We visited a slum today. You get to it by stopping under a flyover on the hard shoulder of a major road, jumping over the crash barriers and following a path between piles of waste on the banks above a narrow green river. Looming over us on the far bank, 
behind a large perimeter fence topped off with barbed wire, stood the World Health Organization. The river below it is largely composed of sewerage and junk, and it stinks. As Oliver said, not healthy.
By comparison to the path into it, the slum itself was clean and tidy – wastewater flowed out through open channels built into the stone paths. We were swarmed by flies, and children grinning and waving as we entered the narrow streets. Here we met two brothers, Suhinda and Segunda, one about eight, the other six, both with haemophilia, and both sponsored through the UK Haemophilia society scheme. Suhinda, the eldest boy, already has a knee massively swollen out of all proportions to his slender legs. His elbow too is red and inflamed. We ask him whether the knee still hurts, and he tells that it hurts him all the time.
His mother tells us that her husband has left, unable to deal with having two haemophiliac sons. Without his support, she, her daughter and the boys have to live in a single room, about 10 foot square, with no windows, and no space to move. She doesn’t yet know if her daughter is a carrier of haemophilia – she doesn’t want to think about it. If the daughter does carry the gene, then the chances of her getting married are drastically reduced. There are few people here who would knowingly risk having haemophiliac children.
Suhinda and Segunda are both sponsored children, and despite the horrible conditions in which they live, they are much better off for it. They were added to the scheme in 2006, not in time to save Suhinda’s knee, but in time to prevent his brother developing any similarly debilitating joint problems. Suhinda meanwhile, though he lives in pain, is able to attend school because of the Factor VIII he gets for free thanks to UK donors. Without this support, neither boy would have received any treatment; this family could never have afforded to pay for it. The fact is that before someone in the UK forked out to sponsor these two statistically neither were likely to live beyond the age of 17. Neither of them had any future to look forward to. Now, though their lives are never likely to be easy, they will both have lives. Both will be able to work, and they can expect to live to 60 years old. That is the scale of difference fifteen quid a month makes in India.
More tomorrow. If you have comments or question, please leave a message. Our internet access is a bit patchy, but we’ll do our best to reply.
behind a large perimeter fence topped off with barbed wire, stood the World Health Organization. The river below it is largely composed of sewerage and junk, and it stinks. As Oliver said, not healthy.By comparison to the path into it, the slum itself was clean and tidy – wastewater flowed out through open channels built into the stone paths. We were swarmed by flies, and children grinning and waving as we entered the narrow streets. Here we met two brothers, Suhinda and Segunda, one about eight, the other six, both with haemophilia, and both sponsored through the UK Haemophilia society scheme. Suhinda, the eldest boy, already has a knee massively swollen out of all proportions to his slender legs. His elbow too is red and inflamed. We ask him whether the knee still hurts, and he tells that it hurts him all the time.
His mother tells us that her husband has left, unable to deal with having two haemophiliac sons. Without his support, she, her daughter and the boys have to live in a single room, about 10 foot square, with no windows, and no space to move. She doesn’t yet know if her daughter is a carrier of haemophilia – she doesn’t want to think about it. If the daughter does carry the gene, then the chances of her getting married are drastically reduced. There are few people here who would knowingly risk having haemophiliac children.
Suhinda and Segunda are both sponsored children, and despite the horrible conditions in which they live, they are much better off for it. They were added to the scheme in 2006, not in time to save Suhinda’s knee, but in time to prevent his brother developing any similarly debilitating joint problems. Suhinda meanwhile, though he lives in pain, is able to attend school because of the Factor VIII he gets for free thanks to UK donors. Without this support, neither boy would have received any treatment; this family could never have afforded to pay for it. The fact is that before someone in the UK forked out to sponsor these two statistically neither were likely to live beyond the age of 17. Neither of them had any future to look forward to. Now, though their lives are never likely to be easy, they will both have lives. Both will be able to work, and they can expect to live to 60 years old. That is the scale of difference fifteen quid a month makes in India.
More tomorrow. If you have comments or question, please leave a message. Our internet access is a bit patchy, but we’ll do our best to reply.
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