Chalantika Slum: Shamim’s Story

Shamim an 11-year-old boy is struggling in the Chalantika slum area in Dhaka to meet the fundamental needs of life. He is deprived of all the basic needs of life. He is missing out on a lot of opportunities. Shamim lives in the slum with his family. He has five members in the family including his father, mother and his brothers.

Shamim's parents are Md. Mosleuddin and Momotaz Begum. Their home district is Bhola, it’s situated in the southern part of Bangladesh. His father is a CNG driver and his mother is a housewife.

Shamim has two brothers. They are working in a garment factory and supporting their family financially. They studied up to Grade-V. Shamim’s father can read and write in Bengali and his mother can write her name only. His father studied up to class five from their village school and his mother is illiterate.

Shamim’s parents came to Dhaka for better living as they had lost everything due to river erosion back in 2009. Mosleuddin had to struggle a lot for acquiring a job to support his family. It was hard for him to figure out a job to maintain his family. He couldn’t afford three meals daily for his family.

Not only in Bangladesh but in all the under-develop countries the scenario of the slum area is almost the same. Life is full of struggle in the slum. Especially children are mostly deprived of their basic education. They have to fight against the gruesome vulnerabilities constantly.

They are living in a slum that lacks all the basic amenities. Their house made of bamboo with a CI sheet roof. The rooms are very tiny in the slum. 15 people from 3 families are using 2 toilets by sharing and 1 kitchen for cooking. They can’t get the water for drinking properly which disrupts their daily life. They are suffering a lot due to the lack of a garbage management system. People throw garbage everywhere in the Chalantika slum which causes odor. This is the real scenario of the Chalantika slum in Dhaka.

“I want to be a doctor in the future and help the poor people those who can’t get treatment due to money. I want to make my family financially stable. I want to live in a better place than the slum and make my family happy,” said Shamim confidently.