and North America) to refugees means that this generation's poor are well-clad.  A few years before these people would have been in rags.  Good clothes is often a family's most important asset.
This nullah (water channel) is an open sewer which runs through the centre of Janta Colony.
Only pigs (612 of them at last count) seem to benefit from the nullah.
Pigs wallow in the filth, eat material we do not want to discuss before dinner, and freely dispense pathogens resulting in not only gastro-enteric diseases but brain tumors.
The DIR Board of Directors from US visited our project site in 2008.
Chairman of the Board, Dr Paul Dean (monitored by Roberta and Frederick Shaw) takes photos of an area DIR workers and volunteers were clearing.
The DIR Board of Directors from US visited our project site in 2008.
This abandoned building was a pump house built after the water table dropped and was never used.  It belongs to the State Government. and DIR is attempting to have it demolished and replaced by a Community Centre.
Presently only wandering pigs benefit from the shade of the pump house on a hot day.
School children in fine (donated) clothes.
The CEO chats with local people.
A narrow \"street\" in which many homes consist of one room, approximately 14 feet square.
The average family consists of 4.3 people, and almost 40% of all homes have no running water, no kitchen and no bathroom.
It is wash day for this family in Janta Colony (Punjab State).  That bicycle is probably the family's most valuable possession.
01/17 
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