Directly below the window of the slum building she occupies with her Zimbabwean parents, Roger, 29, and Anna, 25, is an alley that, until recently, was filled to first-floor height with more than 80m³ of compacted sewage and rubbish.

The three-storey warehouse in Doornfontein, Johannesburg, houses about 500 people who live in makeshift wood and corrugated iron one-room structures into which the warehouse has been divided. They have no access to clean water or toilets.

At one stage, garbage accumulated to waist-height in the basement area - where people also live - and the only light came from a doorway and some light bulbs illegally connected to the building's electricity system.

The walls are carpeted with cockroaches and the air is thick with the smell of sewage. Wet rats flit in and out of the rooms, most of which are inhabited by Zimbabweans, searching for food.

Roger said he is "worried about Alice's health" but that the family has "no choice" other than to live in the slum.

Roger and his family do not have to pay rent and right now the money Roger gets from collecting plastic to drop off at a recycling centre, between R200 and R300 in a good week, goes towards keeping the family alive.

"We're just waiting to see what happens. Our passports have run out. It will be bad if we get deported, especially with the elections [in Zimbabwe] next year because people just get booted and killed," said Roger.

Despite what he calls the "terrible" situation in the building, Roger said he would rather stay there than go back to Zimbabwe.

"It's just about luck [in Zimbabwe]. Maybe you're going to survive, maybe they're going to kill you, you never know," said Roger.

Recently, international aid organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres identified the building as one of the worst in the Johannesburg inner city in terms of hygiene.

Medecins Sans Frontieres partnered with occupants of the building to clean it up.

By the end of last week, 20 loads of waste had been removed and the basement area was cleared.

Residents will continue cleaning this week and the aid organisation intends to fumigate the entire building.

Roger said he is glad that people are trying to clean the building - but he hopes for better for his daughter.

"I want her to go to school and after school I want her to do something better than me."

* All names have been changed

By The Times (SA)