In the slum where the school is there is no electricity, running water or sewage, and the streets are not tarmacked. The houses (or huts to be honest) are made of mud bricks dried on the sun, and the roof is an iron sheet. People go and fetch water in a well each morning, and at night they eat under the light of a candle or an oil lamp. The WC is a hole in the floor. People have no cars or motorbikes. Some people have a bicycle or a radio, which is a luxury here.

The families living in this slum are extremely poor. Men, if they do have a good job, work as guards for rich people. Otherwise they sell second hand clothes, repair bicycles, make mud bricks, or own four cows and become herders. Women, apart from taking care of the children and doing all the house work including fetching water, sell sand (which they assemble from the floor with a broom), they make soap or cookies at home and sell them, they sew, or beg. Without formal education or land to farm, there is no alternative.

Children, above all, are cheap labour. They fetch water from the well, help with the housework look after younger siblings, and if they mother sells in the market, they do the same. Few attend school. Apart from being very busy at home, attending school is very expensive. Especially for girls, they get married young, so that their parents do not need to take care of them any longer. Sad but true. In fact, the everyday life of these people is very different from ours. They eat twice a day, and often, just porridge. Eating on its own is a problem. School an unreachable luxury.

Al barri (o barricada) on hi ha l’escola, no hi ha ni llum ni aigua corrent, ni clavegueram, i els carrers no estan asfaltats. Les cases (o cabanes) són de totxanes de fang assecades al sol i els sostres d’uralita. La gent va a buscar aigua al pou cada dia, i al vespre, està a la llum d’una espelma o llum d’oli. El WC és un forat a terra. La gent no té cotxe ni moto. Alguns tenen bicis, o una radio, tot un luxe, aquí.

Les famílies d’aquest barri són molt pobres. Els homes, si tenen una bona feina, fan de guardià de la casa d’algun ric. Sinó venen roba de segona mà al mercat, arreglen bicicletes, fan totxanes de fang… o tenen 4 vaques i fan de pastors. Les dones, apart de fer totes les feines de casa i cuidar els fills, venen sorra que arrepleguen a terra, sabó o galetes que fan a casa, fan de cosidores… o mendiquen. Sense estudis ni terreny per cultivar les alternatives són poques.

Els nens, més que res, són una mà d’obra. Van a buscar aigua al pou, ajuden a fer les feines de casa i cuinar, vigilen els germans petits… si la mare es venedora ambulant, ells també. Pocs van a l’escola. Perquè a part de tenir feina, l’escola és cara. Sobretot les nenes, les casen joves (una boca menys que cal alimentar). Trist però cert. De fet, la vida d’aquesta gent és ben diferent a la nostra. Fent dos àpats al dia, i moltes vegades de farinetes, menjar només, ja és un problema. L’escola és un luxe, a l’abast de pocs.