“I could have saved some of my belongings if they had warned us before,” said Anwara Begum who lived in a slum. Anwara came to Dhaka city after lost everything in river erosion.
Anwara claimed that the authorities declared they would destroy only 100 shanties at one particular block of the slum though they demolished the entire area. She lives with her husband named Munir in the Sattala slum by running a makeshift shop in the slum since 2002. Their sorrows were unbound in the small room of poor shanty but somehow would manage their daily livelihood.
After two daughters, Munir became the father of a son, though his joy was transient. Since 15 days of his son’s birth, the demolition squad of the directorate general of health services razed the Sattala slum and the eviction from the settlement occurred in 2010. Anwara was just crying while describing the incident. “It was a horrible day in my life and I will never forget this in my life”. Anwara and her husband could not attend to work for those days and was deprived of earning 200/300 BDT each day.
Anwara’s health was not well also during the eviction time as it happened immediate after her child delivery. Munir spent all his savings regarding his wife’s delivery purpose and had nothing to buy for food or water after eviction. “So far I remember, I used to take only one piece bread and water at noon and night. People who were with us also suffered a lot without shelter ”, Munir added. After the eviction an international NGO extended help to the evicted people of the shattered slum. Munir said, “I am thankful to them for the help”.
