Tragedy struck the british police officer Ian Tillin twice. First one of the vulnerable children he cared for back in Kent died and then his own son passed away. In 1990, when the fall of the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu in Rumania revealed immense social problems, especially for the children, Ian went there to try to help in some way. He never left.
Among other things he did was to organzie, fund and manage a shelter for homeless in Bucharest. I met Ian at the shelter Casa Ioana in November 2010. One of the families he helped was Clara and her three children; Mario, 12, Geanni 6, and Florina, 10 months old. The place was filled to capacity with around 50 homeless people and private space was scarce. When Geanni wanted to get some alone time he snuck away took a nap in the most secluded spot he could find.
Madani Avenue,
Dhaka, Bangladesh, march 18.
To paraphrase Leonard Cohen’s famous words: ”There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”
Sumaiya Akhter has brought her homework when she keeps her blind and begging mother Nilufer Yasmin company on the heavily trafficked Madani Avenue. Todays topic is religion. Sumaiya’s battery-driven lamp is brought from their home in Joypurhat in the north of the country. An area that is especially hard hit by floods.
Nilufer Yasmin and Sumaiya are two of the millions of migrants that has come to the capital of Bangladesh, the vast majority of them fleeing cyclones, floods and other climate-connected disasters. In Dhaka these people often make a meager living as day laborers or beggars. Approximately 70% of the inhabitants of the slums of Dhaka are migrants due to the negative effects of climate change.