Sunita, her husband Arman and their four-year-old daughter Anika live in the Millat Camp in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka. Like every family in the slum, they live in a cramped and flimsy one-room shack, with no toilet or running water.
The camp is so overcrowded that other houses are built not just next to hers, but on top and underneath. There’s no privacy and poor ventilation. Fatal fires that wipe out scores of homes at a time are frighteningly common.
Sunita and Arman’s home has two brick walls, two bamboo walls and a tin roof, which means that rain can get in easily. The mud floor gets wet and soggy, and is impossible to keep clean. Their daily meals consist of rice with a few vegetables or tiny pieces of fish. Meat is a luxury for Sunita and her family, who work all day to earn just US$3.60.
The family shares one of only two filthy community toilets and a few showers with a staggering 3,500 people. Their only source of water is a community tap used by 400 other families, and their shack floods with sewerage and dirty water when it rains. These unhealthy conditions mean that deadly diseases like diarrhoea and dengue fever are common.
Stories like Sunita’s are common throughout the slums of Dhaka. But Habitat for Humanity’s project is working to give families like Sunita’s a hand up towards a safer and healthier life, and a brighter future for children like Anika.