Ashley Pereira and Kane Ryan have built a school, playground, and funded the education of 50 kids who live along a stretch of the Saki Naka slums

A TWO kilometer stretch along the BMC pipeline at the Saki Naka slum in Andheri East looks like a picturesque village. It's clean, houses a school fitted with computers, and has a brand new play area full of laughing kids. Today, the two men responsible for the facelift have invited friends and acquaintances to help the residents paint the wall surrounding the new playground.


Canadian Kane Ryan, whose NGO Dirty Wall Project works with
Ashley Pereira's NGO Janvi Charitable Trust, is beautifying the
Saki Naka slum. Pic/Rane Ashish

"When we first arrived at the area where we are building the play area and garden, it was disgusting. The main laneway was covered with feces, and kids played in the garbage. There was drug abuse, gambling and theft," says 28 year-old Kane Ryan, who hails from Victoria, Canada.

A year ago, Ryan met Ashley Pereira, 42, who has been working at the slum for 10 years. Pereira invited Kane to see the work his one-man NGO, Janvi Charitable Trust, had carried out. Little did he know that Kane would become a fixture within the community. In August 2009, Kane started his own one-man NGO, the Dirty Wall Project.

Since that encounter, both have worked in the slum to "see a need and fill it". It's led them to fund five emergency surgeries, build a school, pay for the tuition of 50 school children, host health camps and cultural festivals, and employ 30 locals to remove 11 truckloads of garbage and turn the dump into a cricket pitch, garden and playground.

"So many people have asked us to replicate these projects in their areas, and for that we need more money. The question is always about funding," says Pereira. Ninety five per cent of the funding is provided by Canadian donors, and through charitable events that Ryan organises when he returns home for three months of the year.

"The wellbeing of these communities is not looked after by the government, so when we show them we care, they appreciate it," said Ryan. "We've seen tremendous improvement, now that the kids have a space to play instead of gamble." Today, they hope to show the rest of Mumbai that it's possible for a slum to be a pretty, clean, and safe.