One Geek

India is breaking my heart, slowly and surely. My own impotence when it comes to dealing with the horrendous poverty facing so many people in Delhi. Did you know that 40% of children in India live under India’s poverty line of 10Rs a day? (This is about $ AUD 0.3.) Now there are 200 million children in Delhi so that is 80 million children in this extreme poverty.

Everyday moving through Delhi I see a small number of these children and other adults begging in the street. Trying to sell various wares at traffic lights. Every time thus far I have ignored the calls for help. The cries for help from mothers. The hello sir’s of the destitute children caked in dirt and the tapping of amputees on trolleys.

Somehow I ignore the cries of my heart to just give them money. Am I some kind of monster?

My mind rationalises and says that I am doing my part. I am here working on a project that will make a significant impact in communities throughout Nagaland. I am here working for a group that every day helps thousands of people throughout India. Isn’t that enough. Surely that should be enough to sooth my conscious.

What I am doing is not enough. Extreme poverty is not acceptable. There is no reason for it to remain other then greed. My heart should be feeling the pain of each individual.

How though can one live with such pain. Should I close my heart? After my first week in India I can already feel my heart starting to grow harder, cynicism reigning. Treating strangers with distrust. The problem is people see the colour of my skin and know I’d make a good mark. It’s amazing the amount of ruppies rickshaw drivers try to con out of me. I am so wealthy comparatively here. From my experience in India it is a good survival tactic. I am not sure about it as a living one?

What would Jesus do? More importantly what would Jesus like me to do?

Then you hear the stories from locals about the begging rings where the beggars are actually in the employee of masters whom take most of the money they raise. Is there no end to the exploitation of the poorest people.

Today I went and brought some books. I think that one of the key things for me is to have some understanding of the people and the causes of these problems.

To help me in that I purchased the following books:
1) Arundhati Roy’s An ordinary person’s guide to Empire. This should help me understand the politics that lead to the current situation.
2) If I were rain. A book of photos celebrating the spirit of India’s disadvantaged urban child. This should help me to see the beggars with a more human face.
3) These Hills Called Home Stories from a War Zone by Temsula Ao. This book should teach me about the pain of the Naga people who I am going to be serving on the hospital project.

I want to move beyond pity to love. I guess my other next step is learning Hindi. I need to be able to treat people who are not rich with respect.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 27th, 2006 at 9:14 pm and is filed under About stuff, Delhi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.