Street Children in India

Often I find myself whining & complaining about how unfair & sucky life is. It’s easy to lose perspective…how my life, and the lives of most Americans, compares to the lives of people born elsewhere.

A subject was brought to my attention in a church service that hit pretty close to home & made me re-evaluate how I experience every day life. I had to fend for myself from an early age. I’ve always resented that. Why me? Why wasn’t I taken care of? How self-absorbed! Many children aren’t allowed to have a childhood at all.

In India, female children are unwanted, mainly because of the outlawed dowry system that still exists in India. A dowry is the amount of money a woman’s family must pay their husband before their marriage. “Invest Rs 500 now, Save Rs 50,000 later,” advertises a company that offers amniocentesis for selective elimination of female fetuses. Female children are seen as burdens. Sons are preferred for a number of economic, social, and religious reasons. Some of the reasons include financial support, old age security, property inheritance, dowry, family lineage, prestige and power, birth and death rituals and salvation.

If a female child is allowed to be born, life is not easy. 12 million girls are born each year; 3 million live to see their 15th birthday. About 1/3 of the death occur in the first year of life. Many of them are killed by being fed un-hulled rice that punctures their windpipes or are made to swallow fertilizer. Many are also smothered with wet towels, strangled, or starved to death. Girls are usually sold into prostitution. There are 5 million child prostitutes and trafficking of children and women is considered more profitable than arms or drug smuggling. Out of 9 prostitutes, 4 are children. Girls face neglect of medical care, no education, sexual abuse and physical violence. They are often raped on the streets. Life is miserable.

I’m not sure what I can do to help these kids. They don’t have the “little” things we take for granted – clean water, food, shelter….in reality those things aren’t “little” at all. I want to find a way to help. I’ll post something when I figure it out, until then I’ll pray for them, and I’ll remember to be thankful for the life I have. Thinking of these people, and doing what we can for them, can serve as a purpose for life when you feel like you serve no other purpose.