The 7th billionth person on planet Earth was born about one month ago. A staggering number to think about, but have you considered that very new human being may have been born in a slum somewhere in the world. Currently, it is estimated that there are over 200,000 slum communities, shanty towns and “informal settlements” are exploding in the world. Within the next twenty years about one third of all city dwellers will live in slums and grow in size to one billion people. My vision to help those living in extreme conditions began in the 80’s while working in Asia and visiting City de Soleil in Haiti in 2001 and Kibera slums of Nairobi in 2007. Vowing to find a way out for children dying in these places, Hidden Choices collaborates with GTSSS today to educate, clothe, house and feed 1,000 children from slums all over India. The program enables students starting in the third grade to obtain quality education, career and leadership training as future change makers for the poor in India.
The top 5 slums in the world are:
Neza-Chalco-Itza: the largest slum in the world with roughly four million people growing out of the need for the railroad in the industrial revolution.
Orangi Town: Karachi, Pakistan is home to 1.5 million people and still growing after starting only 10 years ago. There are 13 official neighborhoods, each with its own council.
Dharavi: Mumbai, India. After Orangi, the largest slum in Asia. About 1 million people reside on just one square mile of space. In 2011, other Mumbai slums might have surpassed Dharavi in total population, but the figures can only be speculated at this point. What that does mean, though, is that a number of Asia’s largest shanty towns are all in the same city (Notably, Mumbai is the fifth biggest city in the world).
Khayelitsha: Cape Town, South Africa. There was a population explosion after apartheid ended and blacks rushed into Cape Town. The township’s population is incredibly young, with 40 percent of its residents under 19 years old and only about 7 percent over the age of 50.
Kibera: Nairobi, Kenya, this slum is the second largest in Africa – with anywhere from 200,000 to 1 million residents. Kibera is often used as the model for the environmental impact of informal settlement.