Life on the edge in the 'village in the city'

Sickness and discrimination haunt desperate parents

Although many people in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui province, have heard of Wujianong, a slum that has been around for dozens of years, few of have ever ventured inside, let alone lived there.

Situated next to the Anhui Provincial Children's Hospital, Wujianong is home to dozens of young cancer patients, who mostly come from rural areas and have to visit the hospital regularly for treatment. Apart from the sick children, the slum is home to migrant workers who work nearby.

"The place used to have more tenants, but a main road was partially closed for repair in 2013 and the traffic has become so bad that many people have sought rooms elsewhere," Wu, a local landlord, said.

Wu owns a four-story building, the tallest in the slum, and has dozens of rooms to rent. His surname is a common one among the owners of buildings in the area. "People with my surname belong to a large family," he said.

One of his tenants has a child with leukemia. Although he expressed sympathy for the family's plight, Wu said he would rather have healthy tenants but the road project has kept many people away from the area.

"I don't mean I hate the children, but they often cry because of their illnesses", said the 50-something, who lives in the building where he rents out rooms.

Zhang Min, whose 5-year-old son was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia six months ago, said: "When people are looking for rooms in the area, the question the landlords always ask is: why do we want to live here. If I tell them that my son has leukemia and we want to live here because it's convenient for his treatment in the hospital, most of them will refuse. It would be much easier to find a room from a landlord that doesn't live here," she said.

Ding Yan's 2-year-old son was diagnosed with acute mixed-lineage leukemia in March. Her father-in-law helped her to find a room in the slum, but "it wasn't an easy task", she said.

Her father-in-law succeeded in renting a room by promising to pay the landlord 500 yuan ($80.50) a month, rather than the advertised 450 yuan.

Once she had settled in, Ding begged her landlord to cut the rent to 450 yuan because the family was badly in need of money to pay for the boy's treatment. She also promised to live in the room for at least six months. The landlord agreed, but insisted that Ding pay a onetime deposit of 500 yuan, which would be returned to her when she left.

"Because there was almost no sunlight in the room, I rented another nearby that was about the same size, but only half the rent. I asked my original landlord to return the 500 yuan deposit, but he refused to honor his promise," Ding said.

Wang Cuiping, the new landlady, has promised Ding that her family can occupy the room for as long as they want. "I also have experience of serious illness, so I understand how hard it is for this unfortunate fam-ily," she said.