We have all seen children begging in the streets of Delhi, knocking on car windows during the red light at a crossing, offering to wash the windshield, carrying babies or doing flicflacs or similar to earn some money. How come, these children live on the streets?
We visited an orphanage run by an NGO, that looks after street children of the Delhi main railway station. What we heard there, made us realize what a cruel and uncaring society exists in modern India, with little value put on the individual.
An amazing boy, about 19 years old (he did not know exactly, because his parents did not keep a record when he was born), was our guide. He had lived on the street for extended periods of time, until he found shelter in the NGOs centre and became a guide for tourists interested in these fates. His dream is to become a professional teacher; he is in high school now. Judging from his resilience, we are sure he will make it. He taught himself English by hanging around tourist spots and trying to talk to tourists. His English was quite perfect, when he told us his story:
At the age of 8 he had run away from home for the first time, from an eastern part of India, to go to Delhi to receive an education. His muslim family wanted him to become a religious scholar, but he did not understand the concept or did not want to learn, was beaten up continuously and finally ran away. He made it to Delhi in two days on a train and lived at the railway station with other kids for half a year, then was picked up by a social worker and sent to an orphanage. There, his father found him and took him back home. He spent some time at home, however, the situation had not changed. He was not able to go to school, was beaten up again and again, and decided to run away once more. Again, he came to Delhi, lived at the railway station with other kids of a similar fate.
The children earn money by pickpocketing and collecting plastic rubbish. They mostly spend it on addictive glue and entertainment like bollywood films. In the darkness of the cinema, they can hang out together and sniff glue. Most of the children have the dream to become an actor or a film maker. As glue addiction is quite toxic to the lungs and skin, their life expectancy is estimated at about 35 years. Obtaining food is not an issue, as it is given out freely at one of the soup kitchens of the Sikh temples.
For reasons of child protection I cannot publish individual portraits. Here, they are having an informal maths lesson on the roof of the building.
Many of the children have run away from home to escape abuse or alcoholic parents or similar, with the dream of making something more of their lives. However, equally disturbing we found the story, that some of the very young children find their way to the orphanage simply by "being lost" by their parents. Apparently, children can get separated from their families during the large festivals - and sometimes it takes months before they are reunited, sometimes never.... maybe we did not understand them correctly, but can you imagine parents, who lose their kids during festivals and don't search for them? Besides running away from home, this seemed to be the second most frequent reason for being in that orphanage.
These are pictures from the soup kitchen of a large Sikh temple in Delhi. Anyone, rich or poor, can come and get a free lunch there or help prepare the food. Every day hundreds of people are fed. The system solely works with donations from generous donors and the Sikh community.
More here:
Sikh soup kitchen, Delhi
