Five weeks ago, T lost his job. He worked as a painter for a construction crew and was replaced after he fell ill, but had not been able to find other work. T did not know what was wrong with him, his face and arms would swell up without apparent reason and cause him immense pain. He lived with his wife and son in a house owned by his friend on the banks of the river Kallayi, but had decided to send them to live with her parents for a while if he failed to find work soon. Their house was part of one large building divided into four living spaces, and three other families shared toilet and shower facilities with T’s family. Animals owned by the other families frequently disregarded those imposed boundaries and chickens and cats could be seen roaming in and out of different houses. A single tap provided by the local municipal corporation supplied all four families with free water because the Kallayi river was so polluted that its water was considered unsafe for use.
T’s wife had started attending sewing lessons when things began going south, she had arranged for free lessons in exchange for domestic help at the tailor’s shop. Another source of comfort was the fact that their son got a midday meal at school, and despite financial strain, T did not regret sending him to school because it made him optimistic about his son’s future. While T’s house looked just like the others from the outside, a month’s worth of unemployment had made things dire and driven the family into poverty.