Episode 14

On Wednesday we worked in a drop-in center for injecting drug users. We went to the underbelly of Old Delhi, where drug users swarm to score their loot and use. We saw how Sahara was implementing their “harm reduction” program, which focused on needle-exchange, counseling, and oral-substitutes for rehabilitation. It was quite sad, as Sahara use to do much much more for this community, but due to a lack of funds, they have had to severely cut back their program to merely “harm reduction”.

Thursday was definitely another eye opening day as we were working with street children. The street kids live in the slums and squatter settlements, have no parents, and generally beg or pickpocket in order to survive. We went with the Sahara outreach staff to one of the freeway overhangs, where underneath, the street kids congregate. I noticed that every single one of the kids had this wad of cloth held up to their nose, and quickly found out that all of them were sniffing some variation of glue, paint thinner, and nail polish remover. They were all completely strung out… We talked to one of them and asked him a few questions. He did not know his age and after showing him a picture of himself, he didn’t even recognize his own face. We asked him where his parents were, and he pointed to a dark corner where a huddle of adults were sitting doing smack. I guess that would explain it…

We then went to one of the centers for these street kids, where many of them would come to play and act like real kids instead of on the street begging for their drug addict parents. Many of the kids had been abandoned or had run away from their abusive parents. There was one girl who sat huddled in a corner, and after asking about her, I found out that she had run away to the center to avoid being sold into prostitution by her father. She looked no more than 12 years old…

We played with the kids for a few hours, tossing a ball around, doing things that kids their age should be doing! They were all so sweet and absolutely loved having their picture taken. The minute a camera comes out, they all jump around, trying to push the others out of the shot. After playing with the kids for a while, a woman came into the center screaming at the volunteers. Apparently she was upset that her kid was in the center playing and not begging on the street for money. She then accused the center of using the children for child labor and spouted some pretty unnerving things. I hope to go back to the center and work with the kids for a while. It was really fun interacting with them and they could even understand some of my Hindi!