Today I helped a boy decide what day he was born

Very rough estimates say there are between 100,000 - 400,000 street children in Delhi (children and youth under the age of 18 making a living on the streets without parental care). It's something people here have grown up with. At nearly every traffic light there are children begging for money. Some sell flowers or magazines, some drum a beat while their sister or brother does gymnastics on the pavement. It's everywhere. Some children are rented out to beggars for the day, to increase the sympathy and gain more money.
These are children with every capability of you and me, they simply don't have the support or opportunities to take part in society in a self sustaining way.
It's heart wrenching to think about and is at first heart wrenching to see. But the saddest thing of this whole issue is how quickly I've become desensitized to it. I can understand why the problem continues, because everyone is desensitized having seen it their whole lives.

Not quite everyone. There are a select few that devote their lives to these children, and it's these few that i'm getting to know by volunteering with a dedicated NGO.
JAMGHAT: a Group of Street Children, is a small organization that seeks to rehabilitate children on the streets. They approach this issue in 4 ways:

1. A Home for 15 boys where they receive shelter, food, clothing, education or vocational training (they choose their path through conversation and guidance), health care, counseling and a place to be a child in a safe community
2. A Day Shelter where 50 street children visit daily. Here they receive a meal, bathing facilities, counseling, health care, and space to be a child.
3. NightWalks are meant to sensitize the public to the realities of life on the streets.
4. Theatre is the means to create widespread awareness and to generate some funds. The actors are both college student volunteers and the street children, so it also serves to create memories and self confidence while giving a voice to those that have the experiences.

I've been given lots of responsibility while i'm here, which is an honor, feels like i can be useful, and is overwhelming. One task i'm working on with a couple others is to open a home for 10 street girls. Currently girls are only attending the outdoor project, there is no permanent home for them. So hopefully in just a few months, a few girls on the streets will have a place to be!

Most days i'm at the boys home, which is the office. They are so sweet! and so determined to teach me hindi. They range in age from 5-20, each with their own story. Most have run away from unfortunate or abusive homes. Before coming to Jamghat they were beggars on the streets. Several were addicted to drugs, some had limb threatening injuries that were treated immediately, all have emotional wounds and scars to cope with.

But it's not a sad place to be, not at all. The success stories of these boys are incredible. The boys choose to come to the Jamghat home, no one forces them. They decide, at the age of 6 or 15 or 10 to turn their lives around. And they do it. They break drug addictions, they go to school, they get training and jobs, they work through emotional damage with regular counseling, they play together and create trusting connections with each other as brothers, they smile and shine and many offer endless hugs. It feels like a healthy community.

I'm still new to it and only understand a fraction of what's going on, as it's all in hindi generally, but i'm getting into it and feeling happy about by role. The experiences are life changing.

Today I sat with an 18 year old boy named Anwar and helped him make a resume. We had to expand his experiences to make it fill the page - he's had a couple jobs, but no schooling at all. He has no contact info or references other than Amit, the founder of Jamghat. So we added in an objective, some hobbies, and other life experiences ...then we got to date of birth. i looked at him and he looked blankly back.
"When were you born?"
"I don't know"
"Well when do you want to be born?!"
"Ummmm December seems like a good month"
"Check, and on what day?"
"mmmm, maybe the 3rd?"

We now celebrate the birthday of Mohammed Anwar on December 3rd (1990)

love lauren

ps. google jamghat and you'll get lots of hits (from google india anyway)
or try this page jamghat.blogspot.com it hasn't been updated for awhile but you'll get a sense of the organization

One Week In

i am getting partly settled here. it's taken awhile to get my sleeping on track and to get reacquainted with the Indian way. I was super reluctant to go out for the first few days. Wary of buying things, bartering with limited hindi etc.
now that i've been venturing out more, i've re-realized that i never have to go far to find the things i need! for instance, as i write this, there is a man walking down the street with his cart full of vegetables. i can't see him, but i know he's there because as he walks he shouts out what he's got for sale. all day he'll roam the neighbourhood. people know their veggie vendors and relationships are built. that's how i see it anyway.

i've been enjoying the old man who owns the little corner shop down the street. i learned that it's good and fine to call all older men, uncle and women, aunty. i love that about India; everyone is your brother or sister (the street kids i'm volunteering with all call me didi, sister), uncle or aunt. it's lovely. and makes this huge city a little more friendly feeling.

i've just started with an NGO called JAMGHAT. it's super small, which i like, and full of incredible, good hearted people. i've jumped in just as they are getting a play up and running for the next month. so i've met a lot of students who are volunteering as actors (incredible amateur actors, my god!) and i've started meeting some of the street boys, who are just lovely.
the day i arrived, one immediately took me by the hand and led me around introducing me to everyone! they are dedicated to teaching me hindi, so with any luck i'll be able to talk to them properly in a couple months. i hope!
Amit is the founder of JAMGHAT and he is wonderful. in our first meeting he told me of various projects he would love help with, one of them being to open a 24hour home for girls. there is a donor who has requested this and and has the money for rent and food, we just need to make it happen. so he offered that as a job for me. crazy. can you imagine giving that responsibility to someone you'd only known for a few minutes?!
exciting

so i'm just trying to figure all this out. and i think it will be good once i get into it a little more and feel like i have more of a role. i don't do well while floundering and finding purpose.

do keep in touch! post comments, they mean alot to me.

lots of hugs
lauren