There are places
of silence under
the skin of the known
world, spaces where the voice of god, any kind of god, has remained silent. The slums are land of dust and smoke.
Living
in the metropolis slums has reached striking poverty levels. In 2007, for the
first time in
human history, the urban population became the majority of the
world. Over threeand half billion people live in cities
and their number is growing every day more than 100,000.
The 19 mega-citiesover 10 million people will
become 26 in 2025. There is no doubt that population growth will be a environmental problem, and that another problem,
this time social one, is consuming around two
billion people living in the slums. The high housing density, the price
of apartments and the lack of governmental support programs, are the main
reasons that obliged these persons to live in inhuman conditions, literally
inventing a space where to live. Along the railway escarpment, sometimes even
on the rails, or along the town drainage channels, large dwelling areas have
mushroomed, with no basic service nor a decent hygiene and cleanliness
standard. Wooden and metal sheds, in the worst cases simple mattresses to sleep
and a piece of nylon as a protection against monsoons, are what this people
call “home”.