The Young Hammers were given a guided tour of Dharavi, which saw them pass through many areas of the slum. The team saw the different types of industry that operate in the slum, which included plastics recycling, machining, pottery and textiles.
The team were also shown where young children go to school, and the sanitation issues facing people living in the slum. Houses do not have their own toilets, and the people in Dharavi rely instead on poorly maintained community toilets. On average there is one toilet per 190 people.
Players and staff were also taken into the residential districts, navigating tight alleyways and locals working in the small streets. Outside of the walkways, small areas opened up into an expansive main street, where players dodged motorbikes, cars and even goats as they walked past a seemingly endless amount of street sellers.
In preparation for the trip to Dharavi, the U19s watched the film ‘Gully Boy’ at the team hotel. The 2019 Indian Hindi-language musical drama film depicts a 22-year-old boy ‘Murad’ from the Dharavi slums in Mumbai who dreams of becoming a rapper. Gideon Kodua and Mason Terry also met the award-winning Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh at The Shard in London before heading out to India.
https://www.whufc.com/news/u19s-visit-dharavi-slums-mumbai
